How Can I Tell If My Sweetgum Tree Has a Fungus?

Sweetgum trees grow up to 70 feet high with a pyramid-like shape. The glossy green leaves turn purple, yellow and red in the fall. Sweetgums are susceptible to many types of fungus, especially if the trees are stressed in any way. Many of the fungi result in the formation of conks, which are fibrous, fleshy growths on the trunk.

Instructions

- 1
  Check the trunk for sunken areas. Canker diseases cause indentations on the bark as well as profuse bleeding of sap. The sapwood and bark will be brown and dead.
- 2
  Identify Trametes versicolor, or turkey tail, by spongy, white rotten spots on the wood. The fungus is usually found in wounded spots of living trees. It causes cankers with papery bark.
- 3
  Search the ground level of the tree trunk. Ganoderma applanatum, or artist's conk, is a fungus that kills the sapwood and causes white rot. Look close to the ground for conks in a semicircular shape measuring about 2 to 30 inches wide and 1 to 8 inches thick. The top of the conk is brown, and the bottom is white. Scratch it. If it turns dark, it's artist's conk.
- 4
  Look for clusters of leathery conks. This is Schizophyllum commune, or common split gill, a fungus that causes white rot to form on sapwood. It affects sweetgums that are stressed by sunburn, heat, drought and wounds.
- 5
  Keep an eye out for gray fruiting bodies. This may be Stereum sp., or parchment fungus. It's typically a fungus that only affects dead sweetgum trees, but living trees may be attacked as well. The fungus causes white rot and fruiting bodies that are leathery, thin and 1 inch or more across. The top is gray-brown, and the bottom is brown.

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