Photo © 2006 Jim Jung. All rights reserved.

Cedar Apple Rust

The ubiquitous Cedar Apple Rust fruits after warm, rainy spells. This ordinarily obscure and harmless little fungus lives in potato-like swellings on the branches of our Red Cedars. But given warm, wet conditions each little tuberous growth sprouts bizarre yellow-orange, gelatinous tentacles – its fruiting bodies – and casts its spores to the winds.

Cedar Apple Rust is harmless to people and pets, to the Western Red Cedar which is its primary host, and also to crabapples. However, it is harmful to cultivated apples and one of the many reasons to keep up a preventative spray schedule on your fruit trees. See your local garden center for recommendations about when and what to spray in your area.

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