After the study day at Kew in the spring I was full of resolve to give my trees a thorough Kew-style mulch of woodchips. Spring-time surgery had given me substantial piles here and there in the garden. It was a shock, then, to discover, when I started to move one, that it was solid – literally stuck together – with the bootlaces of honey fungus.
Wisley soon confirmed that this is indeed Armillaria – A. gallica rather than the cruelest species, A. mellea – but definitely not something you want to spread round as mulch. ‘Compost it to 50° C’, they said. I’m afraid the bonfire is where it will go. But be warned: woodchips may not be as innocent as they seem.
