Hi, did some tree felling recently in order to thin out a plantation of
200 trees, the free was a turkey oak abour 15ft tall and disfigured.
when felled to make way for other better specimens the remaining logs
and stump had black veined stains. I have never seen this before. Does
anybody know what it is?

In article .com,
landscapeadvice wrote:
Hi, did some tree felling recently in order to thin out a plantation of
200 trees, the free was a turkey oak abour 15ft tall and disfigured.
when felled to make way for other better specimens the remaining logs
and stump had black veined stains. I have never seen this before. Does
anybody know what it is?

Fungus mycelium, or the effects of it. Only a specialist could make a
decent guess at which fungus, as there are a lot of possible candidates.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

landscapeadvice wrote:
Hi, did some tree felling recently in order to thin out a plantation
of 200 trees, the free was a turkey oak abour 15ft tall and
disfigured. when felled to make way for other better specimens the
remaining logs and stump had black veined stains. I have never seen
this before. Does anybody know what it is?

OT but.....
The is a local firm called "The Tree Fellers" - run by three Irish guys!

pk

Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article .com,
landscapeadvice wrote:
Hi, did some tree felling recently in order to thin out a plantation of
200 trees, the free was a turkey oak abour 15ft tall and disfigured.
when felled to make way for other better specimens the remaining logs
and stump had black veined stains. I have never seen this before. Does
anybody know what it is?

Fungus mycelium, or the effects of it. Only a specialist could make a
decent guess at which fungus, as there are a lot of possible candidates.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Dear Nick, Thanks for your input, I am about to do some research on
fungus mycelium.
thankyou very much. Steve

It is caused by the tree creating a chemical barrier to contain infection within a segment of tissue.

landscapeadvice wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi, did some tree felling recently in order to thin out a plantation of
200 trees, the free was a turkey oak abour 15ft tall and disfigured.
when felled to make way for other better specimens the remaining logs
and stump had black veined stains. I have never seen this before. Does
anybody know what it is?


Hi,

I don't know what it is, but I do know there is a newish disease called
'Sudden Oak Death' (Ramorum sp??). I think it is a notifiable disease
(someone here will know for sure), which means reporting it to DEFRA.

Although called 'Sudden Oak Death', it does attack other woody plants, so it
may be worth some research *and* checking other woody plants in the area
which are showing signs of sickness.

Spider

Have a look at the C.O.D.I.T. system of disease control in trees, from your description i am certain it is not mycelium.

Dear Spiderand everybody else. photographs are being e-mailed to the
forestry commission who deal with the disease that you mentioned. I
await their reply. The office in Scotland has been concerned and has
conducted a telephone interveiw with ourselves. Thankyou for your
interest. steve

penance! I have just heard that the forestry commission beleive it is
not anything to do with Sudden oak Death SOD, however they are still
going to investigate it. I would like to show the photos at a later
date and report back on the result. Thankyou for your interest in this
puzzling subject of which I have limited knowledge . Steve.

In article . com,
landscapeadvice wrote:
penance! I have just heard that the forestry commission beleive it is
not anything to do with Sudden oak Death SOD, however they are still
going to investigate it. I would like to show the photos at a later
date and report back on the result. Thankyou for your interest in this
puzzling subject of which I have limited knowledge . Steve.

The symptoms you describe are very common indications of fungal
infestation. As I implied, whether the colour is the mycelium
or due to chemicals released by the mycelium reacting with the
wood, or something even more complex, is beyond my knowledge.
If the Forestry Commision are investigating, they will know that,
and will be interested in finding out WHICH fungus (or whatever).

Note that the symptoms of infection by fungi, slime moulds and
bacteria can be indistinguishable, though the organisms are much
less closely related than we are to flatworms. So it would not
amaze me to discover that it was not fungal, but bacterial.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Hi, just a quick reply to your thoughts, The site is 23 acres and no
other symptoms have been seen. The site has no Rhodo's and has 13,000
trees the majority of which are 10-12 years old. The scaring on the
bark has been with this sole tree for 5-6 years and the leaves and
branches have appeared to be healthy. I await the reply fro the FC.
Thanks for your help.Steve

I'll be interested to hear the findings.
I have felled many trees that display the signs of chemical compartmentalisation, sometimes the tree can appear perfectly healthy, and often is, but obviously it may be more sinister.
Pictures would be helpful.

In article ,
penance writes:
|
| I'll be interested to hear the findings.

Yes.

| I have felled many trees that display the signs of chemical
| compartmentalisation, sometimes the tree can appear perfectly healthy,
| and often is, but obviously it may be more sinister.
| Pictures would be helpful.

And, as Rackham points out, fungal infection of the heartwood
is a normal part of many tree species' development, and is NOT
biologically unhealthy! Though it is undesirable from a forestry
point of view ....

I would hesitate to guess in what proportion of trees with
fungal infection and chemical compartmentalisation the former
was the cause of the latter (rather than both being the result
of some third 'attack'). So identifying the cause needs more
effort than just looking at the damaged tissue under a microscope
or culturing samples and looking for fungi/bacteria/etc.

It's like my personal hypothesis of coral spot - i.e. that it
is NOT generally the cause of the branches dying back, but gets
the blame because it infects the bark immediately it starts to
die from another cause. Yes, that could be investigated, but
it would need expensive laboratory work.

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple"


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

dear Nick I didn't expect such a response as the new boy, however am I
right in understanding that compartmentalisation is the staining which
acts as a barrier to the infection of fungus? I think thats it.
So you are saying( I think) that there are many trees that are standing
that are fighting infections with a barrier as we speak.
In addition, to find out the cause of the fungus would be very
difficult and expensive because?.............. I would like to know
your thoughts.
However how marvelous that a tree has the natural ability to defend
foriegn elements and try and survive until I cut it down without
finding the cause first!!!!!!.
You like my self are interested in the result. Which I will publish on
another link in days to come. Regards, Steve

Some wood workers like this effect - and in timber is known as Spalted,
hence spalted beech, etc

Further info can be found at
http://www.thewoodbox.com/data/wood/spaltedinfo.htm