Fungus ID

[BayouTree]

Can anyone help me ID these fungus? This is on a sugarberry (Celtis laevigata). The first one is flat against the trunk kinda greyish with a white fringe. The second are two conks kinda oyster shell looking in color. The whole root crown was spongy and the decay column reached up to one of the main leaders. Just curious if either of these was parasitic and led to the failure.

Thanks

 

[treeseer]

Can anyone help me ID these fungus? This is on a sugarberry (Celtis laevigata). The first one is flat against the trunk kinda greyish with a white fringe. The second are two conks kinda oyster shell looking in color. The whole root crown was spongy and the decay column reached up to one of the main leaders. Just curious if either of these was parasitic and led to the failure.

Thanks

Conks resemble Fomes or Cerrena, but that blue color looks a lot like Heterobasidion. It looks like girdling roots--see those two big stranglers in pic #3?-- originally led to the failure, and the fungi just took advantage, after damage was done by fence building.

Unusual for Celtis to have girdling roots, since most of the ones I see are not nursery-grown.

 

[geofore]

root failure

If I were a betting man my money would be on the fence going up is the time the tree starts to die. I'm looking at a job now that has 20 trees along a 200'Long X 7'High fence, treated wood. The trees were there before the fence went up but after the fence went up the trees declined. Two trees on the ground and 14 more need to be removed. The fence looks very simular to the one pictured, treated wood, up against the roots. Tell me did the neighbor build up dirt against the other side of the fence also? The ones I'm looking at had 2' of earth put on top of the roots on the other side of the fence killing the roots on half the trees on this side of the fence. It did not help that the fence crew nailed the fence to some of the trees. The neighbor has offered $1,800.00 toward removing the trees now that they are dying off. Not the first time I've seen the fence up against a trees kill the trees. The fence should have been futher away from the tree and off the ground/not touching the roots. The fungi comes after the fence kills the roots. By planting a fence on top of the roots expect the trees to die from root failure. It takes a few years to kill the roots but the outcome is dead trees.

 

[Boa07]

I'm quessing you guys know this but its interesting nevertheless, the two fruiting bodies orientated perpendicular to the ground were formed whilst the stem was upright (shown in red) the third fruiting body was formed after the tree fell over (yellow). I'd agree the two circled in red do look like Fomes fomentarius, or other Fomes spp impossible to tell without view of spore layer and close up through hand lens/microscope. The later fruiting body well that could be Fomitopsis (syn Phellinus) pinicola, again too hard to call based on the photos.
So you could argue (perhaps not totally convincingly) that the fruiting bodies in red are the parasitic fungi and the one in yellow saprophytic. (As I said not totally convincingly since they both can behave as saprophytes and parasites on wood tissue)

 

[Tree Machine]

the third fruiting body was formed after the tree fell over (yellow).

That's a very good observation.

I'm at a caving event with Elizabeth, 200 Km from home and any ID guides, but what I see is a singular species. It is quite unusual for mycelium to colonize an area of the tree and then have another specie intermingled.

The two darker fruit bodies have died and have darkened as a result. The lower one is a new fruitbody and as Boa says, has popped since the tree fell over. The colonization occurred as a result of the roots dying on that side of the tree and since that side of the tree no longer had water and nutrient supply, that area died. Don't be fooled just because there is bark there. The fungus, therefore is not parasitic. It is a saprophytic, opportunistic specie and just by the looks of the smaller one, I say it is Ganoderma oregonense, really common, a primary invader (first on the scene) and the mycelium runs really fast.

 

[Boa07]

Yes, of course you're right TM would be very unusual for two species to cohabit like that, much more likely to be as you say the colour change resulting from aged fruiting bodies. Not familiar with that variety of Ganoderma, mostly applanatum and lucidum here.
Don't forget that fungi can and do change to become far more agressive and parasitic within the tissues of the tree when the volume of dysfunctional tissue becomes unsustainable for the tree system as a whole, ie when stress becomes strain.

 

[treeseer]

My money (a nickel) is still on heterobasidion. P. 334 in the 2nd edition describes it pretty well.f Whatever the species, geofore's scenario sounds likely. Damage from fencebuilding created the infection court, but the girdling roots predisposed it. They are clear in the picture--amazing that the tree can stand up at all, even pre-decay.

Happy Spelunking, Jim!

 

[BayouTree]

Thanks for the help guys. Fungal ID is probably my weakest subject. After looking up the suggested ID's I think the Fomes fits pretty well for the conks. As far as the one in the first picture I think the jury's still out. Heterobasidion is the same as Annousus root rot correct? If so I've only heard of this in pines.

For sure the fence caused the initial damage resulting in the failure of the tree. The bottom plank ran right against the major root flairs on that side. Its hard to tell from the picture, but either those flairs were cut to install the lower plank, or the roots broke off very clean when the tree fell. Also looks like the root crown was buried by about 6 inches of soil on that side. If you look closely at picture #1 you can see and earthworm on the trunk.

Thanks.

 

[Tree Machine]

Worms are the good guys.

 

[Tree Machine]

Worms tell us things, they give us clues.

Worms will only go where there is a high degree of moisture. Generally, they like crawling through dirt or humus.

If I were Dr Dendro in looking at what's happened here at the scene of this arboreal mishap, Dendro migh ask, why would a worm climb up the trunk of the tree? Was he 'dug up' when the tree toppled? Why is the trunk moist enough to welcome a worm? Did the fence builders pile dirt up the trunk? Why the long strips of callus outlined in pink?

 

[Tree Machine]

Remote possibility that could have been a lightning struck tree.

 

[BayouTree]

That's pretty funny TM. You should submit that to Arborist News. opcorn: I didn't inspect the tree enough to see if the area between the two rolls of callus was dead. Not for sure what caused that. It could be from the death of one of those root flairs just extending up the tree. More detective work to be done. I like figuring these things out.

 

[Tree Machine]

Well, the area between the two rolls of callus is dead, that's obvious. Because it is now non-living, the fungus has invaded and colonized just this zone. There is no fungal evidence on the living part. That says classic saprophyte, not parasite. An excavation of simply scraping the bark back will prove that there's no cambial life between the callus rolls.


The cause? I'd say Treeseer got it on the girdling root. Either that or the fence guys cut through a buttress root, killing the area of tissue above the severed root.

Tha callus looks to be about two seasons growth. If the fence was put in two years ago, I'd say that is suspect. It takes 1-2 years between the time fungal spores land, germinate, grow, colonize and put forth fruiting bodies. You may see mushrooms 'overnight', but the process starts long before and is quite invisible to most all of us.

 

[treeseer]

Well, the area between the two rolls of callus is dead, that's obvious. Because it is now non-living, the fungus has invaded and colonized just this zone. There is no fungal evidence on the living part. That says classic saprophyte, not parasite. An excavation of simply scraping the bark back will prove that there's no cambial life between the callus rolls.

Tha callus looks to be about two seasons growth. If the fence was put in two years ago, I'd say that is suspect. It takes 1-2 years between the time fungal spores land, germinate, grow, colonize and put forth fruiting bodies. You may see mushrooms 'overnight', but the process starts long before and is quite invisible to most all of us.

By George I think he's got it.

 

[Tree Machine]

Dr. Dendro is my hero.

 

[CA arborista]

Help!

Excuse me everyone if I jump in with something new. Can anyone out there help me with a fungus ID -

We have seen from one side of our county to the other a fungus that appears on the living trunk wood of Locust (Robinia), on the living branch wood of fruitless Mulberry, Live Oak, Pistachio and English Walnut. It looks like a "sap (or Cambium) fungus," whitish and shelf-like with spore gills.

What am I seeing? Can it be treated and with what? These trees have had stressors (insufficient water, improper pruning) and the fungus appears to finish the tree off.

Thanx

 

[Tree Machine]

Not without a picture, better yet 5 images, closeup, a ways back, top side, underside.

Visual is #1 in the identification process, then (and not necessarily in any particular order), site of growth (what part of the tree, limb, trunk flare, etc), what specie(s) of tree is it on, what season (time of year), what part of the country, gills or pores on the underside, living on dead or live wood, spore color and mycelium type and color. All this, and an identification guide. If you really can't get it by then, under the microscope; spore size, shape and if you really have to have absolutely, positive 'evidence' on this particular specie, or if you really think you've discovered a new specie, DNA profile.

But good images, that's the only way we can do something beyond guess.

Welcome to the site, CA.

 

[CA arborista]

Thank you, Tree Machine. I will try to get those pics posted.

I think I included the info for tree type and location of infestation. The time of year would be winter to early spring. These fungi are small in size (1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter), white in color and have gray spore gills.

Out side of a positive ID for these, is there a general treatment such as a fungicide with a surfactant? I have read a number of negative Internet postings on the use of Pentra-Bark. Because these fungi are located on the bark, I would expect the need to use a systemic, penetrating fungicide.

Can you give me some info?

Thanx

 

[treeseer]

Can you give me some info?

Sure.

There is no fungicide i know of rated to treat decay fungi.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

The discoloration of the root, seems to indicate that root damage was a big part of it, possibly from digging, plow damage, livestock stomping, etc..

Not sure on the history of the land there, but it looks like the root system got "beat up" in the past 20 years or so.