Whats this one?

[DrewB]

12m oak that leans over the house. council are fully aware of it but only want a tiny weight reduction on the house side. The brackets are about the size of a good sized dinner plate. Is it as bad as it looks? tree doesnt look too healthy either.

[David Humphries]

Imo Drew, whether this fungus is a saprohite (ie applanatum) or parasite (ie australe) I would see the main cause for concern to be the dynamic state of the brackets, which is clearly shown by the current growth of the lower tiers.

This would suggest the decay process is still very much active.

 

Have the council proscribed a reduction with or without carrying out decay detection to quantify and evaluate the extent of remaining sound wood of the basal area of this tree.

Do you know?

 

My gut instinct, based on the photo and the known lean toward an urban target, would be removal or reduction (= ?) with strict adherance to annual inspection including the above criterior.

 

 

 

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Edited March 20, 2009 by Monkey-D

[DrewB]

Imo Drew, whether this fungus is a saprohite (ie applanatum) or parasite (ie australe) I would see the main cause for concern to be the dynamic state of the brackets, which is clearly show by the current growth of the lower tiers.

This would suggest the decay process is still very much active.

 

From your description I summise that the council has proscribed a reduction without carrying out decay detection to quantify and evaluate the extent of remaining sound wood of the basal area of this tree.

Is this correct?

 

My gut instinct, based on the photo and the known lean toward an urban target, would be removal.

 

 

 

.

 

Decay detection? evaluate the sound wood? i wish that happened david. the council just said prune off the house, job done, sweet as. I fully recommended removing the tree but not my decision unfortunately. Its not even a reduction, just removed the limb going over the house. Ill give the council one thing, theyve got balls. Because you cant sue in NZ, things get left standing a lot longer than they do back in the UK. I think this is great 99% of the time but sometimes i feel they push it. Its hard being the contractor when you have to leave stuff you feel is unsafe-but then again nothing has ever gone wrong yet. When an oak failed a while ago, just missing a house-the council asked me if it was the one with the big ganoderma bracket as they expected it to go sometime!! keeps life interesting!!

on a side note, this site is getting me more interested in fungi the more i delve into it-keep up the good work guys.

[Dean Lofthouse]

You could just leave the truck parked under it Drew, that would take the full impact and reduce any risk to the public

 

Modern Arboriculture calls for modern measures.....

[Bundle 2]

Looks like a Phellinus....Dont quote me on that mate please...NZ's fungal community is not something I know a great deal about tbh.....!

[Nimby]

Looks like a Phellinus....Dont quote me on that mate please...NZ's fungal community is not something I know a great deal about tbh.....!

 

Sorry for quoting you but I agree it could be P robustus a white rot fungi

[Amelanchier]

After leaning back in my comfy chair and looking at that basal adaptive growth I'd guess that you have some selective delignification going on...

[Marcus B-T]

Selective delignification Tony, nice one. Could also be a combined effect of poor rooting (movement) and either degredation of either cellulose or lignin, but lignin would be preferential I guess. Just had a request to train someone in thermal imaging in NZ. Given they seem to not tooch trees there I hope it comes off so we get some even better data on the amount of decay trees can stand without management, although species/fungi will be different.