Question
It seems as though my large Sugar Maple tree has a patch of Northern Tooth Fungus growing very high up on one of the branches.  I was wondering if cutting down the infected branch would save the tree or if there is nothing I can do to save it.

Answer
Dear Dana, I am very sorry to hear about your tree.  Sugar maples don't grow too well here, but I love the beautiful leaves and fall color.  You perhaps have noticed the disease early enough to prevent major damage, but cut the infected branch immediately, and remove it from your property.  Be sure to cut a foot or so down the branch from the fungus and inspect the wood.  Infected wood will have white wood towards the inside of the trunk, which sometimes produces black streaks as the infection becomes further advanced.  If the wood on the inside is white, cut down some more on the branch until you don't see it anymore.  Then seal the wound shut with good pruning paint, and seal up any other cuts in the bark that you see.  Now, suppose you get to the base of the branch and you still see white.  In this case, the disease will have progressed pretty far.  You can at this point seal it up with prune paint and keep an eye on it until it eventually dies, but it may give you quite a few more years of enjoyment.  Or you could just decide to cut it down at that point, but I would probably keep the tree until it looked as if it might become dangerous during high winds.  I hope this information helps and that the disease hasn't progressed too far.  Good luck, Melissa