White mold on a tree trunk can be harmless or harmful. You can find out two common causes here. How to detect harmful symptoms with a finger test. Read here how you can combat harmful white mold on trees using natural means.
What to do about white mold on tree trunks?
CausesWhite bark fungusMold on tree trunk,no countermeasuresrequired. If white mold appears due toblood louse infestation, brush off the pests. Cut affected branches back into he althy wood. Preventative control agents include glue rings and beneficial insects, such as ladybirds and blood louse wasps.
What causes white mold on tree trunk?
The most common causes of white mold on tree trunks areWhite bark fungusandBlood louse infestation. The white bark fungus (Athelia epiphylla) causes white, palm-sized spots on the bark with its mycelium, which often flow together.
Blood lice (Eriosoma lanigerum) suck on branches and cause the dreadedBlood louse cancer Typical symptoms of the tree disease are thickening and stunting. The frost-hardy bloodlice overwinter in the leaves and migrate to the tree in spring. Like mealybugs on a houseplant, the pests are covered in a sticky, woolly white coating.
How to fight white mold on tree trunk?
WhiteBark fungusis not harmful to a treeThe fungal spores parasitize algae and lichens, which turn whitish-gray. The tree bark only serves as a base. White mold caused by blood louse infestation is a completely different matter. You can identify the pests by rubbing the white coating after a finger test. Withblood louse infestationthe fingers turn red. How tofightthe pests withnatural means:
- Brush off blood lice.
- Cut affected branches back to he althy wood.
- Attach glue rings to the tree trunk in March.
- Settle beneficial insects, such as ladybirds and the parasitic wasp species of blood louse wasp.
Tip
White rot on tree trunks is a fungal disease
If the trunk wood turns white, the tree is suffering from white rot. The destructive tree disease is caused by fungal species such as fire fungus (Phellinus), tinder fungus (Fomes) or the edible sulfur fungus (Laetiporus sulphureus). White rot fungi on the tree trunk first break down lignin and then decompose the cellulose. A tree can live with white rot for many years before it collapses.
