White stuff on the trunk

Matte91

Shohin
Messages
271
Reaction score
321
Location
Denmark
USDA Zone
8a
Hello.

I have noticed some white stuff below the were i made the trunk chop and some on the buttom of the trunk.

What is it and what should I do?

Thank you in advance.
 

Attachments

  • 20200205_141804.jpg
    20200205_141804.jpg
    163 KB · Views: 82
  • 20200205_141344.jpg
    20200205_141344.jpg
    204.2 KB · Views: 82

cmeg1

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
5,345
Reaction score
8,220
Location
Southeast Pennsylvania USA
USDA Zone
7a
It’s either a fungus from deadwood underneath......it really doesn’t look like woolly aphids it looks more like fungus this is all I could find....but Google it
 

sorce

Nonsense Rascal
Messages
32,908
Reaction score
45,579
Location
Berwyn, Il
USDA Zone
6.2
It’s either a fungus from deadwood underneath......it really doesn’t look like woolly aphids it looks more like fungus this is all I could find....but Google it

You know, I was thinking it was fungus, but it looked like it grew on sawdust that was on the surface.

Possible I guess.

Sorce
 

0soyoung

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
7,496
Reaction score
12,832
Location
Anacortes, WA (AHS heat zone 1)
USDA Zone
8b
Were it mine, I would be fiddling with the patch near the chop cut (diagnostic abuse will have little impact on the tree's future should this prove to be nothing to worry about). Do the white things rub off? Does the bark readily lift off here? Anything else unusual? Maybe remove the bark from this area (with the white stuff, down to the wood). Is the cambium dead underneath?
 

Matte91

Shohin
Messages
271
Reaction score
321
Location
Denmark
USDA Zone
8a
Were it mine, I would be fiddling with the patch near the chop cut (diagnostic abuse will have little impact on the tree's future should this prove to be nothing to worry about).
What do you mean? Sorry i'm not that good at English.

Do the white things rub off?
I have been rubbing some of it off with a toothbrush? Works fine.
Does the bark readily lift off here?
No.
Maybe remove the bark from this area (with the white stuff, down to the wood). Is the cambium dead underneath?
I have tried to scratch in the bark and it's green underneath.
 

0soyoung

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
7,496
Reaction score
12,832
Location
Anacortes, WA (AHS heat zone 1)
USDA Zone
8b
Your comprehension is good, so not to worry.

Get some 3% hydrogen peroxide from your local grocery/pharmacy. Dilute a bit to about 0.1% (1000 ppm). Use this solution with your toothbrush to scrub off all the white stuff. Wait to see if the white stuff returns, or not. It doesn't seem to be anything serious. Let us be sure.

Hydrogen peroxide is an antiseptic = kills fungi and bacteria. Diluted it won't harm your trees in any way. It will not, however, kill insects.
 

Matte91

Shohin
Messages
271
Reaction score
321
Location
Denmark
USDA Zone
8a
Your comprehension is good, so not to worry.
Thank you and thank you for your help.

Get some 3% hydrogen peroxide from your local grocery/pharmacy. Dilute a bit to about 0.1% (1000 ppm). Use this solution with your toothbrush to scrub off all the white stuff. Wait to see if the white stuff returns, or not. It doesn't seem to be anything serious. Let us be sure.

Hydrogen peroxide is an antiseptic = kills fungi and bacteria. Diluted it won't harm your trees in any way. It will not, however, kill insects.
I will follow your guide, thank you. Do you wan't me to scrub the hole trunk or only the white areas? I have a couple of more questions:
Do you also think that it's some kind of fungus?

Some one else gave me an advice to use Lime sulphur. You don't think I should use that?

I will correct myself. I have tried to scratch in the bark, on one of the side branches and it's green underneath. I have not tried to remove the bark were the white stuff is. Should I do that or is it fine that I checked one of the side branches?

Thank you in advance!
 
Last edited:

0soyoung

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
7,496
Reaction score
12,832
Location
Anacortes, WA (AHS heat zone 1)
USDA Zone
8b
Along with you, we're all trying to figure out what it might be. I dunno.

This is an odd time of year for an insect problem. But the white stuff might be eggs.
Most, but not all, fungi produce fruiting bodies before this time of year.

Now we all know that it scrubs off. If it is fungal, it will be back, sometime in the next 12 months. If it reappears, I will recommend that you cut away the bark and the burn the exposed wood and edges of good bark with a butane torch to kill the hyphae. But we don't yet know if this is appropriate. Hydrogen peroxide will kill any spores that are laying around but won't kill the hyphae inside the tree tissues. Similarly, lime sulfur will kill any spores that fall on it, but won't kill hyphae. Peroxide only works on what is there at the time. Lime sulfur leaves a residue that acts on spores that come around for some time subsequently. Fungicides like Daconil work similarly but are not as hazardous as lime sulfur.

If it is insect eggs, you will have removed most of them. The tree will be fine, but a stray egg here and there will hatch in the coming spring. Dormant oil sprays are good for this kind of problem and also works on sucking insects. It works simply by suffocating the bugs/eggs. I would wait and see, but if you feel you must do something, apply a dormant oil spray after you've scrubbed the stuff away. There will be no harm done if it turns out to have been unnecessary.
 
Last edited:

Matte91

Shohin
Messages
271
Reaction score
321
Location
Denmark
USDA Zone
8a
This is an odd time of year for an insect problem. But the white stuff might be eggs.
Most, but not all, fungi produce fruiting bodies before this time of year.

I should maybe say that the tree has been collected in fall and has been kept in a unheated shed. The soil has perhaps been to wet for too long, the white stuff is placed at the soil line. I don't know if that has coursed the problem.

Now we all know that it scrubs off. If it is fungal, it will be back, sometime in the next 12 months. If it reappears, I will recommend that you cut away the bark and the burn the exposed wood and edges of good bark with a butane torch to kill the hyphae. But we don't yet know if this is appropriate. Hydrogen peroxide will kill any spores that are laying around but won't kill the hyphae inside the tree tissues. Similarly, lime sulfur will kill any spores that fall on it, but won't kill hyphae. Peroxide only works on what is there at the time. Lime sulfur leaves a residue that acts on spores that come around for some time subsequently. Fungicides like Daconil work similarly but are not as hazardous as lime sulfur.

If it is insect eggs, you will have removed most of them. The tree will be fine, but a stray egg here and there will hatch in the coming spring. Dormant oil sprays are good for this kind of problem and also works on sucking insects. It works simply by suffocating the bugs/eggs. I would wait and see, but if you feel you must do something, apply a dormant oil spray after you've scrubbed the stuff away. There will be no harm done if it turns out to have been unnecessary.
Roger that. Thank you for a good explanation.
You don't wan't me to apply Lime sulphur after I scrubbed with Hydrogen peroxide, to leave a residue? Or do you wan't me to apply a dormant oil spray after I scrubbed? Or both? By dormant oil do you mean like neem oil?
 

Matte91

Shohin
Messages
271
Reaction score
321
Location
Denmark
USDA Zone
8a
Perfect!
And last question: 1000 ppm hydrogen peroxide should be enough? I doesn't sound as much, but what do I know :)
 

0soyoung

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
7,496
Reaction score
12,832
Location
Anacortes, WA (AHS heat zone 1)
USDA Zone
8b
And lastly are 1000 ppm hydrogen peroxide enough? It doesn't sound as much. But what do I know :)
It is effective as dilute as 300 ppm. At 3%, it can cause some harm. In the end, peroxide becomes just ordinary water. So there is nothing to accumulate in your garden.

Lime sulfur is actually pretty nasty stuff. You've need to protect your skin and eyes. Until it has dried, it emits hydrogen sulfide = rotten egg gas that is toxic. In my area, people wear hazmat suits when they spray fruit trees in their small orchards. However, most growers use other stuff.

You could scrub with plain water, but peroxide is eco-friendly and brings a bit more to the party. It is my standard anti-fungal until problems arise that demand exercising the nuclear option. Daconil is the next step. Then copper-sulfide based stuff. But what one uses depends upon identifying the fungus. Then, if you have a chronic problem, there are systemics that will cure infections as well as prevent new ones, but I've heard that some countries have banned systemics or certain ones.
 

Matte91

Shohin
Messages
271
Reaction score
321
Location
Denmark
USDA Zone
8a
It is effective as dilute as 300 ppm. At 3%, it can cause some harm. In the end, peroxide becomes just ordinary water. So there is nothing to accumulate in your garden.
Roger that.

Lime sulfur is actually pretty nasty stuff. You've need to protect your skin and eyes. Until it has dried, it emits hydrogen sulfide = rotten egg gas that is toxic. In my area, people wear hazmat suits when they spray fruit trees in their small orchards. However, most growers use other stuff.
You don't use Lime sulfur then?

You could scrub with plain water, but peroxide is eco-friendly and brings a bit more to the party. It is my standard anti-fungal until problems arise that demand exercising the nuclear option. Daconil is the next step. Then copper-sulfide based stuff. But what one uses depends upon identifying the fungus. Then, if you have a chronic problem, there are systemics that will cure infections as well as prevent new ones, but I've heard that some countries have banned systemics or certain ones.
Good to know. We hope peroxide will work.
May I ask wich kind of dormant sprays you use for winter wash? I was thinking using this one in the future: https://m.facebook.com/notes/houston-bonsai-society/dormant-spraying/1335155469848406/
 

ABCarve

Masterpiece
Messages
2,676
Reaction score
11,452
Location
Girard, PA
USDA Zone
5a
Your comprehension is good, so not to worry.

Get some 3% hydrogen peroxide from your local grocery/pharmacy. Dilute a bit to about 0.1% (1000 ppm). Use this solution with your toothbrush to scrub off all the white stuff. Wait to see if the white stuff returns, or not. It doesn't seem to be anything serious. Let us be sure.

Hydrogen peroxide is an antiseptic = kills fungi and bacteria. Diluted it won't harm your trees in any way. It will not, however, kill insects.
I’m confused with the math of the dilution rate. .1% of 3% ? Or .1 of 100%. How about a tablespoon/gallon rate. 🤔
 

0soyoung

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
7,496
Reaction score
12,832
Location
Anacortes, WA (AHS heat zone 1)
USDA Zone
8b
I’m confused with the math of the dilution rate. .1% of 3% ? Or .1 of 100%. How about a tablespoon/gallon rate. 🤔
Sorry for glossing over this.

I mix 2 tablespoons of 3% peroxide with a quart of water. This works out to a solution with about 900 ppm concentration of peroxide. Close to 1000 ppm = 0.1%

Europeans don't use our complicated measurement system. As you know, instead of quarts they measure liters (litres in the UK, IIRC) so it is a little bit more straight forward to figure out about 33 ml of 3% in a liter of water to make a solution that is about 1000 ppm.

The exact concentration is not all that important. I know that it is effective as dilute as 300ppm, so I can use a bottle opened several weeks ago to make about 1000 ppm and it will still be effective. Likewise, I can use the residuals in a hand sprayer for several weeks and know it will still effective. Two tablespoons in a quart is an easy thing to remember while working in the garden - little mental labor.
 
Last edited:

0soyoung

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
7,496
Reaction score
12,832
Location
Anacortes, WA (AHS heat zone 1)
USDA Zone
8b
You don't use Lime sulfur then?
I only paint it on deadwood to whiten it. I often put a few drops of india ink into the diluted solution that I paint on so that it is a bit darker when it dries. It can also be painted on Japanese maple trunks to make them be white during the winter = nice effect. Otherwise, no, I don't use it. It does its job,. but I prefer to avoid it because it is so caustic and stinky (especially when sprayed). Carefully mix lime sulfur with a copper sulfate solution and you've got Bordeaux mix! A few more neutrons and you've got an atomic bomb 🤣
 

Wires_Guy_wires

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
6,409
Reaction score
10,630
Location
Netherlands
Yeah it's fungus, and I don't think peroxide is going to cut it.
Copper sulphate is a good place to start, but in general it works better when you add a trace-element mixture that contains iron, zinc, molybdenium and all those other metals that plants like. Over here it's sold as a 'indoor plant revitalizer'.
I think most garden stores in Denmark should sell something like it as well.
 

Matte91

Shohin
Messages
271
Reaction score
321
Location
Denmark
USDA Zone
8a
I only paint it on deadwood to whiten it. I often put a few drops of india ink into the diluted solution that I paint on so that it is a bit darker when it dries. It can also be painted on Japanese maple trunks to make them be white during the winter = nice effect. Otherwise, no, I don't use it. It does its job,. but I prefer to avoid it because it is so caustic and stinky (especially when sprayed). Carefully mix lime sulfur with a copper sulfate solution and you've got Bordeaux mix! A few more neutrons and you've got an atomic bomb 🤣
Haha roger that. I will remember the advice regarding whitening Japanese maple trunks, i didn't knew that.
I assume peroxide works preventive for fungus also then?
 

Matte91

Shohin
Messages
271
Reaction score
321
Location
Denmark
USDA Zone
8a
Yeah it's fungus, and I don't think peroxide is going to cut it.
Copper sulphate is a good place to start, but in general it works better when you add a trace-element mixture that contains iron, zinc, molybdenium and all those other metals that plants like. Over here it's sold as a 'indoor plant revitalizer'.
I think most garden stores in Denmark should sell something like it as well.
Thank you for your reply. I think that copper sulphate has been illegal to sell in Denmark(thank you European Union..not). I can't find any suppliers that sells it.
After some search I can't find a brand that sells those metals. It's only available to find metal products when they are mixed with npk fertilizer.
I also read some where that copper sulphate only works preventive and doesn't work if the tree already have fungus??
 
Top Bottom