I have never heard about this before. Very interesting. I did a search too and was surprised by this: In the case of blueberry bushes, witchesâ broom is caused by a fungus that lives on balsam fir trees. This broom fungus always needs a blueberry and a fir as hosts and is very specific; a blueberry with the fungus canâÂÂt infect another blueberry. Most brooms caused by rust fungus need two host plants. The fungus that causes witchesâ broom on balsam fir needs common chickweed as a secondary host, and the fungus that infects spruce needs the lowly bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi). Here is a link that might be useful: Witchesâ Broom: Itâs Not What You Think

Mine are doing the same thing by design. I wanted bloom now in order to get early fruit next spring. This is in a greenhouse where it won't freeze. I forced flowers by pruning. It looks like you pruned recently. It won't affect next yrs production significantly even if your early flowers freeze. Protect the flowers from freezing and you might have some early fruit. Houston doesn't freeze that often and they'll survive a light freeze down to about 28F. You'll find unusually large berries if some survive. Here is a link that might be useful: blueberry vegetative/flower

Hi Carolyn, yes, I bought the plant in bloom! I'm going to try to pull the plant out of the pot, see if it's actually a part of the phrag plant. I took a pic, I'll have to see if I can post it in the gallery, first tomorrow though. sheila

Thank you for the information. I discovered another thread similar to this one, WEIRD GROWTHS ON TREES or something like that. It too was an oak and it too had a gall. This must be the season for them? Since the tree in question near my house is a small seedling sprouting up in a patch of blueberries, this little guy is about to be cut out.