Tony Croft aka hamadryad

Finished early today and knowing that my fave places are going to be rammed this weekend took advantage and had a quiet stroll round ashridge. I met a smashing old boy on one of the paths he said to me, "have you seen the sulphur polypore on the side of the path?" I said No I havent, he says do you know what a sulphur polypore is? Yes I replied, also know as Laetiporus sulphureus. It turns out he is an old engineer, and in is 89th year this weekend, we strolled and chatted about much, the introduction of the touch screen to industry in the 60s, fungi, trees and mountaineering. Lovely guy with a lot to say, and paid me a great compliment as we parted, which means something of a man of his standing. A lot of people havent the time to slow down and talk and walk with an old man, but he was a fascinating chap, so much knowledge and so many things to say. He says he tries to manage five miles a day, but struggles these days, reckon he was doing swell, and hope I am the same at his age. I never asked his name, nor he mine, but I guess it wasnt important, we just enjoyed the woodland together or an hour or two:001_cool: Ashridge is a wonderful place, spent days walking here many hundreds if not thousands of hours now, always finding new things. The last image is of an ash I shot over a number of years, one year the base was covered in A. mellea, but survived for several years, this year, well....

the Oak and beech have the highest fungal biodiversity.

I wish I had said nowt!

I will make a prediction that there will now follow a dcrease in fruiting bodies on this tree from here in. it has been building up for many years, the last two fantastic to witness. This year it has erupted from many places all over the log, I will stick by my assesment hunch and let time prove my intuitions validity:001_smile:

I have never known Laetiporus sulphureus to be in such abundance as it is this year. I suspect all the rain then followed by hot weather at the right time has been a major part of that. I have even seen Laeti panic fruiting from a long fallen Prunus avium this year, it has fruited many times from the Cherry tree that failed due to diminishing T/R ratio from this saprophytic heart rotter. Now the logs decay is largely complete and it is disintegrating hence I believe the Laetiporus is in desperate need of a new host. A most beautiful fungi, always a joy to see.

a good sprinkle of blood fish and bone meal too if you can. (garden centres)

almost forgot, some tea leafs (broken teabags) and a few bits of cardoard will help the soil biology along a treat. Worms love the fish oils in the cardboard glues and the teas

ha ha ha we will be getting the blame then! he is going to love arbtalkers! on a serious note youll save this tree, almost certainly the effects will be seen within a couple of years, get a good mulch down on the soil too.

nah, some of us get it right cos were THAT good:lol:

what ever you choose to do, I wish you all the best and thanks for the service rendered till now on the force.

hardest man on the planet, LEGEND

the slabs are its biggest problem, changes like laying a non permeable soil covering take at least ten years to show up, this makes me even more sure it is your slabs that are killing the tree. If the tree was planted in them from day one not so much damage would be done by it, but change soil regimes around a mature tree is a recipe for disaster.

You can tell him I have your back regarding the reduction remarks! and stress it with them, i know what I am talking about, this is my area of expertise!

The species is Ash, fraxinus excelsior it had at least one structural defect ( bark wound on tension side of heaviest limb) the tree was overly lifted and thinned at some stage pushing the canteen ever outward, a re structuring of form was desirable It worried the neighbour (because a rouge cowboy told her it was dangerous) the owner of said tree loves it and still loves it. the tree will not be stressed, and wont need reworking again for a decade nuff said:001_cool:

suggest you PR your tongue, especially on my thread, see my edit!

if this was my tree I would be doing a heavy style reduction= 30% minimum for retrenchment phased pollarding.

it will fail eventually either at a junction of major limbs where the fibres lay in alternate paths or as the union between the two stems is erroded from within, this union failure would see it fall toward camera front half and onto grass area behind for back stem. you either have Ganoderma pfeifferi or australe, i suspect australe

if there are targets of that calibre you MUST have this tree properly assessed, its critical.

classic

valuable experience andrew, mucky job aint it!

Good stuff Andrew, really pleased to see you hunting them down and enjoying it, really proud:thumbup1:

o.k lets talk about stress from pruning shall we. Stress is an anthropomorphism, a term we use do describe= wiki- it is unclear what exactly defines stress and whether or not stress is a cause, an effect, or the process connecting the two. With organisms as complex as humans, stress can take on entirely concrete or abstract meanings with highly subjective qualities, satisfying definitions of both cause and effect in ways that can be both tangible and intangible. natures version-

Because I was asked to, there is so many variables and justifications for a reduction of this kind, could take all night, this debate rages on and on, you obviously have your anti hat on. you tell me why not and we can go through that:thumbup:

I would have been a little more cautious regarding rigging point here, or removed myself from the vicinity on the loadings. There is a colomn of decay that is causing limb drops and the one remaining above the two that failed was not an obvious choice, be carefull lads, wanna see you come home!