25/10/2026
🍄 Spotted these in your garden this autumn? Don't ignore them.
This is honey fungus, found on a job this week. It's the most destructive fungal disease in UK gardens, and October is when it shows itself.
The toadstools are only the tip of it. Underground, the fungus spreads through tough black "bootlaces" in the soil, feeding on roots and moving from plant to plant. It can kill hedges, shrubs and mature trees, and it rots the roots that hold a tree up, so an infected tree can become unstable.
What to look for:
🔸 Clumps of honey-coloured toadstools at the base of trees, stumps or shrubs (Sept–Nov)
🔸 White, mushroom-smelling fungal sheets under the bark at ground level
🔸 Black bootlace-like strands in the soil or under the bark
🔸 Dieback, thin canopies, or plants that fail to come into leaf
🔸 Cracked or bleeding bark at the base
What it means:
There's no chemical cure, and pulling the toadstools off does nothing. The fix is finding and removing the food source (infected stumps and roots) and protecting what's still healthy. Several lookalike fungi are harmless, so get it properly identified before you act. And don't eat them.
🌳 Seeing these near your trees? Send us a photo. As an Arboricultural Association Approved Contractor, we'll tell you what you're dealing with and whether your trees are at risk.
📍 Covering Cardiff, Newport, the Vale of Glamorgan and across Wales and the South West
📞 07921860663
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