Honey on Oak Root

[treeseer]

David, I might try bringing in some shoestrings to that lab, but can sp. be ID'd from those? without DNA analysis I mean. Unclear how many sp. we have; depends on who you ask. I'd be pleasantly surprised if they were easy to sort out from any kind of analysis.

 

Tony, thanks for the enlightenment neighbor but you're the only one talking about a beast on the loose. But your suggestion to deacidify conditions has merit; soil replacement is standard practice, and of course a necessity after removing soil to diagnose.... I would tend to use a sterile medium, not landscape soil, and maybe lime to raise pH?

 

And yes drying, so that medium would be very porous.

[Paul Cleaver]

So my use of artificial lighting around the base and inside the hollow trunk of a huge 6 ft dia oak(Quercus agrifolia) that dried up every G.lucidum conk exposed to that light both inside and out was unrealistic in your view Tony?

 

What mitigation method used by you can achieve the same or better result?

 

Jomoco

 

the fruiting body of fungi in trees is often just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. The fungi has probably been establishing itself in the tree for many years, when its established its self enough, it will often produce fruiting bodies to try and colonize new areas.

[jomoco]

Absolutely Paul.

 

But it's the most highly leveraged stress areas at the tree's base being compromised by A mellea and G lucidum that cause catastrophic failure in my neck of the woods. The ability to stop or even slow down the fungi's spread at that critical base juncture would be highly beneficial.

 

The ability to kill conks with a halide light seems a good indicator that to the extent you can expose the mycelial fans to that light?

 

IMO it's no coincidence that almost without exception basal Armillaria and Ganoderma infections start on the north sides of the trunk that get the least amount of natural light.

 

Can the mycelial fans be exposed to light without damaging the trunk or root too much?

Perhaps it all depends on which side of the cambium the infection's reached?

 

Seems to me the answers to whether mycelial fans exposed to UV light will shrivel up and die like the conks do? Can be quantified best in the controlled environment of a university laboratory.

 

Once that question's answered? Then under ground fiber optics might be worth pursuing as a means of fungal mitigation of entire root systems?

 

Until more effective antifungal treatments are proven to work? A positive diagnosis of Armillaria or Ganoderma infections at the base of trees with high value targets in their proximity will remain a death sentence, IMO.

 

Jomoco

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

So my use of artificial lighting around the base and inside the hollow trunk of a huge 6 ft dia oak(Quercus agrifolia) that dried up every G.lucidum conk exposed to that light both inside and out was unrealistic in your view Tony?

 

What mitigation method used by you can achieve the same or better result?

 

Jomoco

 

I can assure you those Ganos (Lucidums) inside a cavity would have dried up and fallen off with or without you kiddo!

 

They are annual, and light would not have effected them.

 

as for what i am up to (and not Knocking your efforts at all, not in my nature) Its just an educated hunch at the moment, but when it isnt, you can rest assured there will have been enough controls etc to qualify the hunch:thumbup1:

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

 

Until more effective antifungal treatments are proven to work? A positive diagnosis of Armillaria or Ganoderma infections at the base of trees with high value targets in their proximity will remain a death sentence, IMO.

 

Jomoco

 

Actualy, ive dealt with many infected/colonised by very same fungi, in every combination, and even drove past one of them the last few days and its looking almost stress free now.

 

nothing complicated but a light pruning to shorten transport distances

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

whenever we kill something, we cause a vacuum that's nearly always far worse than the current scenario, we may succeed in slaying the foe, but in the same motion also kill our allies.

 

that is the consequences of focusing only on ONE thing

[jomoco]

Not trying to argue with you Tony, but there are well documented instances of light kickin butt on fungi.

 

Sunlight Enhances Fungal Disease Control - Wines & Vines - Wine Industry Feature Articles

 

Jomoco

[jomoco]

From UC Davis Ag.

 

The effects of tempera- ture, light, and varying levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide upon the growth of the fungus are also being studied. It has been found that Armillaria is inhibited by light-particularly by the shorter, or blue, wavelengths. It also has been shown that the fungus grows well at reduced levels of oxygen and at very high levels of carbon dioxide. These characteristics help to explain its survival in roots con- siderably below the surface of the soil. The environmental factors influencing the production of the fruiting bodies (mush- rooms)ofthefungusarealsobeingin- vestigated; though fruiting bodies have been produced under laboratory condi- tions, as yet not all factors involved in fruiting have been determined.

 

Jomoco

[treeseer]

A client of mine used a black light on the interior of a q alba hollowed by Bondarzewia berkeleyii. The conks popped out in new places the next season, the spread confirmed by tomo. He died of cancer that year too. no connection i'm sure.

 

Drying sapwood rot is proven effective; drying heartwood rot is pretty risky. imo.

 

The tree's >80% hollow and growing, still not too bad; it gets a 9% tickle every other year. Hoping the new owner will understand the regimen, and the prognosis.

 

The 9' diameter q rubra in the june 2014 detective story is >90% hollow. Jon, *please* write a letter to the editor about how you know more than 13 reviewers about fungi and death sentences; I would so love to compose a reply....

 

The shoestrings on the q alba in this thread are facing due south, where the wounding was. I never noticed any compass-colonisation connection. I'll be exposing the wounded root next Monday, collecting samples, and giving the U lab a go at ID. It's only $15, the client will pay, wut the hey.

 

Likely we'll be removing all decayed matter and probing inward. Even if hollow is detected, that would not affect pruning specs much; as it is, they are 0; if the trunk's hollow, maybe 1-3m reduction of the top, to start it growing down.

 

it is exposed to the south, but we seldom get storm winds from that direction. the thing to remember is--the tree is supported by its buttresses , not its heartwood.

[jomoco]

First of all Guy, I never claimed to know more than you, or any of your colleagues about plant pathology, period.

 

I only speak from my admittedly limited 40 years of experience in the tree biz, the bulk of it as a removal specialist.

 

However I do respect the recommendations of PhD plant pathologists who invariably advise removal of A. mellea and G. lucidum infected trees.

 

Oak Diseases — Plant Diseases — Penn State Extension

 

That I'm so conservative about protecting my paying clients, their families, visitors and properties from harm by following the advice of expert plant pathologists when dealing with these potentially lethal infected trees in such close proximity to them?

 

Well, that's just the way I operate mate, deal with it.

 

I'll back out of your thread, and let you "experts" strut your stuff.

 

Jomoco:001_smile: