Still trying to get acquainted with the previously much neglected garden of my new house & these are all over the grass atm. Hundreds of them.
Also at the base of this beech tree, as pictured.
Could this tree have rotten roots & be causing all the others?
Just had a horse chestnut tree cut down 2 months ago as it had some other kind of fungus causing weeping cankers on the trunk. They aren't really close enough to where that was for me to think they're related though.
Should I get the arborist to have a look?
by Bloatville
11 Comments
Please don’t be worried about mushrooms., It’s Autumn. It’s normal and healthy to have fungi about!
Honestly these are nothing to be worried about. Fungi are the third type of organism that inhabit this planet-neither plant nor animal. Without them the natural world wouldn’t function. Huge benefits to the eco system. Very small number of ‘problem’ mushrooms-and even then these have to be wilfully ingested. Enjoy their beauty!
Horse chestnut are not native and do get diseases easily. Best gone. Beeches sadly only live so long when they get attacked but might be ok to fight this off. It looks quite old already. They can live 150-250 years . If you can afford another visit get your own prognosis confirmed as to which fungus ( but it looks like Giant Polypore fungus Meripilus giganteus as a guess.) You could be right about the roots and signs on the lawn. It’s a bit sad but think the worst and get the expert in to tell you how long the tree has left.
Mushrooms coming out of the lawn are signs of healthy soil. However mushrooms growing from the base of trees may be a cause for concern and worth getting a professional opinion. Depending on the species of mushroom (Im not an expert, take plenty of pictures and try to get it identified by one, post in a fungi subreddit etc) it may indicate a fungal infection in the tree roots which can cause instability over time and lead to the tree falling during a storm sometime in the future.
Take a good look at the tree and see if theres anybody or anything that would be damaged if it toppled over. If the answers no, then probably just leave it alone and let nature take its course. But if it poses any risk to buildings or yourself and your neighbours its always worth paying for a professional opinion now (by that i mean a liscenced arboriculturist, tree surgeons will probably tell you to take it down anyway), rather than paying the price of tragedy in the future.
Please get some advice on the tree. This happened where I live, to a beech also, and no one realised it was a bad sign, and the tree had a TPO on it so my landlord hadn’t had anything done to it in a long time. In storm eowyn the tree came down due to rotten roots, it went down in a direction that wrecked a very old stone wall, a fence, a beehive, and wrote off two cars. If it had gone a different direction it would have crushed two cabin homes, one of which I was in at the time. If this tree is a risk if it falls, please get it checked.
I can read everyone is trying to put your mind to rest and it is mushroom season but now look at the tree itself and note any changes.
https://aceofspadesgardens.co.uk/it-was-such-a-shock-when-you-discover-problems-with-a-tree/#:~:text=Root%20decay%2C%20often%20referred%20to%20as%20root%20rot%2C,giganteus%2C%20and%20Heterobasidion%20annosum%20%28both%20root%20rot%20fungus%29.
I believe all the pictured mushrooms are honey fungus, *Armillaria*, and I’m afraid they are bad news for your tree. I would advise you get it taken down safely, but do get a professional opinion. The mushroom subreddits have some excellent and very educated folks who could help with an ID and prognosis, then you may want to consult an arborist and/or tree surgeon. The internet has helpful information regarding signs to look for on the trunk, bark, limbs, etc.
I think the mushrooms are growing on the roots of the tree you’ve recently cut down. They feed off dead roots and break them down. No cause for concern.
Absolutely wild advice in these comments. People speaking with absolute authority on a subject they know nothing about.
There are such things as symbiotic fungi which benefit trees, there are fungi that feed on dead matter and are fairly benign but there are also fungi that can actively decay wood, causing trees to fail, sometimes with very little prior warning. Honestly I cannot entirely identify what is in the photos, but I would advise seeking a professional opinion from a qualified arborist, or perhaps an Arboriculture Association approved consultant.
They will assess the tree, fungi, surroundings and the surrounding target area (what the tree will hit, if it were to fail) and give you advice from there. It is not something that can be accurately gauged from a few photos
Don’t be silly.
You have a good and healthy garden for the variety of plants and fungi as everything is connected in the ground, even if the horse chestnut went to the woods in the sky.