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Apple tree fungus

dart250spdart250sp Posts: 3
in Problem solving
Hi there, 
We have an old apple tree that has got a fungus infection, last year I tried to treat it with Hydrogen Peroxide, that seemed to work but it is back this year with a vengeance. Can this be treated or do we have to remove the tree?

Posts

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    fungi generally live in wood that's already dying. could you upload a photo?


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • dart250spdart250sp Posts: 3
    Hi there, 
    We have an old apple tree that has got a fungus infection, last year I tried to treat it with Hydrogen Peroxide, that seemed to work but it is back this year with a vengeance. Can this be treated or do we have to remove the tree?

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    Your tree may live for some time if you leave it alone. H. peroxide will not change things, nor will anything else. It looks much like the one Pansyface has posted or something very similar. 


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Agreed ... your tree is in terminal decline ... however dying trees are an important benefit to wildlife if left to decay naturally. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    Agree with all of the above.  The heartwood of your tree is rotting and what you see are the fruiting bodies.  The tree may live on for many years as the living part of the trunk (a thin layer called the cambium, just beneath the bark) isn't 'eaten' by this type of fungus, which only feeds on dead wood, like that in the centre of all trees.  It will become structually weaker and weaker before eventually coming down, probably on a windy day.  For that reason, if anyone is likely to get hurt or anything valuable could be damaged when it eventually falls, I would take it down now.  As @Dovefromabove mentioned, the rotting trunk is a valuable asset for wildlife though, so if you have somewhere you can leave it on the ground after felling, the ecosystem in your garden will find it of great benefit.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • dart250spdart250sp Posts: 3
    Thanks everyone, I think reluctantly I'll have it felled and replace it.
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