The weather patterns we've been experiencing in the last decade are causing problems for our trees. I've mostly lost my boxwoods, and the other day I went out and found this fungus at the root of one of our oaks.
This is, I think, Armillaria root fungus of some kind(*edited to add: a friend thinks it might be this kind of fungus: http://www.first-nature.com/fungi/trametes-gibbosa.php*); there are apparently lots of varieties. The fungus is a symptom of a stressed tree. It develops under warm, moist conditions. Last year we had too much rain and now we're having too little. Obviously the trees are stressed.
There doesn't seem to be a cure for this fungus that I can find. It was huge - that's my husband's size 13 foot beside it in the first picture. He took a hoe and with his one good hand he hacked away the fungus, but I don't know if that will help anything.
It says it can take years for the fungus to kill a tree, but sometimes it happens quickly.
We are having issues with our blue spruces, too. I will write about that on Wednesday.
We have lost several trees this past year, due to weather and its drastic changes.
ReplyDeleteThat's huge!
ReplyDeleteI've noticed a great variety of fungi this year, some of it near trees like in your photo, and some just cropping up in the middle of lawns, seemingly out of nowhere. It's most likely a combination of the cold, hard winter, the cold spring, and wet June.
ReplyDelete