Hiya, I'm in the beginning stage of renovating our garden and have started cutting back some of the shrubs that are to be kept and moved to different positions. It was until cutting back a Weigela shrub when some of the old growth broke away from under the soil line (with very little effort but there was fresh buds on the stems despite it being rotten) when I realized something was amiss. Then found the bootlace under some of the bark of the old growth and it made sense why the shrub has been flowering like mad over the past two years.
I was suspicious after finding some dark fibrous root like structures to be fungal rhizomorphs the other month whilst digging out some raspberry canes from what used to be an old veg plot (Base plan: Back garden - section 2) and then finding fungal activity on the stump of a willow (the willow was missed out from the plan as it wasn't a fixed feature and in the process of removal) that had self seeded in the top right hand corner of the plot. At the time I wasn't sure if it was honey fungus or not. But after finding these bootlaces its become clear that this species of fungus is in our garden.
I'm not sure how big the spread is as the privet hedge that separates the two sections of the garden doesn't seem to be affected nor does the Prunus (Back garden - section 1) and the old apple trees next door. The Lilac that is under the Prunus was thought to have given up the ghost about 15 years ago due to rot and has somehow come back to life since. But never seen one honey fungus mushroom since having the house and touch wood that the fungus is establishing itself when we've found it.
The problem is if it is in the soil of the veg plot, on the final plan the privet partition on the right is to be removed and replaced by a decorative Malus, along with some Rhodes and a Magnolia. Which are susceptible to honey fungus and may end up having problems later in the near future if planted in infected soil. I would like to ask if it is possible to treat the soil in any way to control the fungus and will cuttings from newish growth of the Weigela be healthy enough to propagate?
I've attached the base plans to show what our garden looks like and where the Weigela shrub is in situ. Sorry that some of section 2 plan is missing as my scanner can only fit A4. The corner where the Buddleja is on the section 2 plan is roughly north.
I'll be grateful for any suggestions and advice, even if it is bad news so I can rethink my plant list.
My question is whether it is OK to use home made compost for young apple trees, that contains some disconnected thin honey fungus rhizomorphs. Over the past 5 years, I have an established an orchard of 26 trees in part of our garden, mainly different eating apple varieties. The trees are cropping well and are all healthy. As with many other contributors to this thread, the garden - indeed the whole village - is riddled with honey fungus. But, we have lost only five trees to it over the last ten years - mainly old except for one beautiful acer - and just accept we have to live with the honey fungus. We are organic, and have so far fertilised the orchard trees only with copious quantities of garden compost in circular recesses round the tree bases. The latest batch of compost, though, is infested with honey fungus rhizomorphs. I think it probably mainly comes from a largish clump of thick black bootlaces that inadvertently got into the New Zealand box, probably from mowing the grass near an old plum tree that died from the fungus and was removed. Obviously I've removed all I can see from the compost - but there is no way I can get rid of all bits of fine red filaments. On 16 September, 2013, in this forum, BobTheGardener said "The rhizomorphs can't live when disconnected from the main fungal body". SO, I THINK I'm probably OK to go ahead and use this compost on the trees - it's just that actually feeding trees with compost I know contains some honey fungus seems a very big step! I guess I'm seeking reassurance, please, that BobTheGardener's statement is correct. For what it's worth, our gardener agrees. His comment was: "If one of those trees dies from honey fungus, it's much more likely to have come through the soil from the old plum tree than from compost placed round the base.
I've just moved into a house and been told by the neighbour that hf is what is killing the dividing hedge and has killed whatever he has put there. My question is, if it is unwise to plants shrubs in this area, would I also be mad to use the space to site my compost heap? Will the compost be infected from below? Thanks.
I found lots of HF rhizomorphs in an old compost heap but that one hadn't been turned for years. If you turn it regularly there should be no problem. The factsheet (pdf) in the link below has lists of woody plants which are susceptible, resistant or immune to HF, so have a look through those and see if you like any of the resistant/immune ones:
Posts
Hiya, I'm in the beginning stage of renovating our garden and have started cutting back some of the shrubs that are to be kept and moved to different positions. It was until cutting back a Weigela shrub when some of the old growth broke away from under the soil line (with very little effort but there was fresh buds on the stems despite it being rotten) when I realized something was amiss. Then found the bootlace under some of the bark of the old growth and it made sense why the shrub has been flowering like mad over the past two years.
I was suspicious after finding some dark fibrous root like structures to be fungal rhizomorphs the other month whilst digging out some raspberry canes from what used to be an old veg plot (Base plan: Back garden - section 2) and then finding fungal activity on the stump of a willow (the willow was missed out from the plan as it wasn't a fixed feature and in the process of removal) that had self seeded in the top right hand corner of the plot. At the time I wasn't sure if it was honey fungus or not. But after finding these bootlaces its become clear that this species of fungus is in our garden.
I'm not sure how big the spread is as the privet hedge that separates the two sections of the garden doesn't seem to be affected nor does the Prunus (Back garden - section 1) and the old apple trees next door. The Lilac that is under the Prunus was thought to have given up the ghost about 15 years ago due to rot and has somehow come back to life since. But never seen one honey fungus mushroom since having the house and touch wood that the fungus is establishing itself when we've found it.
The problem is if it is in the soil of the veg plot, on the final plan the privet partition on the right is to be removed and replaced by a decorative Malus, along with some Rhodes and a Magnolia. Which are susceptible to honey fungus and may end up having problems later in the near future if planted in infected soil. I would like to ask if it is possible to treat the soil in any way to control the fungus and will cuttings from newish growth of the Weigela be healthy enough to propagate?
I've attached the base plans to show what our garden looks like and where the Weigela shrub is in situ. Sorry that some of section 2 plan is missing as my scanner can only fit A4. The corner where the Buddleja is on the section 2 plan is roughly north.
I'll be grateful for any suggestions and advice, even if it is bad news so I can rethink my plant list.
Last edited: 16 January 2017 16:13:01
My question is whether it is OK to use home made compost for young apple trees, that contains some disconnected thin honey fungus rhizomorphs. Over the past 5 years, I have an established an orchard of 26 trees in part of our garden, mainly different eating apple varieties. The trees are cropping well and are all healthy. As with many other contributors to this thread, the garden - indeed the whole village - is riddled with honey fungus. But, we have lost only five trees to it over the last ten years - mainly old except for one beautiful acer - and just accept we have to live with the honey fungus. We are organic, and have so far fertilised the orchard trees only with copious quantities of garden compost in circular recesses round the tree bases. The latest batch of compost, though, is infested with honey fungus rhizomorphs. I think it probably mainly comes from a largish clump of thick black bootlaces that inadvertently got into the New Zealand box, probably from mowing the grass near an old plum tree that died from the fungus and was removed. Obviously I've removed all I can see from the compost - but there is no way I can get rid of all bits of fine red filaments. On 16 September, 2013, in this forum, BobTheGardener said "The rhizomorphs can't live when disconnected from the main fungal body". SO, I THINK I'm probably OK to go ahead and use this compost on the trees - it's just that actually feeding trees with compost I know contains some honey fungus seems a very big step! I guess I'm seeking reassurance, please, that BobTheGardener's statement is correct. For what it's worth, our gardener agrees. His comment was: "If one of those trees dies from honey fungus, it's much more likely to have come through the soil from the old plum tree than from compost placed round the base.
I've just moved into a house and been told by the neighbour that hf is what is killing the dividing hedge and has killed whatever he has put there. My question is, if it is unwise to plants shrubs in this area, would I also be mad to use the space to site my compost heap? Will the compost be infected from below? Thanks.
I found lots of HF rhizomorphs in an old compost heap but that one hadn't been turned for years. If you turn it regularly there should be no problem. The factsheet (pdf) in the link below has lists of woody plants which are susceptible, resistant or immune to HF, so have a look through those and see if you like any of the resistant/immune ones:
https://www.gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=4797&p=0