The turnover of ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungal biomass represents an important litter input into forest biogeochemical cycles. Cenococcum geophilum is a nearly ubiquitous and often abundant EM fungus, making the turnover dynamics of this species relevant and important across forest ecosystems. To better understand the turnover dynamics of C. geophilum ectomycorrhizas we examined their persistence using minirhizotron imaging and vitality status using a fluorescein diacetate (FDA) stain and contrasted these results with ectomycorrhizas of other EM fungi. Ectomycorrhizas formed by C. geophilum persisted 4–10 times longer and exhibited contrasting seasonal patterns of vitality compared to ectomycorrhizas of other EM fungi. Together, this suggests that litter resulting from the death of C. geophilum ectomycorrhizas is relatively recalcitrant to decay and may disproportionately influence forest biogeochemical cycles by retarding the rate at which carbon and nutrients are cycled. •Median lifespan of Cenococcum geophilum ectomycorrhizas was 831 days.•This persistence time was 4–10 times greater than other species.•A large proportion of C. geophilum ectomycorrhizas were determined to be dead.•C. geophilum ectomycorrhizas are likely relatively recalcitrant litter inputs.•This species may disproportionately influence forest biogeochemical cycles.