Help! Possible pathogen on Hornbeam

[itisoktodance]

Images:



This is on a European hornbeam (carpinus betulus) cultivated for bonsai.

I cut off part of a branch that I wanted to shorten and noticed weird black and brown bumps along a line on the branch. When I looked at the cross-section, there was a darkened segment that looked like the wood was rotting.

Does anyone have any idea what it might be? Could it be harmful? If so, what should I do to remedy this? A person on reddit suggested it might have been damage from beetle larvae?

I am reluctant to cut off that entire branch as it's pivotal to the design of the tree, but I could cut a little lower and carve out the part that looks dead/diseased. Would that be enough to stop the possible pathogen from spreading, or is cutting off the entire branch the only option?

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[Bonsai Nut]

It appears that you have a pretty aggressive fungus that is established in your heartwood and is sending fruiting bodies up through the bark. Your best course of action would be to either remove the infected branch, or carve out the infected area, while treating the entire tree with a systemic anti-fungal.

It could be just a coincidence... but I notice an unsealed wound directly in line with the infection - and you will note how the tree has not started to heal the wound because the bark has started to die back. I am a big believer in sealing all wounds on deciduous trees because they are so much more susceptible to fungus via open wounds than conifers.

 

[penumbra]

I am fairly certain it is a fungus, possibly a nectria fungus. I would remove it all and sterilize my tools between cuts.

 

[itisoktodance]

It appears that you have a pretty aggressive fungus that is established in your heartwood and is sending fruiting bodies up through the bark. Your best course of action would be to either remove the infected branch, or carve out the infected area, while treating the entire tree with a systemic anti-fungal.

It could be just a coincidence... but I notice an unsealed wound directly in line with the infection - and you will note how the tree has not started to heal the wound because the bark has started to die back. I am a big believer in sealing all wounds on deciduous trees because they are so much more susceptible to fungus via open wounds than conifers.

Thank you! Yes, there was an open wound. Sealant was applied originally, the kind you paint on, though it's not very obvious from the photo. I didn't make the original cut though, so I have no idea what happened there.

 

[itisoktodance]

I am fairly certain it is a fungus, possibly a nectria fungus. I would remove it all and sterilize my tools between cuts.

Thank you!

 

[Forsoothe!]

Regardless of which way you address the problem mechanically, I would treat it with a systemic like Bayer Tree 2-in-1, or Bayer Rose 3-in-1, which may or may not help.

 

[itisoktodance]

Regardless of which way you address the problem mechanically, I would treat it with a systemic like Bayer Tree 2-in-1, or Bayer Rose 3-in-1, which may or may not help.

How do you apply a systemic fungicide? I've only used a topical one before.

 

[Forsoothe!]

How do you apply a systemic fungicide? I've only used a topical one before.

You follow directions on the package for mixing a liquid for drenching the soil, spraying on the foliage, or distributing pellets on the surface of the soil. Nothing to it. If you need to spray something don't use the standard spraying tank which is always a pain in the neck to use and clean up. Buy a one quart plastic spray bottle from big box for 4 or $5 and mark it with a magic marker with what chemicals you need to use. It becomes a dedicated device that you only use for that particular purpose with that kind of chemical. You make a one quart batch and use what you need a store the rest as is. I have them for pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, fertilizers, etc., and never clean them, just use them when I need them and stick them back on the shelf when done. It's much easier than cleaning up the tank-type, and you don't have to worry about getting something cleaned out that you don't want to get on your edibles, or a general herbicide cleaned out so you can apply a selective herbicide. The tanks don't last forever anyway. When your sprayer doesn't work you buy a new one for $5. Another even more important aspect is the ability to just go to the cabinet, grab a bottle and spray one weed, or one plant with bugs, ad infinitum, and put it back in the cabinet. How many times you need to mix, use & clean-up for a small problem that becomes a big problem that you didn't address it right away because the thought of doing the whole routine kept you from from doing the job? Need one squirt, No Problemo.

 

[bwaynef]

Regardless of which way you address the problem mechanically, I would treat it with a systemic like Bayer Tree 2-in-1, or Bayer Rose 3-in-1, which may or may not help.

Bayer's fungicide in their x-in-1 products is usually fairly ineffective. The label for 3-in-1 lists 4 diseases controlled. I'd go for Clearys 3336F/Thiomyl or Phyton27/35.

 

[itisoktodance]

Bayer's fungicide in their x-in-1 products is usually fairly ineffective. The label for 3-in-1 lists 4 diseases controlled. I'd go for Clearys 3336F/Thiomyl or Phyton27/35.

I don't have access to any of those in any case. In Macedonia, not the US. Others have pointed out this looks like canker, which could also be bacterial, so a fungicide might not even be effective...

 

[penumbra]

Others have pointed out this looks like canker, which could also be bacterial, so a fungicide might not even be effective...

Cankers can be but are not necessarily bacterial, as in nectria cankers caused by a nectria fungus.

 

[BobbyLane]

first time ive seen anything on the bark of hornbeam like that and i rarely seal wounds! whats the rest of the tree look like?

 

[sorce]

What's the wound directly above the strip from?

That seems to be where it started dying back from. Took that left branch too?

I wouldn't worry much about something that only grows in deadwood.

I don't believe a systemic fungicide can reach deadwood.

Wouldn't use it anyway.

Sorce

 

[penumbra]

Many pathogenic fungi kill the wood prior to moving in.
I still suspect a nectria fungus.

 

[Forsoothe!]

After cleaning/carving/removing it down to good wood, spraying the wood with isopropyl alcohol and/or hydrogen peroxide, and/or 15% household bleach in water, then sealing those dry surfaces with a sealer that overlaps the cambium, 360° of the wound will help, but may need to be re-visited. The truth is we are speculating and nothing is certain but death and taxes.

 

[penumbra]

nothing is certain but death and taxes.

My Dad used to say death, taxes and Sears. He was a brilliant man but in this he was wrong.

 

[penumbra]

It is indeed speculation but I think its nectria because I have seen this before. I saw it on beech trees in a commercial landscape about 30 years ago in Northern Virginia. As the staff horticulturist for a large builder developer, it was my job to find out why two of 6 or 8 European beech trees were dying branch by branch. I had a pathologist come and look at them and he sent samples to the lab. It came back as a nectria canker. The fruiting body, shown in OP picture, is not always red in color as often described and was not red on the beeches I was observing. Pathologist said it was normally found on dead wood but frequently was pathogenic on several hardwoods.
Of course, as Forsoothe said, we are only speculating. We were only speculating 30 years ago too .... until the lab work came back.

BTW, eventually all the trees were taken out as poor pruning procedures had infected nearly all the trees.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

BTW, eventually all the trees were taken out as poor pruning procedures had infected nearly all the trees.

Reminds me of oleander in Southern California. When we moved there 20 years ago oleanders were everywhere - beautiful, flowering - even in the median strip on freeways down in San Diego. But they required heavy pruning if you wanted to keep them as large hedges, so landscapers would chop the bushes pretty aggressively every year. One year a fungal pathogen broke out, and within five years oleanders were almost wiped out because landscapers spread it from bush to bush. In my neighborhood, I had the only oleanders left - huge, beautiful, right on the street in front of our house - simply because I didn't allow landscapers to touch them. I bought one pair of loppers that I used to trim those bushes, and I never used them for anything else.

 

[hinmo24t]

looks like a beech to me, lines too far apart and not the same edges as hornbeam (?)

good luck with it

 

[penumbra]

looks like a beech to me, lines too far apart and not the same edges as hornbeam (?)

good luck with it

I think you are right. It would also make since. Looking at the picture again I see the rosy flush. I diagnostic sign of nectria.