Thanks Nina for a very illuminating and informative response. Also thanks to
all that replied to my initial and subsequent questions regarding timber
training boxes.

That said, I've opted to stay on the safe side regarding my training boxes
and used a promising sounding product called 'Fungishield'. The
manufacturers (Feas****son) claim the following : "Fungishield is a clear
water repellent penetrating wood preserver ideal for priming new interior
and exterior timber. It has mould and fungus resistant properties and is
designed to stabilise timber to minimise twisting and warping prior to top
coating...." also "Prevents timber against Mould and Decay"

The tin states that the active ingredient is 686g/L Liquid Hydrocarbons.
I figure this should do the trick for a 5 year stint for my 10yo privet.
For those Bonsai enthusiasts in Australia, I bought mine from Bunnings
Hardware for $12.50 a 500ml tin. also comes in 250ml for @ $9.


Martin
South Eastern Australia

"Nina" wrote in message
ups.com...
Here's an elaboration of "apples" and "oranges", Martin:

Because wood is so important, a great deal of research has gone into
the behavior of fungi that attack it. I (as a plant pathologist)
mostly study fungi that attack living trees (pathogens) rather than
those that attack dead wood (saprophytes). But trees are funny in that
only a thin sheath of tissue is alive at any one time: the leaves,
twigs, feeder roots, and the inner bark and a web of tissue in the
outer rings of bark. The rest of the tree is dead. So in addition to
pathogens, plant pathologists have to deal with "heartrot", which is
the rotting of the dead inner wood of a tree which can weaken it
structurally and cause the tree to collapse and die.

If you had a tree in a wooden training box, and the box had rot fungi,
and your tree had jin and shari, you might worry a little. And since
you probably cut off the tree's taproot in order to fit it in the
training box, you should be aware that the dead wood in the center of
the tree is in direct contact with the soil instead of having a layer
of bark to protect it. You see, wood rotters come in two types: brown
rotters and white rotters. Brown rot fungi can digest cellulose; white
rot fungi can digest lignin. But bark contains suberin, and few fungi
can digest that. This is why you use bark for mulch- it lasts a long
time in contact with the soil. And this is why trees cover themselves
with bark, and why they seal wounds instead of just leaving broken wood
exposed.

So I would not call wood rotters and plant pathogens "apples" and
"oranges", but I'd put them on a continuum from "potentially very
harmful" to "mostly harmless but willing to cause problems under the
right conditions". I'd go ahead and use a wooden training box
(although I like the papoose idea a lot), but I'd keep in mind that
wood rotting fungi are opportunistic.

Nina.