What is killing my garden?
mshcah
Posts: 2
After nurturing our garden for almost 40 years, it has been devastating over the past few years to see a succession of shrubs and trees suddenly dying. The attached photos (1-2) illustrates a typical example. This established apple tree was growing normally at the beginning of the summer with fruits developing well. In early it showed signs of dying and by late August was completely dead. The same pattern has affected a euonymus, prunus tree, skimmia, osmanthus, choisya, solanum, rhododendron, sephora, weigela, robinia and others.
It seems that over the same period fungus has started growing in the garden. It has different forms as illustrated in the photos (3-5), but perhaps this is the same type of fungus. It is large and grows very quickly. The ones shown in the photo grew in not much more than a week. We have noticed that the fungus often appears near where the dead plants were growing. However, it also grows elsewhere, such as in the lawn where it also causes a lot of ‘damage’.
We wondered if honey fungus could be the cause of the plants dying. But we have never seen any of the characteristic ‘bootlaces’ in the soil below the plants, so have discounted that idea.
So we would welcome any advice on how to deal with this distressing situation. What might be causing the plants to die? What is the fungus and have we got more than one type? Could the fungus be causing the plants to die or is it just thriving on the dead roots? Most important, what practical steps can be taken to stop this continuing?
Posts
Sadly that does look like honey fungus to me.
It will have been present in the soil for quite some time - possibly years, before producing the fruiting bodies that you see now.
Lots of information here https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=126 but the experience of most people on this forum is that there is little that can be done to combat it, and the best course of action is to grow plants which have been found to be resistant to the fungus. There is a list of susceptible and resistant plants here https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/pdfs/honey-fungus-host-list
Good luck
I think this may be a reaction to the way you treat your garden. Have you been using chemicals or removed other fungus that is supposed to live naturally in your garden? The honey fungus is a natural part of the eco system, and it will appear in cultivated gardens that are not treated the way the need to be.
It's probably there to balance out the harm you've done to your garden, which may take some years, so you could just leave it and let it do it's job.
I think this is a reaction to the way you treat your garden. Have you been using chemicals or removed other fungus which are supposed to live naturally in your garden? The honey fungus is a natural part of the eco-system, and it will appear in cultivated gardens that are not being treated the way they need to be.
It's most likely there to balance out the harm you've done to your garden, which may take some years, so I suggest you just leave the fungus there and let it do it's job.
I think that's totally unfair FungusLover
I know gardens that have been totally organic for generations which have honey fungus - I also know areas of Ancient Woodland which have honey fungus.
Honey fungus feeds on decaying wood in the soil - if there are old tree roots in your garden and honey fungus spores in the area the likelihood is that the fungus will find the right conditions for growth.
But why just don't embrace the honey fungus? What is beauty?
Why do we appreciate the trees more than this beautiful fungus?
FL. maybe because the trees are beautiful 365 days a year and you can see the fruiting bodies of HF for about a week.
In the sticks near Peterborough
But think about the enormous network that's beneath what we see?
Maybe the tree is already ill, and HF is just speeding up the process?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_philosophy
Oh dear, I do feel for you mshcah. There are several species of honey fungus. This is what the RHS says https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=180
But a spot of hope in this article, not all plants are affected by it. http://fungus.org.uk/nwfg/armnov01.htm
I think FungusLover has been rather unkind. He/she doesn't know what you've done to your garden. You've nurtured it for 40 years.