Answer: That orange growth is lichen, not a rust pathogen. Lichen do not harm the tree or shrub in any way. They tend to grow only on that outer bark and stay there, not growing deeper into live ...

The lichen themselves will not cause decline, but they may be a good indicator of the overall health of your tree. An abundance lichen presence concentrated on damaged or dead wood, as your sample ...

Q: I have a 27-year-old "Snowdrift" crabapple tree in the front of my home. It looks to have lichen on it - it looks like greenish-gray leaf-like spots all over the tree. I have been pruning it every ...

The presence of lichen or moss on backyard trees can understandably be concerning at first. Lichen is a combination of algae and fungus that lives on any number of solid, undisturbed surfaces, ...

Q: I am worried about the grayish-green, flaky, roundish spots I am seeing on big tree trunks and branches this spring. I can scratch it off with my fingernails. I think that it is killing my trees.

Symptoms are usually the first clue that something is wrong. It can be a fever, a cough, fatigue or a number of other indicators in people, pets or livestock. The severity of the problem sometimes can ...

'British soldier' lichen growing on rock. (Clay Wollney) For the most part, lichens growing on trees is a good thing, not harmful to the trees. However, weak or dying trees may have a lot of lichens, ...

EAST TEXAS (KLTV/KTRE) - Often is heard, “That green and grey fungus is killing my tree! See there? It’s all over those limbs!” The “fungus” referred to is probably lichen. Lichens are often blamed ...

Those green-blue growths that you see on tree trunks and branches are not mosses. They are lichens. Lichens are not killing your tree, nor are they causing it to fail. They are telling you something ...