This is the first time I have ever seen a fungus growing on a living Ailanthus tree (Ailanthus altissima, Tree of Heaven). I know we'd all love to see a natural attacker of these trees, but we could also expect that whatever killed a nearly invincible Ailanthus tree would likely be devastating to many other species.
I don't yet know what this fungus is, but it didn't take much research to discover there are several fungi and diseases of Ailanthus. Joanne Rebbeck, of the U.S.Forest Service Northern Research Station in OH describes Verticillium wilt, caused by Verticillium albo-atrum. It was first detected in Pennsyvlania in 2002, and is caused by a soil-fungus that infects the vascular tissues of Ailanthus trees. She reports the infected trees die rapidly, typically within a growing season, and that it shows promise as a potential biological control agent of Ailanthus! Unfortunately, Virginia Cooperative extension reports other vulnerable trees include, but are not limited to, maple, redbud, quince, ash, sassafras and slippery elm. A few species have demonstrated resistance, including fir, hackberry, dogwood, fig, beech, sycamore, white oak and willow. Read more here.
On the BugwoodWiki, I found lists of 32 arthropods and 13 fungi that are associated with the genus Ailanthus in China. The fungal species directly associated only with A. altissima include Phyllactinia ailanthi, Cercospora glandulosa, Phyllosticta ailanthi, and Pseudocercospora ailanthicola, Alternaria ailanthi, Aecidium ailanthi, and one unidentified Coleosporium species.
An article by Peter Feret in the Journal of Arboriculture mentions there are six species of fungi that attack
the foliage, and ten that attack the stem and vascular system, with another five species of decay fungi that have
been found in Ailanthus roots and rotting trunks. But he doesn't provide any details, but cites a 1971 paper by Hepting that I haven't yet found.
Non-natural Controls
I don't know anyone that trusts USDA to introduce anything (sorry, APHIS and IPM friends!). I favor the non-natural controls for Ailanthus. While I prefer Glyphos and Roundup mixes over the restricted use Garlon triclopr pesticides, my friends know my favorite product is almost the most fun: T-190 by Ingersoll Rand.
Hampshire County is loaded with big sycamore trees (Platanus occidentalis). Even small sycamores seem to have unusually large leaves, but even after many years we sometimes find leaves that are still impressive. Of course, big green leaves mean there's more chlorophyll by which to convert sunlight to carbohydrates that make these trees grow fast and large. So like most things in nature, their are both obvious and not so obvious correlations and causation among observable phenomena.
Frost in the shaded spots
As we walked along our normal trails through and around the wetlands we could see the effect of the sunlight on the frost, even though it was still below 0 C.
We live in a house constructed from three, 100-year old barns. The design was based on a children's book by Wolo, in which a squirrel escaped a forest fire by jumping on a log and floating down the river to a home inside a tree, where it lived with a variety of other animals.
The Wood House was also designed to be a green home, built so that you could heat it with a candle. The architect brags about this in his displays at the big Green Festival in Washington, D.C. each year. I can't even heat it completely with our fancy catalytic re-burner Vermont Castings wood stove.
I don't need an infrared monitor or camera to prove there are gaps and leaks in which air escapes or gets in. Instead, simply studying the number of critters that make their home in my home tells me all I need to know. Especially this time of year, we've found plenty of Deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) and their close relatives, the White-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus). We've also found several flying squirrels (Glaucomys volans).
But we also find Black rat snakes (or "Black snakes", Pantherophis obsoletus), our largest snake in most of the mid-Atlantic. To the horror of our wonderful house keeper, we find them as often as every two months, sometimes sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor!
I found this young black snake right inside the door. You'll notice how distinct its pattern is, and you can also see that it had probably never been threatened before, and therefore very comfortable being handled by me.
