Richard Crowe

I should add that I live in Beaumont, CA at about 2600' elevation.  At Christmas time we had 5" of rain in a few days' duration.  This was followed by very warm, Santa Anna winds weather in January and early February...just right to bring out this fungus it appears.  The tree is also shedding a lot of bark down low (where the fungus was growing) and that makes me wonder if the fungus was attached to dead bark as opposed to solid, living tree.

Thanks for the help.

R

I have a pomegranate tree that is trained fan-shaped.  It was planted ca 2004 and grows next to my vegetable garden.  Third photo here shows that it had a glorious crop last summer (2021).  I decided to prune it hard last fall because it casts too much shade on the vegetable garden.  This month I noticed some fungus (mushroom) growth on the tree (first photo).  This is the first time such growth has occurred on the tree.  My brother is a plant pathologist and we decided the fungus is Schizophyllum communae (2nd photo).  He says its presence indicates the tree has a problem and will eventually die.  Right now the tree is full of nice bronze spring leaf growth and seems perfectly normal.  What do you all think?