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Plum tree fungi
Jackie hawkins
Posts: 4
I have a victoria plum tree with what looks like a fungi growing on the trunk of the tree. Do I need to remove the tree and will it affect other fruit trees in my garden.
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Posts
It's never a good sign for the tree but it's honey fungus that spreads around to other trees.
As pansyface says, pic required
In the sticks near Peterborough
Fortunately, for other plants, trees and shrubs in your garden it is not Honey fungus, but still the news is not good. While I can't identify it (yet), I would say the tree is a goner - fungus only grows on dead wood, so the heartwood of your plum is rotting away inside and will eventually become so weak that the tree will become dangerous.
That might take a few years though, so you could risk keeping it for a couple of years, giving you a chance to buy a new one and get it started somewhere else.
Thanks for that. Today I have bought a new one, just working out where to put it in my small garden away from the other one. I have will have to remove the old tree.
What is the green 'fabric' around the trunk at the bottom of the picture? Is it a tight plant tie of some description? That may have restricted the growth of the trunk which then swelled and split above the tie allowing damp in causing the wood to rot and fugus to take a hole. Plant ties need to be regularly loosened to allow the trunk to swell.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
No it is not a plant tie but a grease band which I renew each year. It is to stop the plum moth from mating and causing grubs in the plums
Ah! Thanks
that's fine then - only I have seen splits in the bark above a tight tree tie in the past.
Good luck with the new tree - it's sad when one goes, but I do love a new planting opportunity
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.