My apple trees are doomed (pics of brains)

   / My apple trees are doomed (pics of brains) #1  

Slacker

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Joined
Jun 20, 2005
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493
Location
Durham, NC
Tractor
Farmtrac 360 TLB
The many mature cedar trees that surround my two year old apple tree's are filled with these spores.
These are known as "cedar apples" and are deadly to apple and cherry trees. See the early stages of last years damage on the leaves in last pic. ******. I was hoping to have some apples this year. Anyone got any idea's? Cutting the cedar tree's down isn't an option, so I have to use chemical warefare or just uproot the apple tree's and try some other fruit tree.

rust1.JPG


rust.JPG


rust2.JPG


What it does to the leaves before they die:
apple_leaf.JPG
 
   / My apple trees are doomed (pics of brains) #2  
Now that there is what I call some funky looking fungus stuff. :eek: This is going to be a dumb question but here goes. Are they growing on the apple trees or the cedar trees? It looks like most of the "things" have pine needles in them, are the cedar trees growing that close to the apple trees?
 
   / My apple trees are doomed (pics of brains) #3  
So what has happened is the cedar and the apple trees have cross pollinated and the apple trees are making cedar apples???
I am glad I planted my new apple trees far from any cedar trees:)
 
   / My apple trees are doomed (pics of brains) #4  
I'd never heard of that, but it sounds like you need to choose which is more important; the cedar or the apple trees. (Actually you've already stated your choice.)

Here is a comment from Purdue University's website;
The best method of avoiding cedar rust diseases is to use resistant plants when installing new trees. However, the cedar rusts are not the only diseases to attack crabapples, apples and hawthorns. Apple scab and fire blight are two other important diseases of crabapples and apples. Fabraea leaf spot is common to hawthorn. On junipers, Phomopsis and Kabatina tip blights are recurring problems almost every year.

Therefore, when choosing a cultivar to plant, consider total disease resistance, not just resistance to one particular problem.




Separation of hosts
The rust fungi are dependent upon both the primary (juniper) and alternate (apple, crabapple, quince, or hawthorn) hosts for survival. Removal of one or the other breaks the life cycle of the fungus, thus preventing disease. A distance of 1/4 mile between junipers and alternate hosts is helpful, but this is often not practical. Whenever possible, at least avoid planting the two different host types right next to each other.


Removal of galls
In late winter remove and destroy all galls from junipers. This is a practical control if infection is light and there are not many susceptible junipers in the area. However, even if you are successful in removing all galls, infectious spores can be blown in from other trees.


Chemical control
Rust does not kill apples, crabapples, or hawthorn, and generally does not cause sufficient injury to warrant use of fungicides. If rust is a chronic problem causing leaf drop and poor tree vigor, registered fungicides may be used on the broadleaf host.

These fungicides are preventive and must be applied several times during early spring to maintain a protective coating on developing leaves, twigs and fruit. When spring weather is dry fungicide applications are generally not required. Read and follow label instructions regarding amounts of fungicide method of application, and safety precautions.
For more, visit their website at BP-35
 
   / My apple trees are doomed (pics of brains) #5  
Slacker:

Some pretty nasty looking "cedar apples" :eek: ! I have wild raspberries growing all over my property and they always looked pretty poorly :( , but they did feed the birds. I tried growing domesticated raspberries and they started to look as poorly as the "natives". I did some research and it turns out that Long Needle Pines in my area "contributed" to some kind of fungus/wilt/blight/rust interaction that killed off my domesticated plants :(. Jay
 
   / My apple trees are doomed (pics of brains) #6  
What you have are gall's. They will continue to grow on the cedar trees but will not spread to the apple tree. The only treatment for them is to continue to cut them out.
Rust is a fungal disease and the apple trees can be sprayed for this disease. The fungicides that treat apple scab in many cases will treat the rust as well. Read the fungicide labels to make sure that they treat both conditions. The tree will need to be sprayed several times each spring during the cool moist season.
 
   / My apple trees are doomed (pics of brains) #7  
Slacker,

The only choice is to cut down the cedars, cut down the apples, spray, and/or plant cedar rust resistant apple root stock.

Cutting down the cedars is really not going to help. Spores from up to two miles away can still get to your trees. Some states had programs to cut down cedar trees to protect apple production. The laws are supposed to still be in books but not enforced for obvious reasons. :)

If the rust effects fruit production your only alternative is accept the loss, spray and/or plant resistent varieties.

I want to plant an apple orchard. My place is FILLED with cedars. I noticed the rust on three cedar trees right around the house this weekend. :eek: I have been picking varieties that are cedar rust resistent. :D I suppose we will buy a couple and plant near the house to see what happens before going for the orchard idea.

You might enjoy this book, Amazon.com: Old Southern Apples: Books: Creighton Lee, Jr. Calhoun.
The author is from Pittsboro, NC. I have read articles about him and his book for years and eventually bought it since I doubt there will be a reprinting. He basically covers all the old Southern apples that where grown on family farms. Many/Most of which have disappeared. People used to grow apples and just delt with all of the bugs, fungus, weather, etc that effected the apples. They did not worry too much about The Perfect Store Apple.

Later,
Dan
 
   / My apple trees are doomed (pics of brains) #8  
I have lots of cedars, but no apples, nor orchards anywhere around. I get these things in the Spring when it starts warming up. They are amazing looking right after a rain on a warm Spring day. They look like orange "Kush Balls". If this thread is still active when mine sprout, I'll attach some pictures. When they dry up, they look like what is pictured here.
 
   / My apple trees are doomed (pics of brains) #9  
Slacker said:
The many mature cedar trees that surround my two year old apple tree's are filled with these spores.
These are known as "cedar apples" and are deadly to apple and cherry trees. See the early stages of last years damage on the leaves in last pic. ******. I was hoping to have some apples this year. Anyone got any idea's? Cutting the cedar tree's down isn't an option, so I have to use chemical warefare or just uproot the apple tree's and try some other fruit tree.

I would start with these folks. They have the low down in your area, and have the University system to back them up as necessary.


Homepage of NCMGVA
Extension Master Gardener
 
   / My apple trees are doomed (pics of brains) #10  
I'm still a bit confused as to exactly what's going on but regardless of my confusion.... that sure looks icky!!
 

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