ID for fungus growing at base of poss Mulbery tree

[fairplay]

[quote=King Edward;860096]Are you sure about this?

I picked this up whilst fighting on ongoing battle with Honey Fungus about 6 years ago. I forget the source of my information, but will look into it.

I have a newspaper cutting from 14 years ago where a house owner successfully sued the council for failing to prevent Honey Fungus spreading from their land onto his. After a long battle lasting several years they backed down and paid him a lump sum - but still denying responsibility.

Wouldn't a similar situation occur if the previous owner had covered over an old well or cesspit with just a sheet of hardboard and threw dirt on top and one of the new owners children fell into the well as a result of the hardboard deteriorating ? Selling a property without pointing out something which decreases it's value or a safety defect must be illegal surely, but I will double check on the HF issue.

Neil.

[gobbiner]

This is getting like a Agatha Christie novel

[King Edward]

Your well/cesspit example would be a clear case of negligence endangering safety. Honey Fungus is different in that it's a native/wild plant pathogenic fungus which happens to attack some/many garden plants. It's not a direct threat to humans, not to buildings as far as I know (unlike Dry Rot, Death Watch Beetle etc.). I don't know the legal situation though so I'd be interested to know if you find any clear legal guidelines on it.

[StreathamDebs]

Thank you everyone for your help - I'll look into this rather more seriously. Be interesting to know if the previous occupants even knew they had this here. And presumably if it spreads and I now know about it....help!

This is also in my garden - please don't tell me I'm in even more trouble! Does anyone know about this one?

[fairplay]

This looks like Trametes versicolor (Turkey Tail) to me with a very pronounced white margin. This lives on already dead wood.

At the very bottom of the photo with the knife in it, is a fungus with a purple look to it, it may be caused by being in the shade and a characteristic of the camera, but if it really is this colour then it may be Chondrostereum purpureum.

Neil.

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by StreathamDebs

Thank you everyone for your help - I'll look into this rather more seriously. Be interesting to know if the previous occupants even knew they had this here. And presumably if it spreads and I now know about it....help!

In the grand tradition of Corporal Jones "don't panic !". There are " three types" of Honey fungus reported in the UK (types in inverted commas to indicate not necessarily cladistically approved !). Of these one is reported as extremely pathogenic to the host tree, one is reported as not profoundly pathogenic, and the other is sort of in between the other two. A characteristic of the least pathogenic, is its capacity to produce masses of rhizomrphs - long, tough, black strands that resemble old style leather boot laces. The rhizomorphs start out in dead wood and can then spread out, up to ten metres to infect a new source of nutrient. You can therefore potentially identify your possible honey fungus by digging in the soil around the clump.

If you find rhizomorphs in the soil and there's a lot of them, then you've got a fairly good basis for the identity being least problematic honey fungus. If there are only a few, or the only presence of rhizomorphs in is dead wood associated with the fuiting body, then you've got an identification, but not any certainty about pathogenaity. And a lack of rhizomorphs unfortunately tells you nothing.

There's a useful thread here: Diseased cherry tree in garden

Don't be seduced by any advertising that claims a product can get rid of honey fungus - there's nothing proved to worked. I took on a garden with HF two years ago - infesting a privet hedge - although I could not take out the hedge , I did dig out rhizomophs that had spread over nearly 15 square metres of garden within the hedge line. There is some sign that some of the privet continues to suffer but no sign that the rhizomorphs are extending into the cleared soil on my side of the boundary line.

CM