What to do if your garden has Honey Fungus

[Jez]

Noticed Honey fungus growing an a clients Malus just before Christmas! How do start back 2010 and wish the clients a happy new year, by the way...............

[hank]

Look here..................

Honey Fungus - symptoms, causes and treatment

Best of luck.
Keith.

[fairplay]

That's a useful site, but I am not convinced it is necessary to remove dead stumps* of trees and shrubs as part of garden hygiene as 1. It is expensive, 2. It is hard work if you DIY.

If Honey Fungus was next door, it will be just as likely to go for your existing live trees as it would for dead stumps.

Neil.

*Where Honey Fungus was not the cause.

[Jez]

Originally Posted by hank

Look here..................

Honey Fungus - symptoms, causes and treatment

Best of luck.
Keith.

Thanks for the link Hank!

Also I found this: Royal Horticultural Society | Advice Search | Honey fungus

http://www.rhs.org.uk/RHSWebsite/fil...ecd3ed1ed4.pdf

My Client has also a number of susceptible shrubs that are listed very close by - Ceanothus, Rhododendron, all mature plants I'm happy to say but another young apple tree close by. 1 way to combat the rhizimorphs by the looks of things is put butyl liner vertically into the ground to prevent further spread. Though at what cost I'm atm not certain!

Jez

[fairplay]

I'm assuming the suspect Malus has been checked below the bark for white mycelium sheets, just to confirm this is the source of the fruit bodies, and you have done all you can to find out how this Malus became infected in the first place ?

The circular trench needs to be dug at least to the furthest overhangs of the crown, but if you plan to dig a trench, I would suggest your time would be better spent digging up the Malus stump and all the roots you can find down to a diameter of 1cm or even less, looking out for those black rhizomorphs all the time (and I doubt you will see them - they are not always easy to see)

Neil.

[Jez]

Thanks Fairplay for your input!

I have sourced the white Rhizimorphs but the Malus is no stump but a mature tree which dropped its fruit last Autumn like buck shot from a blunderbus! I have no plans to trench any part of the garden for when I visit my clients they are not always there attt (So I wouldn't dream of trenching without consulting them)!

[fairplay]

Originally Posted by Jez

Thanks Fairplay for your input!

I have sourced the white Rhizimorphs but the Malus is no stump but a mature tree which dropped its fruit last Autumn like buck shot from a blunderbus! I have no plans to trench any part of the garden for when I visit my clients they are not always there attt (So I wouldn't dream of trenching without consulting them)!

In that case you have to be firm with him or her and tell them you have seen Honey Fungus near the Malus, you suspect this is the source, the tree may look okay now, but fruiting bodies mean advanced infection in which case the longer nothing is done the further the rhizomorphs will spread and they will loose even more trees and shrubs.

Learn from my experience, I told the joint lady owner of the holiday home, she did nothing, more trees died, the rest of the family blamed me for not watering the trees !, eventually the big boys came with a JCB and removed the stump and some of the roots (I did the rest), more trees and shrubs continued to die, I dug them all out, and finally last year (6 years later) no Honey Fungus appeared.
End result: 6 dead trees 7+ dead shrubs and the owners fall out with me for 'not looking after the garden'.

Neil.

[Jez]

I do suspect and only as an a assumption, that beyond the rear of the garden is a local Christmas tree grower and what with all the felling and cutting, just maybe the root cause to my clients infection!?! If so, is there some way they maybe compensated if that is the case "not saying it is"?

[fairplay]

It would be very expensive to prove as the grower would fight it tooth and nail.
I know of only one part successful case, and that was of a chap who sued the council, it dragged on and on, but the chap was determined and the council settled out of court without admitting responsibility. (It spread from their infested land into his garden)

Neil.

[Petalouthi]

I hope you don't mind me joining in this discussion, which I've been following with interest.
These appeared in my sister-in law's garden in October:




And a few days later:


Although it appears to be growing on grass, there had been a tree there, and no doubt still roots left underground. There was a similar patch under trees in the part of the garden beyond the gate. I thought it was armillaria sp. - honey fungus, of some kind.

First, is the id correct?

And, should I be alerting them to the problems you outline above, and possible actions to take?

thanks
Di