We don’t actually have cedar trees in the Demonstration Garden, but there are a couple on our grounds just on the other side of the Demo Garden wall. Because of the deluge of rain we had yesterday (and the continuing damp conditions today), the Cedar Apple Rust galls are in full “bloom.” You have no clue what I’m talking about? Check this out:

Isn’t it cool! They ooze like this is wet weather. This one is about the size of a baseball.

If you look closely at this tree, you can see it has several galls on the branches. There is one section of east 21st street in Wichita where it looks almost like someone was decorating for Halloween!

The good news is that these oozing galls do not harm your cedar or juniper trees in the least. You can pick them off if you wish, but otherwise, just let them run their course.

The bad news is that if you have crabapple trees or apple trees that are not resistant to Cedar Apple Rust, the new leaves will be badly infected from all the spores that these galls are putting out right now. You will start seeing bright yellow/orange spots on the leaves in the next several weeks. Many commonly available crabapple trees are resistant to the disease. However, many common apple trees (Gala, Jonathan, etc.) are very susceptible to the disease. You should strongly consider spraying a fungicide to prevent problems on your apple trees!

For more information about Cedar Apple Rust, including fungicide information, check out this publication: Cedar-Apple Rust