Does anyone know what this green fuzzy stuff is on the trees?


It is killing off many of the trees in our area. Oak, maple, and we even saw it on some pine trees while walking in the woods yesterday. We had it on two small dogwoods that we had in the front yard and we had to have the trees cut down, they were pretty much dying. Small branches would fall off limbs would have no leaves.

I'm just curious as to what it would be that it would affect so many types of trees.

 

Looks kinda like lichens. Don't think those cause tree deaths, though. They are often found on dead or dying trees, so maybe they are an indicator rather than a cause here.

 

I was thinking it looks like the spanish moss that we have on most of the trees here in the south. However, spanish moss doesn't kill the trees, so I'm

 

I googled it and found a good article from the Royal Horticultural Society. There is even a picture. It says that the lichen won't kill the tree. The article stressed the importance of pruning and good air flow. Good luck!

 

Val, I thought it looked like Spanish moss too.

Interesting replies, Deb and Barbara. Maybe something else is killing off the trees then?

 

I read that a blight is killing many of the trees in New England but I saw nothing about that mossy like growth.

 

Can you physically remove it from the trees?

 

It isn't Spanish moss. Spanish moss is a relative of the pineapple plant. Lichens are actually composed of two species in a symbiotic relationship - two layers of a type of fungi with a type of cyano-bacteria (alga) sandwiched in the middle. The types in your picture look to be of the harmless epiphytic crustose (crusty looking) and fructicose (shrub-like) varieties.

 

OK, I didn't think it was Spanish moss in our neck of the woods, it probably is some kind of lichen, but do wonder why so many tress have it and why so many are dying off.

 

Beats me why they're dying. I don't know nothing about no trees. The bloom in the epiphytic lichen population could be symptomatic of an underlying disease. But I'm not a botanist. And I don't play one even on the internet.