Honey fungus how much to remove
jillianehall
Posts: 2
I moved last year to a house with a 30m privet hedge of which almost 10m is dead from honey fungus. The previous owners planted laurel in front of a dead section but unsurprisingly the disease has progressed. I have removed the dead trunks which have such rotten roots there was nothing much to remove. I have removed a few metres of dying hedge with their roots. I have also removed about a metre of superficially healthy looking wood. However at the current furthest edge I am seeing small rhizomorphs, and black areas on cut surfaces. Do I need to keep cutting?? Or are small amounts of disease inevitable and should healthy plants be able to withstand these, or does the fact that this has already killed so much hedge justify removing more? Any suggestions gratefully received as I know the neighbours would prefer I stopped cutting down healthy looking plants
Posts
It is hard to say if they can grow back healthy longterm. There have been instances where plants have survived and recovered. But I think this is risky and best to dig out the infected areas too. The idea is to get rid of roots and dead wood it has been surviving on. Choose plants that are less likely to be affected by it.
There are no chemical controls for honey fungus so you need to dig out as much of the affected wood and roots as possible and burn it and then put in fresh soil and plant non-susceptible plants. The RHS has a list of those most susceptible as well as those not known to have been infected so far.
Fairly confident. Although not certain. The neighbours had previously identified the problem as honey fungus, although possibly a Google-diagnosis. I can see fine threads of black "bootlaces" which are visible in one of the photos. I'm not however seeing much of the white mushroom smelling film. Cut surfaces have the black patches as see in the second photo which I wasn't sure if are related to the disease.
The main thing is checking how your tree or shrub is. There is a small possibility it is not Honey Fungus, but some kind of root rot. But if the growth is weak, and branches are dying, and by chopping areas off, it is still not improving, the plant should go. Normally, any wound that is opened on wood is a risk. The shrub/tree is weakened and in the long-run, the plant will probably die.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/garden-health/disease/Honey-fungus