Couild Honey Fungus contaminate my compost

A few years ago a lilac then some fruit trees died. At an open day at our local agriculture college and expert examined samples of root and was emphatic it was HF. Said dig out and burn all we could get get out but it will probably spread. It has, a hedge is now dying. The compost heap is close to the infected area and is just a heap on the soil but surrounded with with wooden slats. It does rather well and produces more than we can spread around the back garden. So far we have not taken compost to the front garden, are we asking for trouble if we do? ie could the fungus have migrated into the compost?

We have tried not to put potentially infected material in the compost heap but some sick-looking hedge clippings were put in by mistake by someone helping us. Could the clippings contaminate the compost?

The college does not have public open days any more so we are a bit stuck to know what's best to do, my wife's friends think I being overcautious but I don't feel confident to ignore what I feel should be a case of "can't be too careful".

Our honey fungus has spread to our neighbour's back garden under the fence, it would be best if it didnt get to his front garden where he has trees.

Hope someone can help.

John

 

Have a look here:
http://www.armillatox.com/honey.htm
Seems you could use Armillatox on the compost.

 

I can't be certain but think it unlikely that the compost will spread the problem as its probably already quite well spread about.

Armillarea seems to form symbiotic relationships with its host woody plant. It almost certainly lives off the carbohydrates from the host, but also probably returns something to the host - possibly a nutrient that's difficult for the plant to obtain (phosphorus is a common example). It seems that the relationship is fine, except that the honey fungus continues to grow, possibly faster than the host. At some point, often in response to stress of some kind, the host plant weakens, and the fungus, now short of carbohydrates, 'leans' on the host in order to get what it needs, further weakening it. This vicious cycle then results in death of the host.

The important point here is that the fungus is already large (the largest living organism on the planet is a honey fungus, something like 13,000 tonnes they reckon) and has already spread extensively, and probably found many other hosts. It will then start to drain the resources of it's other hosts, which is why you often get a series of deaths around the garden. Incidentally there are many strains of the honey fungus, of varying degrees of virulence. Some appear to be entirely benign.

I think that there is really no point in trying to control it because it is almost certainly too large, though many would disagree with that point.

The good news is that when the plants are healthy the fungus is quiescent, and may in fact be helping them, so its not some mad devil organism thats going to chomp its way through your lovely garden, rather think of it as a sleeping monster that needs to be fed to keep it quiet!

In other posts I have postulated that I have introduced honey fungus to gardens through composted bark and the like, so yes - I believe it might spread out from heavy woody clippings with phloem attached, but it will find nothing of sustenance on the compost heap and will either exhaust itself or grow to a nearby woody host if that is possible, so let the compost rot thoroughly, and turn it once or twice if you can.

 

There is some talk of using the Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula) as a means of bio control for Honey Fungus but I've been unable to get any info on controlled studies.

Anyone know anything?

 

If it works, that would be fantastic, Frogesque. Nothing, not even Armillatox ( :D ) gets rid of it - just having to dig it out incredibly throughly, and burning everything is the only way I know of controlling it - and then you're restricted in what you can plant in place.... So, fingers crossed. If you find out more, do let us know!

 

Couple of links. I'll say no more at this stage than that it's intriguing and probably won't do any more harm. The idea seems to be the orchid controls the fungus in some way so that it remains benign and doesn't produce the toxins that would kill the tree and orchid. It may be just total woowoo though! :D

Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, The University of Edinburgh: The Microbial World:

Webmesh: Honey Fungus Control

 

I hope it's true!

 

Curious stuff. I hope there is truth in it as well.

 

Many thanks for the info and links, very useful, I'll err on the side of caution! John