Advice Re Eliminating Fungi

[Red Squirrel]

Can someone tell me how to get rid of this fungi please?

It's growing out cracks in a seat carved from spruce.

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by Red Squirrel

Can someone tell me how to get rid of this fungi please?

It's growing out cracks in a seat carved from spruce.

Why? It's perfectly natural, and unless you want to get rid of the seat too it would be best to just enjoy it!

Probably not what you expected as a reply but that's my advice.

John

[Red Squirrel]

No I don't want to get rid of the seat. To my mind fungi equals decay so I don't want the seat to rot. I am wrong in this deduction?

[solus]

As a dead piece of wood, (that is, no longer part of a living tree) your seat is just undergoing the normal and natural processes of breaking down and fungus is just one of the factors that helps in this.

Garden seats made from wood (as in the benches you buy from Garden Centres) are treated with preservatives or oils and have to be re-treated every year or so to protect them, otherwise if left outdoors to their own devices they will eventually rot away too. All part of Nature's rich tapestry!

[Red Squirrel]

Thanks solus. So will any preservative kill the fungi or do I need something specifically for the job?

[mollisia]

Hello,

the fungus growing out of your garden seat is Conifer Mazegill (Gloeophyllum sepiarum). This species is often tolerant to resistent against fungus protection chemicals and you will often find it on coniferous wood used as fenses or similar things. It is one of the most aggresive fungi to building wood, but usually outside the houses and not inside (in contrast to Dry Rot = Serpula lacrymans, which only occures inside the houses and not outside).
When Gloeophyllum sepiarium is already showing fruitbodies, there is no use anymore to do anything against it - it's too late. The money you want to use for fungizides is wasted money, sorry. So enjoy your seat as long as the are still stable enough, what can be for still many years, and then buy new ones.

Sorry to have no better news and best regards nevertheless,
Andreas

[Red Squirrel]

Thank you for the information mollisia. That's interesting and informative.