Can anyone help me with an id on this?

[Rock Monkey]

Hi All

 

Found this on an old Apple tree today, can anyone tell me what it is?

 

Thanks

[David Humphries]

Imagine you have Auricularia mesenterica, the Tripe fungus

 

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/tree-fungi-29.html

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[TTP]

Great picture!

[Rock Monkey]

Thanks David, that certainly sounds like the one - in looks and feel!

 

Its taken quite a foothold on the tree in question, do you know if there are any steps that can be taken to protect the tree?

[David Humphries]

The tree (at least sections of it) is in decline.

The tripe is making use of the dysfunctional wood volumes.

 

It's a slow decayer in my experience but may (probably will) lead to failure of structural sections eventually.

 

What are the targets?

 

 

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[Rock Monkey]

Nothing of any note, just the only tree left in garden so a shame to see it go. Will let nature take its course, it feels pretty solid still so prob got a few years left!

[Betula]

Leave it to die gracefully, mature apple trees are very important ecologically

[10 Bears]

Even if you do get a partial collapse of the structure - dont be in a hurry to clear it up if it can be avoided (depends on garden size).

 

Mature apple are excellent at self-layering (a bit like this but if you imagine the branch on the ground has arrived there due to a failure), so as long as there is space, if the tree ends up on the floor, with a bit of soil around the lower bough, you can very quickly have another tree growing quite fast, so no overall loss to the garden.

 

But, of course, this approach may not suit some people's gardens.