Ho hum....yeah, cedar apple rust

I was looking at my beloved juniper "Waves of Nausea", and noticed that cedar apple rust galls were beginning to produce spores. As anyone who has ever seen these galls knows, they look like alien monsters: round corky balls with orange gelatinous tendrils oozing from pores. The spores from juniper infect crabapple and apple trees; the spores on apple trees infect juniper. So right now, go check your junipers and cut off any galls. It's much easier to remove the galls than to spray your crabapples to protect them. However, if you live in a neighborhood with lots of junipers, you might want to bring your crabapples to a sheltered spot when it's raining.

There are three types of juniper gall things: Cedar apple rust, cedar hawthorn rust, and quince spindle rust. The first two are relatively benign on junipers: they form on needles or small twigs and only persist for a year or two. Therefore, pruning them off isn't traumatic to your bonsai design. Quince spindle rust, however, is a persistant gall, so if you don't notice it early on, it might end up on a crucial branch, and you'll be very unhappy pruning it off. So visit your trees after a good rain shower, and look for orange goo.

I just pluck the galls of CAR off when I see them and before they release spores.




Will

Here, Here Mr. Will,,,Here, Here.
i agree with you none less. I have many Eastern Reds in my collection and some of the apple family within a 10 ft
space during the winter months, and within yards the rest of the year. I have picked off these galls for years and besides having no Cedar-Apple Rust, (on my apples) Ive recently noticed that the Cedars, (junipers) have either been reducing or lacking the galls when its time for winter storage.
Best of,
KJ