Perth Voice Interactive

AFTER a 10-year struggle to try to keep them alive, Vincent council looks set to remove the ailing London Plane trees (right)in Birdwood Square.

The trees along Bulwer and Beaufort Streets are suffering from honey fungus, which damages roots but doesn’t immediately show visible symptoms. It spreads by producing fungal roots that emerge from the soil to seek fresh victims.

Ignoring an arbori-culturalist’s advice, the council plans to plant flooded gums as replacements (they’re also susceptible to honey fungus).

Birdwood Square used to be swamp or, as the trendies like to call it, “wetlands”. Its high water table and water logging in wet winters means honey fungus thrives and is near-impossible to eradicate. The council tried to stave off the infection with an “antagonistic pathogen” called Trichoderma, injecting it six times over the years.

Arboriculturalist Jonathan Epps advised council to chop off the top branches (known as pollarding) and continue treating the trees but staff aren’t keen as previous efforts were in vain. Mr Epps says if Vincent council must remove them, they should replace the sick trees with liquid ambar as they have some resistance to the disease.

However, staffers recommended flooded gums as “an indigenous native tree would be more appropriate,” and it was the most prominent species prior to the European arrival.

They call it “a better option than another exotic that is possibly resistant to the honey fungus”. The report also reckons the gums will better fit the park’s “eco-zoning”, which is about to start replacing water-guzzling grass with more sustainable native plants.

The council doesn’t sit in January but will have a chance to weigh in on the plan over the break before staff make the final call.

by DAVID BELL