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diseased tree - any ideas what it is?

5 years ago

Hi all, I’ve a number of large trees in my garden & one has a fungus or disease in the trunk. It doesn’t look great & I was just wondering if anyone could help identify it?

Many thanks for your time

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rachelmidlands

5 years ago

@forza, Eeeuuuwwww!!! ;p

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Comments (6)

E D
5 years ago
I'm no expert but I feel it has something to do with moist and possibly some (partly) rotting wood.

I actually think it looks great.
Emily
5 years ago
It always amazes me when massive old trees have some sort of damage and yet still stand firmly. Have seen pics where there is a hole all the way through the trunk before. Any how I don’t know what the fungus is but it looks pretty normal to me so agree with ED if this was in my garden I wouldn’t worry :)
But I’m no expert either!
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rachelmidlands
5 years ago
Those photos are giving me the creeps! (I have a phobia of fungi...!!) Agree, looks perfectly natural, especially on an old tree. Think it’s called a plate fungus. I’d be getting a curtain so I don’t have to look at it;)
Sonia
5 years ago
That looks like honey fungus, but I can’t be 100 percent sure. If it is, it can kill a tree or a shrub and it spreads. I think it may be worth you looking on the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) website and see what advice they give. This is a picture of one form of honey fungus. Sorry about the picture Rachel!
mayfly182
5 years ago
It seems to be a bracket fungus (where the main bit of the fruiting body comes directly out of the side of the tree, unlike the honey fungus which has a stem first)

Bracket funguses are very common and don't really harm the tree. They feed on the heartwood, which is already dead in the same way that our fingernails and hair are attached to us but not a live part of us. The live part of the tree trunk is only directly under the bark. If the heartwood is infected with fungus then the tree will eventually become hollow, but you're talking about decades to do that.

It was once thought that this shortened the life of the tree by making it less sturdy and more easy for high winds to take down, but it's now thought that it actually increases the lifespan of the tree by reducing the weight making it less top-heavy, and so less likely to come down.

There's nothing you can do about the fungus, whatever it is. It'll be all through the tree and all you're seeing is the fruiting bodies. The choices are chop the tree down or leave it standing.

You can get a tree surgeon in to have a look if you're worried that the tree might be dangerous but I don't think there's a lot of point unless you can see dead or dying branches. They might give you a positive ID on the fungus, or see if you can find a local mycologist.

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