A 150 year old beech tree is due to be cut down soon. It looks healthy
but it has fungus sprouting from its base. The owner of the tree
contacted the council and someone came round and said that it had to
be cut down. They said the roots would rot away and then it would fall
over.

Does this make sense to you? I have heard that fungus will hollow out
the inside of a tree and that actually makes it stronger. It makes it
more flexible so that it can withstand storms better, and that it will
live for many more years.

It doesn't look like honey fungus. It occurred to me that maybe the
council official wanted to be on the safe side. They might not want to
say it could be OK because then if something happened and it did fall
on someone or a car then they might be considered to be to blame.

By the way, its costing £3,000 to get it cut down.

The message
from hazchem contains these words:

A 150 year old beech tree is due to be cut down soon. It looks healthy
but it has fungus sprouting from its base. The owner of the tree
contacted the council and someone came round and said that it had to
be cut down. They said the roots would rot away and then it would fall
over.

Does this make sense to you?

On the balance of probabilities, no.

I have heard that fungus will hollow out
the inside of a tree and that actually makes it stronger. It makes it
more flexible so that it can withstand storms better, and that it will
live for many more years.

Some old trees have been hollow for centuries.

It doesn't look like honey fungus. It occurred to me that maybe the
council official wanted to be on the safe side. They might not want to
say it could be OK because then if something happened and it did fall
on someone or a car then they might be considered to be to blame.

Well, if you have a website, and the fruit-bodies are still there, could
you get a pic and post it? If no-one here can identify it,
alt.nature.mushrooms would be a good place to ask. There are some
serious mycologists in the group.

By the way, its costing £3,000 to get it cut down.

Hum. Don't get me started on the cost of tree-felling. I used to be a
partner in a tree-felling company, and our quotes were generally about a
third ov the next more expensive.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

"hazchem" wrote in message
...

By the way, its costing £3,000 to get it cut down.

It must be in a bloody awful location then, last tree I dropped I charged
£320 + I kept the wood. I'd get a few more quotes if I were you.

Tom

"hazchem" wrote in message
...
..

By the way, its costing £3,000 to get it cut down.

Gordon Bennett! Are they replacing it with a gold one into the price? Get
another quote, that one is ridiculous.

On 7/10/08 00:17, in article , "Christina
Websell" wrote:


"hazchem" wrote in message
...
.

By the way, its costing £3,000 to get it cut down.

Gordon Bennett! Are they replacing it with a gold one into the price? Get
another quote, that one is ridiculous.

I can't help feeling there's a typo there with the noughts. We've had all
sorts of trees taken down here when essential to do so and not one has ever
cost that kind of money - Redwood cedars, Monterey pines - not a patch on
that for price and all mature trees dying back.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

In this day and age, with a litigious public, councils are taking no risks. Any suggestion that the tree may possibly be dangerous, it will get the chop.

Sacha wrote:
On 7/10/08 00:17, in article , "Christina
Websell" wrote:

"hazchem" wrote in message
...
.

By the way, its costing £3,000 to get it cut down.
Gordon Bennett! Are they replacing it with a gold one into the price? Get
another quote, that one is ridiculous.

I can't help feeling there's a typo there with the noughts. We've had all
sorts of trees taken down here when essential to do so and not one has ever
cost that kind of money - Redwood cedars, Monterey pines - not a patch on
that for price and all mature trees dying back.

I had a mature lime removed 2 years ago. The best quote there was about
£1,000, that included traffic lights while the job took place, as we are
near a corner, and were needed for H&S. The adjacent tree is looking
poorly, how much that will cost I shudder to think as there are electric
wires near it, so they will have to be disconnected before work can be
carried out!

On 6 Oct, 15:17, Rusty Hinge 2
wrote:
The message
from hazchem contains these words:

A 150 year oldbeechtree is due to be cut down soon. It looks healthy
but it has fungus sprouting from its base. The owner of the tree
contacted the council and someone came round and said that it had to
be cut down. They said the roots would rot away and then it would fall
over.
Does this make sense to you?

On the balance of probabilities, no.

I have heard that fungus will hollow out
the inside of a tree and that actually makes it stronger. It makes it
more flexible so that it can withstand storms better, and that it will
live for many more years.

Some old trees have been hollow for centuries.

It doesn't look like honey fungus. It occurred to me that maybe the
council official wanted to be on the safe side. They might not want to
say it could be OK because then if something happened and it did fall
on someone or a car then they might be considered to be to blame.

Well, if you have a website, and the fruit-bodies are still there, could
you get a pic and post it? If no-one here can identify it,
alt.nature.mushrooms would be a good place to ask. There are some
serious mycologists in the group.

I have put some pictures on my website

http://www.geocities.com/rosestone/beech/beech.html

can anyone identify it?

On 7 Oct, 14:14, hazchem wrote:
On 6 Oct, 15:17, Rusty Hinge 2
wrote:



The message
from hazchem contains these words:

A 150 year oldbeechtree is due to be cut down soon. It looks healthy
but it has fungus sprouting from its base. The owner of the tree
contacted the council and someone came round and said that it had to
be cut down. They said the roots would rot away and then it would fall
over.
Does this make sense to you?

On the balance of probabilities, no.

Not sure about the fungus but the price quoted is a rip off.
It looks like a dismantling job rather than a straight fell; but even
so it shouldn't take more than a day for a couple of competent workers
to fell+ whatever time it takes to deal with the arisings.

In article ,
hazchem wrote:

A 150 year old beech tree is due to be cut down soon. It looks healthy
but it has fungus sprouting from its base. The owner of the tree
contacted the council and someone came round and said that it had to
be cut down. They said the roots would rot away and then it would fall
over.

Does this make sense to you? I have heard that fungus will hollow out
the inside of a tree and that actually makes it stronger. It makes it
more flexible so that it can withstand storms better, and that it will
live for many more years.

Yes and no, respectively.

What you are describing is the life cycle of trees like oak and yew;
beech is different, and tends to crash down. Note that I am not
saying that it IS dangerous - merely that the explanation makes sense.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The message
from hazchem contains these words:

I have put some pictures on my website

Looks like a Giant Polypore a bit past its sell-by date: Meripilus giganteus

If it is, it's common, and I haven't heard of it as a destructive
fungus. I repeat, ask in alt.nature.mushrooms - you WILL get chapter and
verse there.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

This would seem to be the culprit:

A much larger beech fungus is the GIANT POLYPORE (P. giganteus), the largest of our Bracket Fungi, which attacks the roots and base of the trunks, demoralizing the foundations, so that a huge beech that appears to have the solidity of a lighthouse, is snapped across in the first severe gale. The external manifestation of the fungus is made in autumn, when about twenty handsome, overlapping, fleshy fans, a foot across, and of a pale brown tint, with darker zones, make their appearance at the base of the trunk. The pallid underside of the flaps becomes dark at once when bruised. Its esculent qualities are appreciated on the Continent.

Sorry about that. Don't know what went wrong there, the URL was
correct. Try this one:-

http://www.geocities.com/gdvbqz/beech/beech.html

If not I can try it again somewhere else.

On 7 Oct, 14:23, AriesVal wrote:
On Tue, 7 Oct 2008 06:14:41 -0700 (PDT), hazchem wrote:
On 6 Oct, 15:17, Rusty Hinge 2
wrote:
[29 quoted lines suppressed]
I have put some pictures on my website

http://www.geocities.com/rosestone/beech/beech.html

can anyone identify it?

Oh dear -

Sorry, Service Temporarily Unavailable.
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance
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Additionally, a 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable error was encountered
while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're
having trouble locating a destination on Yahoo!, try visiting the Yahoo!
home page or look through a list of Yahoo!'s online services. Also, you may
find what you're looking for if you try searching below.
--
An investment in knowledge pays the best interest
Benjamin Franklinhttp://ariesval.co.uk/val/

On 8 Oct, 04:44, beccabunga
wrote:
hazchem;818345 Wrote:





On 6 Oct, 15:17, Rusty Hinge 2
wrote:-
The message

from hazchem contains these words:
-
A 150 year oldbeechtree is due to be cut down soon. It looks healthy
but it has fungus sprouting from its base. The owner of thetree
contacted thecounciland someone came round and said that it had to
be cut down. They said the roots would rot away and then it would
fall
over.
Does this make sense to you?-

On the balance of probabilities, no.
-
I have heard that fungus will hollow out
the inside of atreeand that actually makes it stronger. It makes
it
more flexible so that it can withstand storms better, and that it
will
live for many more years.-

Some old trees have been hollow for centuries.
-
It doesn't look like honey fungus. It occurred to me that maybe the
councilofficial wanted to be on the safe side. They might not want
to
say it could be OK because then if something happened and it did
fall
on someone or a car then they might be considered to be to blame.-

Well, if you have a website, and the fruit-bodies are still there,
could
you get a pic and post it? If no-one here can identify it,
alt.nature.mushrooms would be a good place to ask. There are some
serious mycologists in the group.
-
I have put some pictures on my website

http://tinyurl.com/3o45yw

can anyone identify it?

This would seem to be the culprit:

A much largerbeechfungus is the GIANT POLYPORE (P. giganteus), the
largest of our Bracket Fungi, which attacks the roots and base of the
trunks, demoralizing the foundations, so that a hugebeechthat appears
to have the solidity of a lighthouse, is snapped across in the first
severe gale. The external manifestation of the fungus is made in
autumn, when about twenty handsome, overlapping, fleshy fans, a foot
across, and of a pale brown tint, with darker zones, make their
appearance at the base of the trunk. The pallid underside of the flaps
becomes dark at once when bruised. Its esculent qualities are
appreciated on the Continent.

--
beccabunga- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I don't know if you managed to see the pictures I put onto the
website, if not I have tried to put them on a different site he-
http://www.geocities.com/gdvbqz/beech/beech.html
From what you said the council could be right about it being likely to
fall over.

Hazchem

The message
from beccabunga contains these words:

/Giant polypore/

Its esculent qualities are
appreciated on the Continent.

I've tried it, and I agree with the opinion reproduced below:

"Not edible due to its sour taste and fibrous texture."

(From Mushrooms and other fungi of Great and Europe by Roger Phillips.)

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig