Sudden Death of Mountain Ash

[Alan_b]

This Rowan tree was in our garden when we moved here 19 years ago and was such a fixture that I did not pay it much attention - until recently when I realised it was dead!  This happened despite a very mild winter and without my noticing that anything was wrong last year.  In December we took out a nearby fir tree that was threatening to overcrowd it so I was expecting that this year it would be more happy then usual.  The base of the trunk, which had been covered in ivy, does not look too good but this seems to be superficial.  I am at a loss to know what happened.       

[ian mcdonald]

Hello Alan, my rowan went the same way. Honey fungus was the culprit. It also killed a plum tree, a rhodo, a birch and attacked the garden shed (wooden). When the fungi fruited I painted the fungi with neat creosote, then sprayed with fungal treatment and finally neat jeyes fluid before it seemed to kill it.

[johnralphcarpenter]

You used to be able to use Armillatox until the EU banned it. It was designed specifically for treating honey fungus, hence the name. You can still use it in the US.

[Alan_b]

I guess Honey Fungus is always the prime suspect when a tree dies unexpectedly.  The tree would most probably have been planted in the early 1970's when the house was new so should not have been more than 45 years old.  That seems too young for old age, although its proximity to other trees might have been stressful and the neighbours attacked the overhanging bit some time last year when I wan't around.  It would be a sad irony if it died of stress just as the main cause of that stress was removed.

[Alan_b]

This is the base of the dead tree earlier today.  I presume these mushrooms are honey fungus.

[Maggi Young]

The RHS  states that : "Armillatox remains on the market as a disinfectant, but is no longer permitted to be used for pesticidal purposes"   https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=820
 


and this from Helen Yemm :
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningadvice/11377725/Thorny-problems-where-can-I-find-Armillatox.html

[Alan_b]

I cannot find any evidence to prove that Armillatox still exists.  The web site http://www.armillatox.com/ fails to respond.  Everywhere I looked that purports to sell it is out of stock.

[brianw]

I recall my enquiries a year or 2 back came to the same conclusion. We don't have a lot of coal tar oils etc. now here. Jeyes Fluid is the best now I think. Bought some recently from LIDL, but I think that lacks something too now.
I collected  half a large tub trug of fungi a 2weeks back from my rough grass area. Looked almost identical to those above, but this was an old orchard, and I am still pulling out wood buried by the builders and often find black bootlace type strands when digging. I watered the area with Jeyes after but don't know why I bothered as what's under the soil is what matters. Just made me feel a bit better.

[ian mcdonald]

Looks like honey fungus.