Help!

Until recently we had a few nice trees out in the back garden. A few months back a large laburnum tree that looked beautifully healthy fell down without any warning. Looking at the base of the trunk it looked like it had simply rotted away at ground level, but with no sign of distress to the rest of the tree.

This was followed by a smaller tree heather, then another unidentified tree last week.

These are the smaller trees, and we were considering a bit of a clearout anyway.

All the trees have similar symptoms – sudden death or sudden falling over. It has been suggested we may have honey fungus creeping it’s way around the garden.

The biggest concern is the large eucalyptus tree still out there, towering over the shed full of bikes. We had some of the top branches reduced last year, as it was getting top heavy and moving a lot in the strong winds.

Looking at it, there are signs of some sort of growth on some of the bark, up to several feet from the ground. I have read that eucalyptus trees are prone to honey fungus, would a 40-foot+ tree be robust enough to escape any serious damage?

Pics attached, anyone have any ideas?

I think once a tree gets honey fungus, it’s terminal. The tree will slowly die so you cut them down and burn.

Having said that, you’d be a lot better off researching it on Google than awaiting serious answers on here. I’ve had trees get it and recently saw a feature on a gardening prog on it, but am no expert.

Doesn’t look like honey fungus IMO, if it was honey fungus you clear all vegetation and top metre of soil, napalm what’s left the start again….only for the honey fungus to return. Hope its not honey fungus.

They aren’t woodland trees, so I’m not very familiar with them and whether they are affected by honey fungus. Would have to check the book at work.

What you are seeing is certainly familiar of honey fungus, rotting away below soil level and spreading through the ground. How does it smell? As with a lot of these things, the name is very simple and direct.

You can check the eucalyptus for general signs of ill health and structural deformity. Unless your garden is mahoosive, it will probably succumb at some point.

We have a site with honey fungus, which particularly affects the ash trees on it. Every so often one will topple, despite looking like healthy 60 foot trees, no root plate lifting, they just break away at grass level.