Juniper fungus

Hello Everyone,

I havent posted much in a while but I'm really in a bind with this. I have a nice Juniper that I have noticed some nastiness on and have no idea what it is or how to address it. The tree in question is a Canardi Juniper (sp?) and it has been in good health for the last 3 years I have had the tree. It was repotted this year into a smaller training pot and potted in straight akadama. I went out this morning to look at the tree and found these...







There are also a few that have begun to dry...



It may be hard to see but they are bright orange spongy-like growths ALL OVER!!! I pulled one off and it felt like a booger, I know not the best description but its all I can come up with. Does anyone have any ideas?

Cheers,
Jay

Jay,
I have seen this fungus discussed recently a few places here. I would quarantine it from your other trees. Here's the title of one of the discussions: Juniperus communis - yamadori 2007

From what I've read about this the tree may be a lost cause, but I wish you the best of luck.

Todd

Hey Todd,
Thanks for the heads up on the link, i couldnt find anything when I searched but you nailed it. It looks like my juniper has exactly what that tree had. I'm a little bummed about it and will be moving it away from my other trees and let it go for the rest of the year and see what happens.

Thanks again,
Jay

Jay,
This is pretty common juniper rust...aka cedar apple rust. It infects red/white cedars. The fungus is hosted alternately from one year to the next by junipers and the following year by crabapples or other malus. The fungal spores won't be stopped just by moving the juniper to another area of your yard. Its not often fatal unless it runs rampant...it can however cause problems like branch and definitely shoot dieback.

So, knowing you just dug those nice big crab apples that are doing so well.....be prepared for some disease control measures in three steps with 30:1 lime sulfur (Late Fall, Mid winter and then again early spring) especially if you keep them in some shelter with tight quarters and little air circ. The rust will be orangish spots on the leaves of your crab apple and be evident starting about this time of year.

You can use a copper based fungicide now on the juniper or even an application of diluted lime sulfur a little later.......put it the shade for a few days after spraying it as some of the fungicides can cause problems in the sun.

Have fun buddy & good luck.
Neil

Hey Neil,

Thanks for the info! Yeah the crabapples are doing really well, buds all over! I ended up moving the tree to a secluded area in my yard away from the other trees before I left for work. We'll see how it goes!

Jay

You should also spray dilute (read the label) lime sulfur on the crabapples -- and on hawthorn -- because one or both is the intermediate host for the fungus.

When you spray the juniper, first scrape off all the orange gunk and destroy it. Then spray the entire tree, but especially the spots where the fungus had been.

Thanks Jim.

Only question I have is when you say "destroy it" what exactly do you mean? I'm only curious because I saw some of it had dripped onto my grass. Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Jay

I mean get rid of it. Wrap in plastic and into the garbage. You probably can't do anything about that stuff that dropped away.

hi!

it is the best solution,....but a hard one!
Burn it,......

It does infect a lot of junipers hawthorns apples and pears.....

It also causes thickening in your tree!

Sorry grtz m,.....from Holland where we have it to!

i have the same thing on my "red cedar" Juniperus virginiana, so i just take off the blobs and spray the tree with a copper based fungicide and put in the shade?