Chaga or burl?

[Leshy]

I'm drawing on the collective's knowledge to possibly identify this monster ...

It's growing on a very young Himalayan birch .
And I'm guessing it's Chaga fungus.

If it's Chaga then I will harvest some and be very happy with the result.

If it's burl I'll leave it alone I think , as I don't want to kill the tree by exposing the cambium layer to disease etc.

See what you guys think ...
also I'd be curious to hear your views on harvesting either of those .

Process , method and best practices...

with minimal damage to the tree being the main concern.

Thank you all in advance and apologies for the quality of the cell phone pics

 

[Mesquite]

Looks like a burl to me

 

[crosslandkelly]

Yep a burl. This is Chaga.

 

[Mesquite]

Yep a burl. This is Chaga.
View attachment 45010 View attachment 45011

That looks suspiciously like birch polypore to me Colin

This is Chaga
(it's not my picture but rather one of the first that comes up when you Google chaga on birch trees.)

 

[crosslandkelly]

Lol! And there I was thinking they were the same thing. Cheers Steve.

 

[Janne]

Ommmmmmmmmm

 

[Janne]

Ommmmmmmmmmm

 

[beezer]

best to leave clean cuts unsealed, trees will develop their own barriers to protect themselves. taking that burr off that tree will kill it even if it takes a few years to die.

 

[Robson Valley]

Birch wounds should be covered with something like tree-pruner's paint. Despite the fact that the paint
is usually black in color, it isn't as noticible as you might imagine.
Birch sap has a considerable sugar content, unlike most other tree species, with the exception of Acer sp. = Maples.
The sugar is the usual, effective growth promotor of both bacteria and fungi for more invasive decomposition.

We have species of woodpeckers which attack birch trees specifically for the sap. In turn, the humming birds get a drink as well.
Eventually, the ants find the wounds and track in all sorts of organisms of decomposition.

If you have permission, harvest the entire tree. Use the entire tree. Make many things from it.
Fresh birch is easy to carve, not so much when it's dried = a bit boney.

 

[Leshy]

I shall leave it alone , as I didn't want to kill the tree and don't have a real use for the whole tree just yet.

Maybe another time...

But thank you all for the advice given .

 

[Sundowner]

And I thought that when you find chaga on a birch tree, it is already dying