Imagine this scenario with me: you’re examining your fruit trees, several that you’ve been growing for years.Much to your horror, most of your apples have come down with
16.06.2023 - 06:32 / gardenerspath.com / Helga George
How to Identify, Prevent, and Control Cedar Apple Rust Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianaeRusts are fungi that will not kill their hosts, although they sure make them suffer. There is even a term for pathogens that require living hosts: biotrophs (in contrast to necrotrophs, pathogens that kill their host and live off the dead tissue).
Think Gloria Gaynor – your plants will survive! However, repeated infections of this pathogen can seriously weaken and destroy the health of susceptible plants. They will also lose any ornamental value.
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Read on to learn how to identify and control cedar apple rust in your garden or home orchard.
What Is Cedar Apple Rust?Cedar apple rust (Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae) is a fungal disease that depends on two species to spread and develop.
It spends a portion of its two-year life cycle on Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana).
The pathogen’s spores develop in late fall on the juniper as a reddish-brown gall on young branches of the trees.
As the spring showers begin, the galls grow and release spores, which are carried by the wind to infect apple and crabapple trees. There, they develop into a disease that causes red spots to occur on the leaves, and that can deform the fruit.
The damage done to the leaves greatly affects the apple trees’ ability to gather sunlight and nutrients from the air, damaging its health and fruit production, and in some cases causing death.
The fungus cannot be transferred from apple tree to apple tree, or from juniper to juniper.
The following year, spores are released from the apple trees that, in turn, infect the junipers.
The disease is extremely
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