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Extension > Garden > Diagnose a problem > What's wrong with my plant? > Deciduous > Buckeye > Tree breaks or falls over

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Buckeye > Whole tree > Tree breaks or falls over

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  • Image: Black Rot 1
  • Image: Black Rot 2
  • Image: Black Rot 3

Ganoderma root and butt rot
Ganoderma applanatum

  • Leaves are small, turn yellow and drop prematurely
  • Canopy appears thin with few leaves and multiple dead branches
  • Fungal conks, semicircle shelf fungi, can be found from the base of the tree up to 3 feet high on the trunk
  • Conks are reddish brown and shiny on top, white and porous underneath, a rim of white may be visible on the edge of the growing conks
  • Infected wood at the base of the tree is white, soft, stringy or spongy
  • Infected wood at the base of the tree is white, soft, stringy or spongy
  • More information on Ganoderma root and butt rot
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  • Image: White Rot 1
  • Image: White Rot 2
  • Image: White Rot 3

Armillaria root rot
Armillaria spp.

  • Infected trees have poor growth, dead branches in the upper canopy, undersized and/or yellow leaves
  • Flat white sheets of fungal growth (mycelial fans) between the bark and sapwood at the base of infected trees
  • Thick black, shoestring-like fungus can sometimes be seen under the bark, around roots and in the soil around the base of the tree
  • Wood is decayed, white, soft and spongy; this may extend from the base of the tree well up into the trunk
  • Trees frequently break or fall over in storms
  • Clusters of honey-colored mushrooms may grow at the base of the tree in fall
  • More information on Armillaria root rot
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  • Image: Fire Blight 1
  • Image: Fire Blight 2
  • Image: Fire Blight 3

Heart rot
Polyporus squamosus and Oxyporus populinus

  • Fungal fruiting bodies arise along the stem, near a pruning wound, crack or other wound
  • Many shapes and sizes of fungal bodies may be seen
  • Polyporus fungi produce mushrooms 12" or more across, yellow-tan above with a short dark stalk
  • Oxyporus may be a white corky mass of fungal growth or a thick white shelf fungi 6" across, often covered with green moss
  • The canopy may show no symptoms or may have small yellowing leaves or dead branches depending on the extent of the trunk decay
  • In cross section of the trunk, the wood at the center is discolored, soft, crumbling, stringy or spongy
  • More information on heart rot

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