What Is White Rot In Trees, What Causes It, How Do You Treat Wood Fungus?

White Rot Fungus from Wood Bacteria

If the cut trees stay in water for a long time, bacteria formation is seen. The deterioration caused by bacteria does not affect the bearing strength of the wood but causes stains on the wood after maintenance processes such as impregnation, varnish, etc. The destruction caused by bacteria only increases the permeability of the surface to certain substances, and this impregnation applied to the wood delays the drying of the varnish materials, thus causing an ugly appearance on the wood surface.

Surface mold and blue color fungi

The moisture content of the wood should not exceed 20%. If the humidity exceeds this rate, surface mold and rot will occur on the wood. Surface mold and fungi adversely affect the appearance of the wood, but do not change the service life and carrying capacity. Wood pre-protection applications are not very effective in areas with wood fungus and wood mold.

There are two types of wood rot as wood rot fungus, white rot, and brown rot. White rot, the second name of which is Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is a plant fungus. There is a wide range of host plants.

White Rot Mushroom

White rot fungus is strong enough to damage all components that make up the main structure of the wood, namely lignin, and carbohydrates. Theoretically, it can destroy the entire wood raw material. In this case, too, it becomes uniform on the wall of the wood and the damage of the cell wall increases uniformly. There are two types of white-rot fungi. The first is white-rot fungi with holes, which form a hole-like appearance in the solid wood with distant rots forming. The second type of white-rot fungi is the growth of small holes in the cell wall of the wood, gradually growing and after a while, all the holes come together and the cell membrane complex disappears, forming huge holes that can be easily seen when looking at the wood. When the wood exposed to white rot is viewed with the naked eye, there is not much difference in the wood except for any color change and weight reduction.

What is white rot in trees?

White rots break down lignin and cellulose and commonly cause rotted wood to feel moist, soft, spongy, or stringy and appear white or yellow. Mycelia colonize much of the woody tissues. White rots usually form in flowering trees (angiosperms) and less often in conifers (gymnosperms).

All parts of the wood are destroyed. In white rot, first lignin and then cellulose begins to deteriorate, respectively. The deterioration starts from the lumen of the wood cell and proceeds outward, along with this, the thinning of the walls begins.

First of all, because lignin is degraded, the wood turns a whitish color. This impregnation becomes scattered shaped and stained in the wood. As a result of white rot, white rot mutates the texture of the wood, turns damp, soft, wood-like sponge, and fibrous, the wood turns white or yellow. Its most distinctive feature is the appearance of dark-colored lines in the wood mass. The primary signs of white rot disease are watery tissue degradation at the base of the wood, causing the plant to rot and wilting. White, raised fungus mycelium develops in lesions and is the main reason why this disease is called "white rot".

There are many white-rot medicines available on the market, and it is not possible to completely remove the damage to the wood with the use of white-rot medication, therefore it is always recommended to apply wood impregnation to help prevent the occurrence of white rot.