Not my poor tree now!

[rossy]

This is my weeping willow, this fruiting body has been on it for two years appearing out of the root plate, does anyone have any ideas on it. I love the tree but its showing signs this season of stress growth, I have a child who swings on it all summer long, therefore my professional opinion is to remove it but my heart says repollard it and give it a chance. What do people on here think? Opinions would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

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[David Humphries]

I would think that this is Ganoderma applanatum

 

 

Have you tried sounding it with a nylon/wooden hammer to listen for decay?

 

 

 

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[Roylance1988]

Looks like ganaderma applinatum mate. Not good at all.

[rossy]

Yeah I've tapped it and the wood density has diminished significantly to about 5 foot above the fruiting body, it will probably be in the main union before long. Bit of a pain really. As I thought, maybe whip it out this year before nature takes its course and it squishes something expensive. I'll have to replant something I can get a rope swing into quickly or I'll be in big trouble...... Cedar?

 

 

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[rossy]

Thanks guys, spot on with the diagnosis by the way now I've had a good check.

 

 

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[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Australe in my opinion,

[felixthelogchopper]

Australe in my opinion,

 

Fiiiiiiiight!!!!!!

[sloth]

May take a severe lop and top/pollard and live, stay safe, be good for bugs and beasts, stay looking nicer than a little replacement (which will likely be decades before a rope swing will go in it) and swing 'could' stay. Obviously I've not seen the tree in the flesh, but that's what I would aim for...

[rossy]

That's what I'd want in an ideal world, I'll repollard it and bring the stems down to ladder height so its not a pain to dismantle when the time comes. It's me that loves the rope swing really not my daughter :-)

 

 

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[daltontrees]

Nightmare! I had to take my Willow down, the only big tree in my back garden, for similar reasons. Yours looks like a leaner like mine was. Ganoderma's a white rot, I think, taking all the lignin first and with it the compressive strength on the swing side.

 

applanatum, surely? Too cocoa-brown and tightly margined to be australe/adspersum?