Hello everyone, Another newbie here who has been browsing many websites looking for examples of what is on my japanese maple (and I haven't found them yet) My inlaws pointed it out a few days ago - but I think it has been there for a while. I have 2 wonderful japanese maples that were already 15 ft+ and very full when I purchased my house 5 years ago. They recently said I had a fungus on my tree, so I looked at it and searched for info/pictures similar, but found nothing extraordinary on the web like this. Hopefully it is normal/benign. I am attaching 3 pictures I took today of a green spotted fungus (?) on the trunk and limbs of my tree. I truly appreciate any input from the members to point me in right direction as I would hate to lose one of these beautiful trees due to my negligence. I wish I knew how to post the pics directly iin here rather than as attachments too - I will definitely appreciate any input on that as well! Thanks! Phil
It seems so. Leaves are green then turn nice bright red and seem completely full. Tree is growing and I have to trim shoots to keep my walkway accessible. I was just being proactive since my inlaws have quite a bit of "exotic" plants and bushes tended to by gardeners - but that may obviously not give them any credentials to diagnose my trees with fungus. Should I even worry or do anything about the lichen if it is that? There is one crack I just noticed near the base of the tree (while taking pictures of the green spots) I am posting that pic now. Again, thanks to everyone for their input and help in maintaining these beautiful trees. Phil
In so far as it is possible to tell from a photo, yes it is lichen. Not to worry, totally harmless as Maf says. You can clean it off with a proprietary product next winter if it bothers you, but most people like it and find it attractive. Adds character, what. ;) The "crack" looks like mechanical damage to me, someone or something has peeled some bark off perhaps. It's more problematic, but the edges look clean so just leave it and hopefully it will start to heal up. There's no harm in having the wood exposed, but losing a big chunk of bark is a significant injury. I'd be a little worried about bugs getting into that hole, so I might use some product against boring beetles there. Don't try to seal up that big area though, just let it dry out and heal naturally. Good luck (although you don't need it really, they're fine trees) -E
