Mushrooms on an old tree stump

Hi,

We had a tree cut down last year, but the tree stump that was left has, in the last couple of months, has started sprouting mushrooms.

I don't dislike the look of the mushrooms (they add a bit of interest to an old bit of wood!) but I wouldn't want them to spread to the surrounding lawn.

I would be very grateful, therefore, for some advice on:

a) if it is advisable to remove the mushrooms (are they likely to spread or do other damage I haven't considered), and

b) If I should remove them, what is the best method (is picking them off sufficient, or do they need to be treated with a particular kind of fungicide?)

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Many thanks.

 

Hi Dicemanc.

If the fungus is growing on the dead tree stump, it's most likely one that specifically feeds on dead, rotting wood. It's unlikely to spread to the rest of the lawn unless there are any particularly large roots close to the surface radiating out from the old stump.

There are some quite knowledgeable folk on here who could probably identify the fungus for you if you could post a photo of it.

 

Just wondering: when the 'mushrooms' die back, does the stump have black "laces" type stuff on it? Because, if it does, it could be 'honey fungus' which is a parasite fungus.

Do you have a photo you could upload? That would give us all a better idea of what you are dealing with

 

Hi Trunky & M - thanks for the feedback.

Here are the pictures, complete with chickens... (sorry for the delay - it's taken me 2 days to work out how to upload pictures !!)






The mushrooms do seem to turn black when they die (you can see a few on the 2nd photo), however I haven't noticed any "laces" on the stump...

Thanks,
Colin.

 

Hi all,

Just bumping this as it seemingly got lost over the Christmas break...

Any advice about the mushrooms greatly appreciated.

Col.

 

Hi Dicemanc

Advice; leave Mother Nature do her thing. What you have there are a couple of species of saprophitic wood decaying fungi that play a vital, if often musunderstood, role in the life cycle of trees. The yellow/orange one could be honey fungus, but it's hard to tell for certain without a picture of the gills and stem beneath the cap. But not to worry. It's all good really.

 

Great - I will leave them to do their thing.

Many thanks to you all for your advice.

Col.

 

Hi,

Sorry about the delay replying - my wife decided she didn't like the mushrooms so I (carefully) scraped them off the tree stump. They are growing back, but very slowly, and aren't yet big enough to take a decent picture.

In the meantime I have been doing a bit of reading up on honey fungus online, and you are right that it isn't something that I want in the garden! I am struggling, though, to find a reliable way to establish if it is honey fungus, or something less sinister.

Do you know of a relatively straightforward way to accurately determine if it is honey fungus or not?

Thanks again,
Col.

 

Can't tell from the pics, is this any help?

http://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/honey-fungus.html

 

The fruiting body of honey fungus has a tell-tale ring around the stem, just beneath the cap. Search Google images and you'll see what I mean.

Removing the visible parts of the fungus (the toadstools/mushroom looking things) will not remove the fungus from the location. The fungus proper is a spreading network of mycellium strands known as hyphae which grow in the ground, and/or in the tree tissue itself.

 

Thanks again for your advice.

I have been waiting for the mushrooms to grow back so that I can try and properly identify them, but they are growing so slow at the moment that I might be waiting a while!

Armandii - the photos of the Velvet Shank certainly do look very much like the ones I have, and hopefully this is the case.

HarmonyArb - unfortunately the stems aren't long enough at the moment to properly identify a ring around the stem, however I will keep a close eye out once they grow a bit taller.

The RHS and other website suggests that the a good way to identify honey fungus is to scrape off the bark at the base of the tree, and if it is white beneath then this indicates honey fungus. I have done this and all seems well - however I'm not convinced that I was scraping either in the right place, or going deep enough...

I think the best bet is to wait for a couple of the individual mushrooms to grow to a decent length and then carefully remove them and try and identify them...

Thanks again,
Col.