Spruce but rot

[treeseer]

Thinning the top half can help stability.

 

Improving soil speeds CODIT.

[Gary Prentice]

H.a, like honey fungus, is pretty much always present where there are hosts. It's actively pathogenic, so tree vitality/condition may play a part in infection. If I remember correctly an infected stump will often/usually provide an inoculum source, with infection radiating outwards.

[Gary Prentice]

Dealing with planning depts....

A constant source of deep joy....

Not

 

Unfortunate that the T&CPA is overseen by planning departments and not arbs ( in relation to trees)

[daltontrees]

A client had this tree fail with quite significant but rot present which extends around 4ft up the trunk, as you can see from the pictures the rear garden is like a forest and I'm concerned that the rest of the trees due to the connection of roots will also be infected as iv see in some forestry stands so increase the likelihood of further failing trees.

Out tree officer who has no arb quals and referred to these Spruce as Christmas trees advised them it'd be fine and it'd be an isolated problem, I beg to differ so would appreciate some others input.

 

Is it a TPO or CA situation?

 

You need to pin it down to a particular fungal species. Best candidates are H.annosum, P. schewinitzii and A. ostoyae. Unless it's the first one I wouldn't be bothered. Pictures look like H.a as I've seen it. And P.s.

 

So if you can be sure it's H.a. there's a few ways to look at it. Firstly it could be too late to try and contain it. Secondly, removal of other trees will probably speed up its spread. Thirdly there would have to be spruce-to-spruce root contact, H.a won't travel through soil to find other hosts. Also worth considering whther the tree was wounded already or stressed by other factors. What you advise also depends on TPO/CA status and your expertise and qualifications. Saying someone on the internet said fell the lot won't do.

 

I'd be thinking about selective increment boring of adjacent stems, but only for conifers and even then only the ones tat will fall outwards and can't be diagnosed by non-invasive visual means. And I'd be cleaning the borer religiously between bores and plugging the boreholes.

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Some relevant, and interesting, information on the FC website Conifer root and butt rot (Forest Research)

[Gary Prentice]

Is it a TPO or CA situation?

 

You need to pin it down to a particular fungal species. Best candidates are H.annosum, P. schewinitzii and A. ostoyae. Unless it's the first one I wouldn't be bothered. Pictures look like H.a as I've seen it. And P.s.

 

So if you can be sure it's H.a. there's a few ways to look at it. Firstly it could be too late to try and contain it. Secondly, removal of other trees will probably speed up its spread. Thirdly there would have to be spruce-to-spruce root contact, H.a won't travel through soil to find other hosts. Also worth considering whther the tree was wounded already or stressed by other factors. What you advise also depends on TPO/CA status and your expertise and qualifications. Saying someone on the internet said fell the lot won't do.

 

I'd be thinking about selective increment boring of adjacent stems, but only for conifers and even then only the ones tat will fall outwards and can't be diagnosed by non-invasive visual means. And I'd be cleaning the borer religiously between bores and plugging the boreholes.

 

Is plugging the boreholes now advised Jules?

 

I seem to remember that the holes created by resistographs assist fungal spread more than the larger wounds of increment borers. I think it was a paper by Schwartze (I never spell that name right) and may only have been about one or two particular species of fungi. IIRC to do with either oxygen or moisture levels in the holes -possibly. I'll see if I can unearth the PDF tonight and post it.

 

 

Gray Git:[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0851992757/sr=1-1-fkmr0/qid=1453740704/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1453740704&sr=1-1-fkmr0]Heterobasidion Annosum: Biology, Ecology, Impact and Control: Amazon.co.uk: S. Woodward, etc., J. Stenlid, R. Karjalainen, A. Huttermann: 9780851992754: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Ktsk90EgL.@@AMEPARAM@@51Ktsk90EgL[/ame]

 

There's a very cheap copy on amazon (unless P+P makes it prohibitive) right now, if you want to read up a bit more:biggrin:

[Kveldssanger]

A book! Ordered. Hahah. Not seen this one before, cheers Gary.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Kveldssanger

[Gray git]

To Dalton trees, very connected overlapping root plates in this location and quite a few older stumps which would have given an entry point between 5 and 10years ago, also when the houses were built 25 years ago the lower edge of the root zone will have been dug away which is when the trees were all tpo'd not conservation area.

The ground has been heavily waterlogged each winter for some time now and gets a lot of runoff from the road above so probably getting a reasonable amount of salt added into the mix.

Cheers Paul I'll have a good look at the fc stuff again later.

Look like it could be a bore test on the nearest largest tree to see what it looks like.

[Gary Prentice]

A book! Ordered. Hahah. Not seen this one before, cheers Gary.

 

You mean you haven't already got it?

[daltontrees]

Is plugging the boreholes now advised Jules?

 

I seem to remember that the holes created by resistographs assist fungal spread more than the larger wounds of increment borers. I think it was a paper by Schwartze (I never spell that name right) and may only have been about one or two particular species of fungi. IIRC to do with either oxygen or moisture levels in the holes -possibly. I'll see if I can unearth the PDF tonight and post it.

 

I plug them, in my mind that's good practice, but maybe no-one else is doimg it. And the trick is using the right thing to plug them with.

 

Gotta be cautious with what the Shwartzengelsbrelloermattheck squad recommend, they' might have vested interests in decay detection proprietorial tools.

 

I have the article you refer to, no need to post but thanks anyway.