Fungus

Tom, This one being which tree species ?

Erysiphe species produce whitish patches of powdery mildew on leaves and do not cover leaves totally with blackish layers, which can be washed off. As I'm not even 100 % sure, this is a plant pathogen, IMO it would be best to identify the cause first before using a fungicide.

In my region, sandy soils always are composed of sharp edged (silicium) sand without destabilizing inclosures of humus or composted leaf litter. I've never seen a beech fall in this particular way, which was not heavely decayed in his root plate by Meripilus.

No, decay by Meripilus (see the photo of the panic reproduction in autumn) caused the fall, because the soil was very wet and cohesive and the beech was not yet in foliage, when it fell in March after a period of intensive rainfall. And what do you mean with Fagus having "central" roots as opposed to lateral roots ? ---

Tony, White spores from what, from a very old inactive and partially decayed bracket, of which the remaining tubes have stopped producing spores a long time ago, because the mycelium died ? I think you mistake light spots and a white mould on the bracket and the bark for spores, which after death of the mycelium and its reproductive organ can no longer be produced, unless you believe in life after death for Ganoderma .

1. Although less common, I've seen the same combination here too. And I have also seen the combination of P. squarrosa and P. fraxinea on Platanus and Robinia. 2. In The Netherlands, for the beech-Meripilus combination, the type of soil is very important. On sandy soils, this combination often is fatal for trees with a high wind load, as it often leads to windthrow after which the completely "torn off" root plate stands up vertically (photo). ---

Janey & David, From my own experience, I can report, that this "honey bee habitat creation" also is common practice in certain parts of Turkey and I have seen it done in Greece and on Cyprus too. In Turkey it is not only done for the collection of honey, but trees standing close to orchards (peach, apricot, almond, apple) are also used as an alternative for bee hives, when there are not enough "bee nomads" - family groups of people travelling in the mountainous areas with their tents and hives visiting the orchards to have their bees pollinating the flowers - around.

IMO there are two species of bracket fungi : - Photo 1 shows a very old perennial bracket of the same Ganoderma species, which are all white rotters with selective delignification, present in photo 4 and 5 - Photo 2 and 3 show a probably indigenous species for the region, which should account for the brown rot at the base.

This is what I know as P. squarrosa specific root and rootplate decay in Fraxinus, but also in Platanus (photo) and Robinia, with as a common characteristic, that the biotrophic parasitic P. squarrosa almost always fruits for the first time when the root plate and/or the buttresses of the tree are in their end phase of decay and sometimes the tree and/or the fungus in this phase also panic reproduce as a warning sign. Also see : Album Pholiota squarrosa. ---

. This is a trunk base and buttresses phenomenon I have never seen before, not even on the two very old oaks I monitor because of a known infection with I. dryadeus.

. By the way, I don't think the late Mr. Pfeiffer would have liked seeing his name written wrong all the time .

Maybe the ecological niche of the endomycorrhizal ash in the U.K. differs from the habitat of the tree species specific ecosytem of Fraxinus in The Netherlands and Germany, as also seems to hold for I. dryadeus and the ectomycorrhizal Q. robur or Castanea ?

No, not this type of necrosis associated with I. hispidus, only the type of fungal or bacterial bark canker I spoke of before.

Tony, Thanks, . I would certainly like to see more of those in situ.

Aha, now were talking , although I must admit, that this also seems an U.K. Fraxinus-I. hispidus related phenomenon, because I have never seen it over here, nor elswhere on the continent (yet). Does it also occur on other tree species like Ulmus ?

Then I at least would have to know the colour of the spores to try to identify the bracket species.

Were the Howeia (?) palm and (Asplenium ?) tongue ferns rooting in the brown rotted stem of the tree ? If so, they were a preceding warning of the extensive decay and possible fall of the tree. And the bracket fungus causing brown rot must be an indigenous South Asian species, because it doesn't look like any brown rot causing European species I know.

Dear anonymous or whoever - for obvious reasons - hides behind the alias of woodlander, Running away from what or whom ? From a ridiculous and pointless "debate" with someone anonymous, who clearly neither does have the expertise or education, nor the skills to fully understand and evaluate the essence of the articles he without reading them first "cherry picks" from internet and who never answers any of the questions I raise in reply to his non-sense citations ? And of what must I be convinced ? Of your lack of knowledge and incompetence in the field of forest ecology, tree species specific ecosystems, mycology and the soil food web ? As you obviously have a burning urge to (again) make a complete fool of yourself by (again) displaying total ignorance of the effects of a product you're an advocate (and producer and/or reseller : afraid of loosing your bussiness, are you ?) of, on (natural) forests with tree species associated with ectomycorrhizal macrofungi, I'll for the last time facilitate you in this : - by referring to the terms used in the abstract after 1), I kindly repeated, and without expecting a valid answer, i.e. any answer at all, regarding 2). asking you : - what scientific evidence of the assumed "likelyhood" of mycorrhizal fungi (what type : endo- or ectomycorrhizae ?) decreasing because of increases in nutrient availability you can produce, - what the exact changes in native soil biota are, which must be attributed to biochar, - whether these changes are permanent or temporarely and - how detrimental they are for the native soil food web. I end my last post on biochar with a simple tip you might even understand : if you quick scan or read an article, text or abstract and you don't come across words such as tree, tree root, (natural) forest, ectomycorrhizae, symbiotic macrofungi, tree species specific ecosystem and soil food web, it's not about or significant for European forestry in general and "management" of trees in need of natural habitats, in which they can live in harmony with their tree species specific partners, in particular.

Matt, Is the first photo from the same tree (species) as the following photo's of Inonotus dryadeus are from ?

Matt & Tony, C. fagisuga is associated with bark canker caused by Nectria coccinea. And it looks like there is a bracket of Trametes gibbosa present in the rotting wound high up the tree, which is an indication of previous white rot of the wood with chlorinated carbohydrates (organohalogens) by the mycelium of Bjerkandera adusta, on which T. gibbosa parasitizes as a successor. The part of the crown partially attached to the decayed zone could be in danger of breaking off because of this.

The first two being bark "pioneers", causing the bark to peel off by decaying the cambium layer before the branches fall to the ground and then continue white rotting the wood, and the last one being a parasite of the mycelium of Peniophora.

David, The gills are not wide enough apart for Megacollybia platyphylla, this probably is a Melanoleuca.

Rob, From this information alone, it is impossible to determine whether the fruitbodies were either of saprotrophic or of parasitic macrofungi, recycling or killing the roots or living of leaf litter. If only roots of Fraxinus were present, ectomycorrhizal macrofungi can be excluded, because ashes are associated with endomycorrhizal microfungi asexually fruiting underground. The first light brown type may be a Psathyrella species, the second type could be a Mycena, like M. pura, but without photo's it's nothing but a wild guess.

I agree with you, Matty and Jamis, that I. hispidus, which is a white and a soft rotter, can cause serious damage to the wood of the trunk and major branches of the trees it attacks, and this especially goes for Malus, Sorbus and/or Ulmus and less often for Fraxinus, Acer, Platanus and Juglans. Once the annual fruiting on Platanus starts, you have to realize, that the mycelium has by then completely "drained" the starch rich radial rays it grows in and feeds on and both massive or poor fruiting (with guttation) can be a sign of panic reproduction. Also see : Bark sinks Platanus. I. hispidus is not restricted to the tree species specific ecosystem of Fraxinus, the tree species it often "pollards" in a "natural" way, but is a generalist, which is highly adaptive to each different tree species it attacks. And note, that all tree species it colonizes have poorly developed defensive systems, because they all depend on generalistic endomycorrhizal microfungi, which also live in symbiosis with most of the green plants and grasses living underneath or in the vicinity of the tree and its roots. For the strategies of I. hispidus compared with those of I. dryadeus, only living on/in (vinegar) acid rich Quercus and Castanea, tree species which both are associated with ectomycorrhizal macrofungi, see : Strategies of Inonotus species.

Sean, As I don't know what you mean with Hispidus canker, I assume you mean this : Bark canker ash ?