Dry rot lifecycle

Dry rot is a living and growing fungus, that feeds off and destroys timber in order to live. There are four main stages in the dry rot lifecycle. It is therefore important to choose a supplier familiar with the dry rot lifecycle, who is qualified as a dry rot specialist and can recognise the correct dry rot lifecycle stage and advise the appropriate dry rot treatment.

The four main dry rot lifecycle stages are as follows:

1. Spore

2. Hyphae

3. Mycelium

4. Fruiting Body

1. Spore Dry rot lifecycle begins as a tiny spore. These spores are omnipresent and one alone is practically invisible to the naked eye. In very large numbers dry rot spores appear as a fine orange brown dust as in the picture on the right hand side. These spores will remain inactivated unless combined with timber and moisture. If combined with timber and moisture, it is likely dry rot treatment would be required to prevent further spread. 

2. Hyphae Where timber and moisture is present, the dry rot spore will begin to grow. The dry rot spore produces very fine white strands not unlike cobwebs. These strands, known as hyphae, allow the dry rot fungus to grow by feeding on the timber. Where it can do this fungus will go on to produce increasingly more strands. It is through this process that the fungus breaks the structure of the timber down thus removing its strength and producing the Mycelim shown on the third stage of the dry rot lifecycle. Specialist dry rot treatment will be required to stop this in its tracks.

3. Mycelium One spore never exists alone meaning that when one germinates, several others will too, causing further dry rot problems. The resulting hyphae mass is known as mycelium. Mycelium can travel great distances in search of timber and it is this ability to grow over great distances and a variety of materials, which allows one outbreak to progressively destroy the structural timbers of an entire building if left undetected. Specialist dry rot treatment will be required to finish it off.

4. Fruiting Body In suitable conditions, dry rot mycelium will continue to exist and grow at a considerable rate within a building. Fungi prefers dark and damp areas with little or no air movement, therefore where these conditions change and threaten the fungus; its natural response is to create a fruiting body (sporophore). This mushroom-like form is the fungi's response to a threat to its survival and its function is to pump out spores into the atmosphere that can be transferred by air currents to other susceptible areas within the building allowing them to germinate and create a new attack of dry rot, thus bring us back to the beginning of the dry rot lifecycle. Specialist dry rot treatment will be required to inhibit this.

Dry rot treatment involves identification of the life cycle and eradication through chemical spray and other dry rot treatments carried out be the team at Wise Property Care.

Find out more information regarding dry rot 

For more information on dry rot, visit our dry rot treatment web page, our alternatively, contact Wise Property Care on 0800 65 22 678 or click to find out your local branch.