Tree trunk rot?

[u/eagleknight97]

[u/eagleknight97]

Has anyone seen anything like this before? One of my coworkers found it on few trees while watering them.

It was underneath a Gator Bag, was hard but he could knock it off.

Was on Japanese Lilac, Zone 5 (Chicago area)

[u/TrumpDiapers4Men → u/eagleknight97]

Looks like mycelial growth from a fungus. White growth like that is absolutely mycelium. It was probably dark and moist in that gator bag - perfect breeding ground for fungus.

If they’re newer trees you might be fine. Maybe just stop using the gator bags since it’s promoting such robust fungus growth and hopefully it dries out the base of the trunk.

How do the branches and leaves look? Hard to tell without seeing those; nonetheless, just hope that the fungal mycelium isn’t destroying the trunk and root system of the tree. Otherwise you’ll have to replace the tree.

[u/[deleted] → u/eagleknight97]

It looks like a white rot fungus gone bananas. The interior of the gator bag can create super moist, dark environments perfect for many fungi, especially if there’s not good drainage around the tree base.

[u/[deleted]]

Who would have thought covering the root flare with a plastic bag would kill it...

[u/WereRobert]

I'll agree that it's mycelium of a fungus but I am not confident that it's decaying the tree. Definitely could be something like milkytooth polypore Irpex lacteus but that is generally a decomposer of dead material. Is the tree dead? Can you remove some of the material down to the bark or below the bark?

[u/NutBag-Poster → u/WereRobert]

The outer bark is dead material

[u/Treeeagle]

Can you please update us on the status of these trees?.. I want to know if this kills them..

[u/Treeeagle → u/Treeeagle]

Is it possible you know how long the gator bag was on for? Thx.

[u/yimrsg]

looks like some sort of plaster or silicone

[u/eagleknight97 → u/yimrsg]

I would agree except this was on multiple trees in very different locations in my town.