Pest Guides

Wet Rot: Cellar Fungus

Coniophora puteana

Appearance

 
Wet Rot: Cellar Fungus
  • Mycelium – first whitish–yellow, later yellowish–brown.
  • Strands – yellowish–brown at first, later dark brown.
  • Sporophore – creamy–yellow at first, later olive–brown with a creamy margin.
  • Individual spores – 0.01mm long and pale yellow–brown. Bulk spores – olive–brown.

Lifecycle

  • The growing body of microscopic threads (known as hyphae) invade the cells of the wood to form a vegetative surface (or mycelium).
  • Strands may be thick and felted on wood and extensive on walls. The sporophore formed of strands is a thin, plate–like skin with smooth irregular bumps.

Habits

  • This may attack timber in buildings where there has been serious water ingress, through such things as leaking roof tiles, broken guttering, failed plumbing and rising damp.
  • It is also a common cause of decay in external painted joinery and other timbers.