This version of the ecology of armillaria mellea and its kin is very very
much in agreement with my own experiences of it in the wild, ever present in
the soils it is a saprophyte till it detects weakness. I have seen it but
decay (cavitate) generally weak species like malus 'profusion' for over a
decade before switching to cambium killer. As far as beech trees are
concerned it is definitely a very evident root recycler, but can and does
often follow the trace into the canopy leaving a tunnel where the tissues
were once connected to the colonised root.
So I would be in full agreement with this view.
This is the kind of talk I was hoping for when I came here! no silly teapots
and sniggers!
Dominic, I am very willing to participate with you and any collaborators in
such matters, positively itching for it in fact!
tony
From: Ian.Brewster@xxxxx.gov.uk
To: uktc@xxxxxx.tree-care.info
Subject: RE: [Bulk] Re: Pruning Induced Stress
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:26:44 +0000
'I have done another piece of work looking at in vitro interactions between
Suillus (ecto) and Armillaria, it appeared that limiting carbs available to
the Suillus inhinited its ability to produce anti fungal compounds allowing
greater Armillaria growth. I caution against reading too much into this as
it was a fairlly small investigation and conducted under highly artificial
conditions.'
I know you said don't read too much into this so what follows are my quick
thoughts and may be just a load of guff.
Is it conceivable that a fungi, perhaps one which we regard as wholly
parasitic such as Armillaria, could act in a moderated capacity/semi
saprobe to rid a tree of unnecessary root bulk acting as some kind of
natural self pruning below ground. We know that Armillaria feed off dead
stumps anyway so why not.
Perhaps we could see this event as a lurking scavenger behind the
ectomycorrhizal barrier, where when the occasion arises and the symbiont
retreats due to lack of carbohydrate exchange from a healthy tree/root, the
opportunist scavenger fungi, is able to break through the now weaker
protective anti-fungal barrier to chomp on that dysfunctional root part
only. If the tree is able to re-establish a healthy symbiotic relationship
within a short period it could restore those anti-fungal compounds and
stave off further chomping/ingress and arrest the opportunist fungi into an
otherwise full blown pathogen.
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