Hello everyone. Today I went to water a fuyu persimmon that I planted a couple months ago and noticed a very prominent fungal growth at the base of the tree, on what was probably the graft point many years ago. I am very inclined to rip up the tree and burn it, since I have two other persimmon trees nearby, but I wanted to see if you guys could maybe identify the disease and possibly save me from killing my tree. The symptoms look pretty similar to oak wilt, and the top portion of the tree has lost its leaves (though this could be from rough fall winds, as the tree was losing its leaves anyways). The growth at the base of the tree is fluffy and frail and releases white powder, possibly spores, to the touch.


P.S. the tiles around the tree are to keep my dog from digging in the soil lol

The bud union is about 6" above the white stuff. Oak wilt is a soil-borne fungus and doesn't usually show above the ground.

I think you are dealing with a False puffball: just wait a couple of months to see what happens.
False puffballs are harmless to trees and will disappear once they have released their spores.

If not, it's probably a tooth fungus of some sort and we'll deal with it in due time.

Has it gone away? Any other changes?

Sorry for replying so late to your help guys. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I ended up ripping out the tree because it did look very sickly to me. It was dropping leaves before they turned brown for fall and the top part of the tree seemed to be dying back, all of which made me think the tree was very sick. Perhaps I could have left it there to over winter and see if it would come back, but in the end I decided to plant something else in that spot.