Phellinus Noxius in Brisbane

Eric Frei · 24th March 2007, 08:30 PM

I wonder why we are seeing more of this fungus that's killing trees? In a recent thread I started it was this fungus that caused the death.

Diagnose this fungal death attack on Chinese elm (Celtis chinensis) Toowong Brisbane

The one thing I'm starting to see as a common denominator is mulch, of the three locations I visited they were all mulched well within the last 2 years. Maybe that and a combination of low rainfall.

I did read somewhere that flooding a field to get rid of phellinus was done and worked.

Here's an old story from the paper.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/s...5-3102,00.html

Quote:

Michael Corkill

December 01, 2006 11:00pm
Article from: The Courier-Mail

A MYSTERIOUS fungus is threatening some landmark Brisbane trees – and one of the inner city's biggest markets.
The Brisbane City Council has ordered the fencing-off of a large fig and hoop pine boulevard at Davies Park in West End, in a bid to halt the relentless march of the killer Phellinus noxius fungus.

The fig tree boulevard is the location of the popular Green Flea Markets, run for years by Peter Hackworth and her daughter Gian Ferrett.

The worried duo yesterday said the restriction of public access to the boulevard would force them to dramatically reduce the operations of the market, which had only recently begun to break even.

"The people love these markets because of the cheap prices and the mix of fresh produce and they are forcing store owners out on to the footpath in the sun," Ms Hackworth said.

Local councillor Helen Abrahams, who chairs the environment and sustainability committee, said the area was considered suitable for testing by the Department of Primary Industries because the fungus was found early and the site was easily accessible.

She said the fungus, which attacks tree roots, had struck a number of trees in the city, including six at the Brisbane Grammar School, reportedly planted by King Edward VIII.

"Jacaranda trees in New Farm Park have been lost to this same fungus," she said.

"There is also a dead tree at the end of Adelaide St where it meets North Quay."

Natural resources consultant Jason Hutcher expressed concern at the choice of testing area. "Scientifically it makes no sense to test here for three years. You need to have an isolated area away from the public so there is no danger of interference or contamination," he said.

And here's a series of pics on the Davies Park location.

Sean Freeman · 24th March 2007, 10:13 PM

Just a few points that I try to remember when reading about and then discussing the relationships between fungi and trees. Where an indigenous wood decay fungus is present the native trees that grow in the area will have evolved along side this potential pathogen for thousands of years if not longer. To see dramatic increases in advanced decay and death in tree populations would suggest that changes are happening either to the trees, to the fungi or the environment or a combination of all three.

For our urban forest trees the changes are somewhat obvious, the soil environment that they evolved in is no longer present, neither are the close interrelationships with neighbouring trees. Infact the environment critical to their healthy growth is at best impoverished, at worst down right hostile. We have also introduced species of trees that would have taken perhaps thousands of years to colonise our localities (if they did at all) and have little in their genetic makeup to defend against previously unencountered pathogens.

Wood decay fungi can have an unusual and complex life cycle within the tissues of living trees, nowhere near as simple as colonisation, expanded growth overwhelming the tree's defences leading the death of the tree, as it might seem when we encounter a dead or dying tree with obvious decay fungi and fruiting bodies.

Fungi compete with and outcompete each other often to the benefit of the tree's survival. Chemical and physical boundaries produced within wood tissues are effective within certain limits, strongly controlled by the health status of the tree in question. Predisposition factors of soil compaction, prolonged minimal soil moisture levels, contaminants, root injuries, and the more obvious above ground abuses all put trees into a position that strongly favours the pathogen.

Phellinus noxious is particularly effective given even half a chance to overwhelm a tree, and we seem to be giving it many times that.

I'm not sure what BCC are trying to achieve with their media releases, but its not a mystery fungi, nor is it unknown. The photos you show reflect one of the more common control measures used to try to contain the spread. Unfortunately as we all have seen the root system of even a small young tree can be massive, unpredictable in pattern and spread and when it comes to the finer root hairs almost undetectable.

Removing unsafe infected trees quickly and trenching around trees as yet not visibly affected is about the limit of the control we have. Trials of soil dreching the trenches and the root system of retained trees with Trictioderma viridae water solution a mutually antagonistic fungi that competes with Phellinus for space in the rhizosphere show significant success. Applying broad spectrum fungicides will kill off the beneficial mycorrhizal fungi along with the pathogens, not a good idea for a tree already clearly in deep strife.

There's years of work ahead to fully understand all the intricacies of the relationships between fungi and tree, and I'm not doing any of it, but hopefully some of what I've written helps clarify a few parts of the story.

Sean

WPT · 24th July 2008, 02:27 PM

G'day all

We have some outbreaks of P. noxius in Cairns . Still isolated cases at this time.
My question is as follows:
Once the tree/s and soils have been removed, how does one get rid of the diseased material without spreading the disease?
Will leaving it in long term mulch heaps eventually kill P. noxius?
How can one clean trucks, saws, chippers, etc. without carrying the disease all over the place when used at the next site?
I've read some information on the web about the use of high levels of urea or aqueous ammonia: - "High concentrations of volatile NH3 were detected in these treatments, indicating that NH3 generated from these chemicals was fungicidal to P. noxius."
Anyone have experience with this?

WPT

Eric Frei · 24th July 2008, 03:18 PM

Quote:

seven of 45 fungicides have
been found to be strongly inhibitory to the
growth of P. noxius in vitro (5). These
fungicides were further evaluated for their
ability to control the disease in greenhouse
experiments. The systemic fungicides triadimefon,
prochloraz, and mepronil were
found to be nonphytotoxic and effective in
reducing disease incidence.
Recently, each of these fungicides was
applied to diseased grapevines in the field
as a soil drench once every 3 months in
combination with a soil amendment containing
lime and urea. The treatments appear
to be promising, as no further decline
or death of grapevines was recorded in the
treated plots, while disease progress remained
unchecked in the control plot.
Thus, it appears likely that fungicides can
be useful in managing disease development.
Still to be determined is the recurrent
rate of brown root rot after the termination
of the treatments and the economic feasibility
of the treatments.

From the PDF attached

WPT · 24th July 2008, 04:18 PM

Thanks for the quick reply.
Thought I'd send you some photos of one case we have at the moment.

regards
WPT

Eric Frei · 24th July 2008, 04:22 PM

Yep, that's bad!

If there's others in the area they might cop it to.

In the second pic I saw severed roots, what was that about?

WPT · 24th July 2008, 04:33 PM

If youre talking about the area on the right hand side of the picture, it is a part of the tree that failed due to a combination of decay and wind.

The tree will probably not survive, which is why I wanted to know what we could do to prevent the removed material infecting other area, as we have to set up some kind of quarantine protocol and keep all machinery disease free when using it for other jobs.

As it is I think that the failed trunk was removed and mulched without any precautions taken, before I knew about it. I've since contacted all our departments and sent out information on P. noxius to try and educate our staff to bring other cases to my attention before taking any action.

thanks

WPT

Eric Frei · 23rd May 2009, 07:09 PM

How does Phellinus noxius infect a tree?

From the attached phellinus-2006 PDF

Quote:

The survey also revealed that infection started
mainly from infected roots of trees, stumps or root
remnants remaining in the soil, and that spread to
adjacent trees was through root contact. Good land
preparation by removing all woody debris and
stumps in the soil before plantation establishment
was therefore considered vital to reduce disease incidence.

From the attached Basal Root Rot BRR Phellinus PDF

Quote:

Pathogenicity tests
A pathogenicity test was conducted to determine the
causal organism of BRR in teak by infecting 20 healthy,
potted 2 year-old teak saplings with 1month-old inoculum
blocks (Lee and Noraini Sikin, 1999) at the root collar.
Inoculum consisted of pieces of rubberwood branches
measuring about 2 x 10 cm which had been inoculated
with P. noxius (isolate FRIM 618). Isolate FRIM 618 was
obtained from a diseased teak root collected from Sabak
Bernam, Selangor and had been identified as P. noxius
based on the fruiting bodies produced using the methods
described by Lee and Noraini Sikin (1999). The test was
conducted twice using different soil compositions since
the first test with a 3:2 ratio of soil to sand failed. The test
was repeated using a growth substrate of soil, sand and
peat at a ratio of 3:2:1. Aggressiveness of the pathogen
was studied by equally dividing the planting materials into
two treatments namely wounded and unwounded. In the
wounded treatment, saplings were injured with a knife by
making a shallow 1-2 cm wide wound on the taproot,
approximately 2 cm below ground surface (Mohd Farid et
al., 2001). Two pieces of the well colonized, one-month
old P. noxius blocks were buried at a depth of about 5 cm
in contact with the tap root of six saplings from each
treatment. The remaining saplings in each treatment were
not inoculated and kept as controls. Pathogenicity
development was observed and recorded at weekly
intervals over a 6-month period......

..... Pathogenicity tests
The pathogenicity tests revealed that P. noxius killed all
the saplings irrespective of the wounded or unwounded
treatments. This fungal pathogen causes brown root rot of
many woody species including important agricultural crops
such as oil palm, cocoa, rubber, tea and fruit trees
(Pegler, 1968; Wood and Lass, 1985; Nandris et al.,
1987a; 1987b; Chang, 1995; Ann et al,. 2002). It could
also be a major threat to forest plantations in the tropics.
The test showed that the above ground symptoms
were almost similar to those observed on the affected
trees in the plantations. Yellowing of leaves, wilting and
defoliation were among the major symptoms. However,
the early stages of infection could not be distinguished.
This perhaps indicates why it was so difficult to diagnose
early BRR infection of teak in the field. Above ground
symptoms mostly appeared six weeks after inoculation as
yellowing and poor leaf size development. At this stage,
the inoculum blocks were found to be strongly bound to
the roots indicating that the roots had been invaded by the
fungal hyphae......

..... Pathogenicity tests
revealed that the fungus did not require the presence of
wounds to invade and subsequently kill the host plant.

Source: issg Database: Ecology of Phellinus noxius

Quote:

Local dispersal methods
On animals (local): Airborne basidiospores are another cause of dispersal. Dispersal through airborne basidiospores is not as common as root-to-root contact
Transportation of habitat material (local): Dispersion is possible through transport of infested soil.

Management information
Push-heap-and-burn clearing was used in hoop pine plantations in Queensland (Bolland, 1984) to remove infected stumps and some roots. However, remaining diseased roots are an inoculum source until all fungal mycelium is dead. Planting grasses with deep, fibrous root systems may speed up root decomposition. Flooding fields for more than one month may eliminate the fungus (Chang, 1996). When replanting infested areas, space trees as far apart as practical. Rogue out plants with symptoms of yellowing, wilting, or leaf drop as soon as possible.

Nutrition
P. noxius is able to metabolize lignin as well as the complex polysaccharides of wood (Adaskaveg and Ogawa, 1990).

Reproduction
Sexual reproduction by basidiospores, asexual by fragmentation of mycelium and possibly by arthroconidia (Chang, 1996).

Lifecycle stages
The main vegetative stage of P. noxius is a dikaryotic mycelium. Sexual spores are produced on specialized cells called basidia and are wind dispersed. The basidiospores germinate to form a homokaryotic mycelium which fuses with a compatible homokaryotic mycelium to form the dikaryotic stage (Adaskaveg and Ogawa, 1990).

Diagram of how it spreads:- Source: Phellinus noxius

Quote:

Ecology and Life Cycle:
Survival in the soil:

Phellinus noxius can survive for many years on infected host plant debris, and has been recovered from infected tissue 10 years after host death. The viability of the fungus declines quickly in soil without host plant debris, with no recovery after five months. Flooding also reduces the viability of this organism. A study by Tun-Tschu Cahng in 1996 found that no P. noxius was recovered from soils containing infested root debris after one month of flooding. This may explain the organism’s apparent preference for sandy soils, which are generally well drained. P. noxius has been reported to grow at temperatures ranging from 10-35oC, with optimum growth between 25-30oC. Growth has been observed from pH 3.1-7.5 (and the organism has been isolated from soils up to pH 9), with optimum growth between pH 5.2-6.3. The organism has not been found at elevations above 1000m.

Disease cycle:

Infected host plant debris in soil is the most common source of primary inoculum in newly established orchards or plantations. Seedlings infected in the nursery can also serve as the initial source of inoculum in a field. The fungus spreads primarily via mycelial contact with roots. Phellinus noxius obtains nutrients from host plant tissue by secreting a laccase to degrade lignin as well as enzymes (such as cellulose, pectinase, xylanase) to degrade polysaccharides. The fungus colonizes the root system and moved to the collar, and may form basidiocarps on the trunk of the host. Fruiting bodies form layers of spore-bearing pores during rains. These continue to develop and liberate spores until the end of the rainy season, when a layer of sterile tissue seals the pores.

Epidemic Expansion:

The structural and biological diversity in natural forest systems restricts the expansion of small, scattered root rot disease centers. Once the natural forest system is disturbed, initial inoculum on infected debris in the soil can spread rapidly through monoculture plantations of susceptible hosts, usually within rows rather than between them. The rate of mycelial growth along roots has been estimated at 0.7 meters per year. Bolland reported in 1984 that patches of 200-400 square meters are common in Queensland, with the largest encountered disease center covered 707 square meters. A survey of dead and infected trees by Hodges in the Mariana Islands revealed infection centers up to 0.1 ha each which coalesced to cover 1 ha or more.

Suggested disease management tactics:

Forest clearing and ground preparation should be performed to remove as much infested plant residue as possible. Residual inoculum in the small root debris that remains after clearing can be eliminated by flooding the soil for a month or fumigation of soil by ammonia (released in alkaline soils after 3000 p.p.m. urea amendment). When land is cleared and ready to be planted, care should be taken not to use infected transplants. More research on host resistance is needed, since variation in susceptibility has been observed among different species or cultivars within a species. Digging of trenches between rows may minimize disease spread within the field. The systemic fungicides triadimefon, prochloraz, and mepronil were shown to reduce disease incidence without phytotoxicity, but more research is needed on their economics and efficacy.

Garry Brockley · 24th May 2009, 03:05 AM

Great research and info eric

a big thank you

Garry Brockley · 25th May 2009, 11:24 AM

There is alot of research in taiwan which goes along with your findings
http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intro...s/0524-01F.pdf

Eric Frei · 4th June 2010, 09:09 PM

Well, now it is "except jacarandas"

Brown Root Rot Places City's Trees At Risk

Quote:

June 1, 2010

A "killer virus" is threatening thousands of trees in Brisbane's riverside suburbs.

Brisbane City Council's senior arborist Keith Foster this morning described the fungus, commonly called "brown root rot", as a potential problem for all of the city's trees except jacarandas.

There is no genuine remedy for the fungus, which produces a characteristic "stocking" over the roots and trunk of plants.

Mr Foster said it was also becoming a major concern for Queensland's avocado tree industry.

"The avocado industry is very much in trouble because of this pathogen," he said this morning.

Brown root rot was first discovered in large concentrations in Brisbane about three years ago.

It has now been found in 200 plant species including palms, fig, poincianas, leopard tree, avocado and hoop pine.

Mr Foster said the fungus spread, which thrives from the northern tip of Queensland to Cape Byron in NSW, is threatening trees in several suburbs on the Brisbane River.

"Indooroopilly, Taringa, West End, Taringa, the central city, the Botanical Gardens, New Farm, Hamilton, Ascot, Shorncliffe and Chapel Hill," he said. "All along the river corridor."

Brown root rot attacks the root ball of trees and cuts off supply of water.

"It causes death rapidly in young trees," Mr Foster said.

He said the two major problems in identifying the threat was that the fungus remained dormant for up to 60 years and was difficult to identify in early stages.

"So when you see it, the tree effectively has the death warrant," he said.

Brisbane City Council is part-way through a research project with the Department of Primary Industry, the Gold Coast and Caloundra City Council.

It has identified that keeping mulch particles smaller than 25 millimetres long allows "good fungus" to attack the "bad" and keep it in check.

DPI pathologist Ken Pegg said the disease was "very, very bad" in North Queensland and in the northern rivers area of NSW.

Mr Pegg rated the disease as "very serious" in the Brisbane City Council area.

"You are losing all those beautiful old trees," Mr Pegg said.

He said the disease was a problem in the hoop pine plantations of the Mary Valley near Gympie in the 1970s.

24th July 2008, 02:27 PM	#3
WPT I'm new here so be nice Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Cairns Posts: 3	Re: Phellinus Noxius in Brisbane G'day all We have some outbreaks of P. noxius in Cairns . Still isolated cases at this time. My question is as follows: Once the tree/s and soils have been removed, how does one get rid of the diseased material without spreading the disease? Will leaving it in long term mulch heaps eventually kill P. noxius? How can one clean trucks, saws, chippers, etc. without carrying the disease all over the place when used at the next site? I've read some information on the web about the use of high levels of urea or aqueous ammonia: - "High concentrations of volatile NH3 were detected in these treatments, indicating that NH3 generated from these chemicals was fungicidal to P. noxius." Anyone have experience with this? WPT

24th July 2008, 04:18 PM	#5
WPT I'm new here so be nice Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Cairns Posts: 3	Re: Phellinus Noxius in Brisbane Thanks for the quick reply. Thought I'd send you some photos of one case we have at the moment. regards WPT Attached Thumbnails

24th July 2008, 04:22 PM	#6
Eric Frei Admin - Owner Palm & Tree Services in Brisbane Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Brisbane Posts: 12,994	Re: Phellinus Noxius in Brisbane Yep, that's bad! If there's others in the area they might cop it to. In the second pic I saw severed roots, what was that about? __________________ Protect your rights to work - Join Australian Tree Association My businesses:- Qualified Brisbane Palm and Tree Lopping \| Stump Grinding Brisbane \| Brisbane - Gold Coast Consulting Arborist

24th July 2008, 04:33 PM	#7
WPT I'm new here so be nice Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Cairns Posts: 3	Re: Phellinus Noxius in Brisbane If youre talking about the area on the right hand side of the picture, it is a part of the tree that failed due to a combination of decay and wind. The tree will probably not survive, which is why I wanted to know what we could do to prevent the removed material infecting other area, as we have to set up some kind of quarantine protocol and keep all machinery disease free when using it for other jobs. As it is I think that the failed trunk was removed and mulched without any precautions taken, before I knew about it. I've since contacted all our departments and sent out information on P. noxius to try and educate our staff to bring other cases to my attention before taking any action. thanks WPT

24th May 2009, 03:05 AM	#9
Garry Brockley Bayside Tree Care Brisbane Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Brisbane Aus Posts: 1,641	Re: Phellinus Noxius in Brisbane Great research and info eric a big thank you __________________ My business:- Brisbane Bayside Tree Care

24th March 2007, 10:13 PM	#2
Sean Freeman Veteran Heritage Status Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Townsville Nth Queensland & Gold Coast Sth Queensland Posts: 1,981	Just a few points that I try to remember when reading about and then discussing the relationships between fungi and trees. Where an indigenous wood decay fungus is present the native trees that grow in the area will have evolved along side this potential pathogen for thousands of years if not longer. To see dramatic increases in advanced decay and death in tree populations would suggest that changes are happening either to the trees, to the fungi or the environment or a combination of all three. For our urban forest trees the changes are somewhat obvious, the soil environment that they evolved in is no longer present, neither are the close interrelationships with neighbouring trees. Infact the environment critical to their healthy growth is at best impoverished, at worst down right hostile. We have also introduced species of trees that would have taken perhaps thousands of years to colonise our localities (if they did at all) and have little in their genetic makeup to defend against previously unencountered pathogens. Wood decay fungi can have an unusual and complex life cycle within the tissues of living trees, nowhere near as simple as colonisation, expanded growth overwhelming the tree's defences leading the death of the tree, as it might seem when we encounter a dead or dying tree with obvious decay fungi and fruiting bodies. Fungi compete with and outcompete each other often to the benefit of the tree's survival. Chemical and physical boundaries produced within wood tissues are effective within certain limits, strongly controlled by the health status of the tree in question. Predisposition factors of soil compaction, prolonged minimal soil moisture levels, contaminants, root injuries, and the more obvious above ground abuses all put trees into a position that strongly favours the pathogen. Phellinus noxious is particularly effective given even half a chance to overwhelm a tree, and we seem to be giving it many times that. I'm not sure what BCC are trying to achieve with their media releases, but its not a mystery fungi, nor is it unknown. The photos you show reflect one of the more common control measures used to try to contain the spread. Unfortunately as we all have seen the root system of even a small young tree can be massive, unpredictable in pattern and spread and when it comes to the finer root hairs almost undetectable. Removing unsafe infected trees quickly and trenching around trees as yet not visibly affected is about the limit of the control we have. Trials of soil dreching the trenches and the root system of retained trees with Trictioderma viridae water solution a mutually antagonistic fungi that competes with Phellinus for space in the rhizosphere show significant success. Applying broad spectrum fungicides will kill off the beneficial mycorrhizal fungi along with the pathogens, not a good idea for a tree already clearly in deep strife. There's years of work ahead to fully understand all the intricacies of the relationships between fungi and tree, and I'm not doing any of it, but hopefully some of what I've written helps clarify a few parts of the story. Sean

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