Pecan tree fungus/pest?

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Erik with a k

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Arizona
Hi! I'm new here, so please forgive my general ignorance. Thanks in advance for your help.

We live in a pecan grove converted into a community in Queen Creek, Arizona (suburb of Phoenix). We were walking around the yard today inspecting the trees (as if I knew what I was looking for) and noticed what looks like a tree fungus to me. After looking closer, it looks like something is using the growth as a nest and burrowing into the tree. Maybe. I'm clueless.

I posted pics below. Is this something I should treat or get help with? Let me know if you need more information, and again, I really appreciate the advice. Thank you!
 

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Here's a picture of the overall tree, in case it helps to get a sense of the maturity of the tree. Thanks again.
 

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Haha, I sound like I'm on the HOA? That's funny. Maybe because I said we were "inspecting" the trees? The irony is that our HOA manages the water for all the pecan trees in the community, and over the summer they couldn't get their act together. There were long periods of no watering, which they blamed on a long list of excuses. I think the longest drought was about 7 weeks (which is a serious thing in the dead of summer in Phoenix). We lost one of our trees and most of the others look like they are struggling. But again, I'm a layman and don't know what I'm talking about. So anyway, that's why I said we were "inspecting" our trees. I'm not with the HOA. After losing that first tree, I'm trying to stay on top of things and highlight any concerns early so we don't lose any others.
 
Too bad someone hacked your tree, ie topped your tree or technically drop crotch pruned it to a node (branch or bud) that was too small. It should have been pruned to a branch that was at least 1/3 the diameter of the branch being cut.

What you have is a conk, a fruiting body of fungus growing inside the tree. Without doing some research I couldn't tell you which fungus that is or how damaging it is or how rotten the tree is. Either a small bird or rodent has decided to dig into some rotten wood around the conk and create a nest.

Your HOA needs to have an arborist knowledgable in pecan trees inspect it. Given the tree is fairly small at this point, the risk from failure will be pretty low. At some point, that codominant stem will have to be removed.
 
Its a species of ganoderma, a white rote fungi.
Second on a critter digging into rotten wood and having an arborist on site. Dont invite back whoever topped the trees.
 
Thanks a lot for all the responses. The HOA hasn't been very responsive to homeowner's complaints about the treatment of the trees, but I think that's probably no surprise. We had an arborist to come out a couple years ago. He was pretty disgusted with how the trees in the community were pruned (it was done before most of the houses were built). We have another 20 some-odd pecan trees in our yard that look like the one pictured, and there are many hundreds in the community that all look the same. Sigh. Anyway, I'll be giving the arborist another call. Thanks again for the responses.
 
The occurrence of fungus can be the most frustrating aspect of gardening. There is something that is helpful in getting rid of the fungus pests.

- Pruning is vital in maintaining a garden. This will eliminate the risk of fungus attack to your plants.

- Do not water your plants at night during summer. Humidity tends to rise during this season which could lead to some problems in your garden.

- Spray some fungicide in the garden center to eliminate the occurrence of powdery mildew.

You may also contact the pest control West Sacramento professionals if these DIY's do not work. Get rid of the fungus and enjoy your garden for years!
 
The occurrence of fungus can be the most frustrating aspect of gardening. There is something that is helpful in getting rid of the fungus pests.

- Pruning is vital in maintaining a garden. This will eliminate the risk of fungus attack to your plants.

- Do not water your plants at night during summer. Humidity tends to rise during this season which could lead to some problems in your garden.

- Spray some fungicide in the garden center to eliminate the occurrence of powdery mildew.

You may also contact the pest control West Sacramento professionals if these DIY's do not work. Get rid of the fungus and enjoy your garden for years!
Humidity in Phenix lol
 
Too bad someone hacked your tree, ie topped your tree or technically drop crotch pruned it to a node (branch or bud) that was too small. It should have been pruned to a branch that was at least 1/3 the diameter of the branch being cut.

What you have is a conk, a fruiting body of fungus growing inside the tree. Without doing some research I couldn't tell you which fungus that is or how damaging it is or how rotten the tree is. Either a small bird or rodent has decided to dig into some rotten wood around the conk and create a nest.

Your HOA needs to have an arborist knowledgable in pecan trees inspect it. Given the tree is fairly small at this point, the risk from failure will be pretty low. At some point, that codominant stem will have to be removed.
It was even a poor hack job , the cuts were not level:rolleyes:
 
The occurrence of fungus can be the most frustrating aspect of gardening. There is something that is helpful in getting rid of the fungus pests.

- Pruning is vital in maintaining a garden. This will eliminate the risk of fungus attack to your plants.

- Do not water your plants at night during summer. Humidity tends to rise during this season which could lead to some problems in your garden.

- Spray some fungicide in the garden center to eliminate the occurrence of powdery mildew.

You may also contact the pest control West Sacramento professionals if these DIY's do not work. Get rid of the fungus and enjoy your garden for years!

The fungus in those trees were not caused by watering patterns. If it was a foliage fungus/rust I would agree, but a stem fungus has totally different infection mechanisms.

This is not a fungal attack that can be remedied with a spray or dust.

Time to do a little more education of various types of fungus.
 
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