Winter and Tree Fungus

This will be a cold, wet winter. It will be a perfect winter for tree fungus to develop spores and start early in the spring if not treated correctly.

Bacteria, microbes, have a purpose in life, and that is to recycle minerals into a nutrient form available to trees and plants. There are also various types of bacteria and fungus that are looking for a host that is weak enough for them to invade and use the host sources as their own.

What does a cold, wet winter have to do with tree fungus?

The fungus requires that the host be deficient in trace minerals. Why?

I have explained how insects have evolved a system of being able to tell when a plant is low on minerals. The Plants are also high on simple carbohydrates. All insects love simple carbohydrates as their primary source of energy, but they cannot digest complex carbohydrates, which is what plants are if their mineral levels are high enough.

As it turns out, the Higher the Brix, the higher the mineral level will also be, and the higher will be the complex carbohydrate levels, with the result of the trees and plants not being attractive to the insects and the fungus.

A cold, wet winter will stress the tree population because the soil was not provided with essential minerals and bacteria.

If your soil is not treated correctly, it will cause them to grow at the expense of uptake of minerals rapidly, especially if you apply chemical high nitrogen fertilizer in the early spring. It is a fact that high nitrogen stops plants from absorbing trace minerals, especially calcium and a wide variety of exotic trace minerals which plants need.

The Fungus loves these types of plants and will expand rapidly, further weaken the plants.

Nature has a way of providing the soil with all needed for healthy tree growth. The problem is that nature is not able to do what she is supposed to do. We are rapidly destroying the biosphere. Therefore we must provide the soil with the trace minerals along with the essential microbes.

The bottom line is that if you have a plant or tree that has a fungus, you have a stressed-out plant, and you need to find the stress, deal with it, and then proceed. If you do not, you will not solve the problem. With trees, you need to pay attention to what you are feeding, or as in this case, what you are not feeding it.

Damaged soil will not provide trees with its trace minerals. Damaged soil also has the various fungus ready to attack the tree. Over the millions of years, Fungus, Microbes, Insects, Trees, Soil have evolved into an intertwined system. All tree diseases come from the soil. They lay dormant until conditions are right for them to emerge.

One of these conditions is overwatered soil. We tend to overwater our trees. Destroys the soil microbes while at the same time awakens the fungus bacteria. The fungus knows the conditions are right for it to attack the tree. The tree has become a source of food for it. Recycling at its best!

I talk about short term solutions and long term solutions.

The white fungus that is attacking some Trees is due to a combination of rains folks using chemical fertilizers on the trees. Combine this with the fact that fertilizing a tree with a chemical fertilizer farther kills what beneficial microbes are left in the soil, plus it increases stress to both the soil and the tree.

The short term solution is many in this case. One should always get with what is the simplest method that works, causing the least amount of damage to the tree — spraying the white fungus with compost tea. I would aerate it overnight, then spray the entire tree or as much as possible. I would not cut the Fungus off because that would damage the tree and cause more damage.

Mineral-rich compost tea would be best. You can either add rock dust to the compost before you make the tea, you can add a source of trace minerals to the compost tea. Try using Sea90. It has 90 trace minerals! By spraying the leaves with compost tea and minerals, you are providing minerals directly into the tree through its leaves, while at the same time, you spray the compost tea microbes directly onto the fungus. The bacteria will destroy the fungus. You will need to do this weekly for a few months. While doing this, you need to pay attention to long term control. Doing this now in late fall will allow the microbes to restore trace minerals slowly. What you do this season is felt and seen next season. So by applying rock dust, compost, and an acid mulch now along with microbes, you are going to get a healthy spring growth from the trees.

They are bringing the soil back to life. What I mean by this is to bring the soils’ natural microbial army back into action. Trees and microbes are specific to each other as well as to different geographical locations. Usually, the way it works is that plants and bacteria develop a relationship over time. The place where this happens determines what types of trees and what types of microbes will evolve here. Now we have plants from all over the world. But we haven’t brought in their bacteria. All the trees planted in the local soil (but not the native soil they have evolved in). So to ensure that the trees get the proper microbes, I would get a blend of bacteria to ensure that within that blend is the proper microbe best suited for the tree. This takes time and patience, but the rewards will be a healthy Tree. Actually, a healthy property. Do it now for a healthy spring!

Andy Lopez

Invisible Gardener

Any questions? Email me andylopez@invisiblegardener.com

Winter Fungus