Thanks, gardengal. Well, where I live, there are junipers all over the place. How would I determine which is the host? Also, does distance matter, or can these spores spread half a mile or more?

Incidentally, I guess this explains why my serviceberry hasn't been doing that well either. It had no flowers this year.

Only certain species of junipers serve as hosts but the varieties are broad enough to include a number of popular landscape species as well as the omnipresent, weedy, eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana). And the spores can have a very wide dispersal - as much as a mile if wind conditions are suitable.

Your best approach, short of replacing your trees with resistant varieties, is to employ a fungicide early and often. Your local extension service should be able to recommend an appropriate product.

"Your best approach, short of replacing your trees with resistant
varieties, is to employ a fungicide early and often."

Which trees are you talking about here? The junipers or the diseased quince tree—or both?

"Your local
extension service should be able to recommend an appropriate product."

OK, thanks. Is there anything I can spray on my new quince tree that might make it less likely to pick up the rust?

You want to spray YOUR trees - the quinces (and the amelancher) - since you don't really know where the host junipers are. Most fungicides are prophylactic - that means you need to spray before you see signs of infection. Spraying now can help to prevent further infection if spores ares still present but won't cure current infection.

There's lots of info onlne about these types of rusts - gymnosporangium. Just Google cedar-quince or cedar-apple rust to gain understanding of how they work, what to look for and how to treat.

My yard is awash in Cedar-Quince Rust and I haven't found anything that will keep it from spreading. This year I am trying 'Surround' a clay solution that coats the leaves and branches with a thin layer of clay so the plant can still breathe but the pest organisms can't gain a foothold. So far I see no sign of rust on the Quinces but we haven't warmed up yet and that is when I start to see the swollen twigs. I do see rust on my serviceberries and they have been sprayed the most.

The problem I see with spraying is that the weather conditions (wind, rain, cool temps) that make it difficult or impossible to spray are the same conditions that help spread the disease.

Someone on one of these forums made a comment last year I believe, that a lot of the organisms that cause problems with fruit trees live throughout the environment. They only cause an effect that bothers us on our fruit trees and we know that the life cycle involves them spending part of their lives on one type of tree and another part of their lives on a different type of tree (Junipers - Quince). In the mean time the spores or whatever you want to call it are hanging out on every branch of every tree in the area waiting for the wind and rain to blow them onto their target tree. So in order to completely control the spread of the disease you would have to spray every tree within sight of your fruit trees. My yard borders a forest so there is no way to control the spread of pathogens.

I will add that where I live (Raleigh NC) you will find healthy plantings of serviceberries in parks and in peoples gardens and sometimes they have Cedar Quince Rust and sometimes they don't, so it isn't everywhere.

"Most fungicides
are prophylactic - that means you need to spray before you see
signs of infection. Spraying now can help to prevent further infection
if spores ares still present but won't cure current infection."

OK, thanks. I hope there are some organic ways of treating this problem too, since these trees are obviously producing edible fruit.

"There's lots of info onlne about these types of rusts - gymnosporangium. Just Google cedar-quince or cedar-apple rust to gain understanding of how they work, what to look for and how to treat."

Yes, great idea. I'll have to do that.

"This year I am trying 'Surround' a clay solution that coats the leaves and branches with a thin layer of clay so the plant can still breathe but the pest organisms can't gain a foothold."

Thanks for the info. That sounds pretty natural. Are there certain times of the year to spray it, or just any time?

"My yard borders a forest so there is no way to control the spread of pathogens."

Unless you burn it down, I guess. ;)

"I will add that where I live (Raleigh NC) you will find healthy plantings of serviceberries in parks and in peoples gardens and sometimes they have Cedar Quince Rust and sometimes they don't, so it isn't everywhere."

That's good to hear. Before I bought our serviceberry, I had no idea it was susceptible to the same disease.

Surround is working well enough that I will focus on using it from now on. It may not ever help me with Cedar Quince Rust so I may not be able to grow Quince or Serviceberry. There are peach growers that use it to grow organic peaches so I hope it will help me conquer all of those diseases.

The forest doesn't belong to me, so I can't do anything about it. This is an old neighborhood and at some time in the past people grew fruit trees - I see old apples and plums all over the place and no one is spraying them so they just harbor all sorts of diseases which just makes my life harder.

Last year we noticed in this area that the roadside weed pear trees (hybrid pear, callery pear, bradford pear) were covered in Cedar Quince Rust. The trees are such fast growers that this disease will never kill them but they in turn will act as a reserve and host the disease, much to the dismay of me and all the other backyard fruit growers.

Evidently Hawthorns also fall prey to rust diseases (both Cedar Quince Rust and Cedar Hawthorn Rust) and my row of haws, which are on their first fruiting year, are showing signs of the disease - only on the fruits. So scratch them off the list. Time to look for some other fruiting bush or small tree that is disease resistant.

Yeah, that's probably the best way—find something that is unlikely to pick up any diseases in the first place. In my neck of the woods (N. GA), I've never seen anything resembling disease on blackberries, muscadines, or figs.

I would say the same thing except last year I had lots of damage from some type of fruit fly. I never looked close enough to see if it was Spotted Wing Drosophila but they damaged blackberries and figs before they were ripe or even close to ripe. Such a tiny creature but in large numbers they turn fruit to mush over night. The muscadines are safe at least for now.

Really? Thankfully, I don't think I've ever had such a problem with the fruit flies. Now, the wasps/bees do like to eat the figs too, but as long as you pick them before they become too ripe, that isn't normally a problem. Also, sometimes if we get too much rain the blackberries become mushy.

Rabbiteye blueberries are a pretty good bet too.

Anyway, I won't be buying any more quince trees—only plants that are naturally pest-resistant. Wish I'd known that years ago. ;)

I did some searching, and apparently a decent organic treatment for bacterial/fungal diseases on quince and other trees is a garlic spray. That is, whizz together raw garlic and water in a blender, and then strain. It sounds easy, so I hope to give it a try. At the very least, it sure can't hurt. ;)

well that, and getting rid of the neighborhood vampires...

I never did care that much for vampires in the first place. so I suspect it's something I could live with. ;)

I did make the garlic spray, and we'll see what happens. No rain is predicted for a while, so that's probably a good thing where the spray is concerned. Then again, since the weather forecasts are so awful, who knows. :P

It look's like every single berry on my four Serviceberry bushes is infected! I'll try Garlic next spring and if it doesn't help I will most likely remove them and find something else to plant there. My garden is large (1 acre) and I planted just about everything listed in any good fruit catalog. Now after 5 years I am starting to learn what does well and what doesn't. I had hoped for large variety and it looks like only handful will work out.

Well, at least you've got some berries on yours! Unlike my serviceberry. ;) Sorry to hear about that, though. Yeah, the trick to gardening seems to be learning what's easy and certain to grow. Forget variety. LOL.

These aren't fruits, but a couple things I've found really easy to grow are borage and Mexican sunflowers. The butterflies love the sunflowers, especially the monarchs, and they produce beautiful flowers right up until frost. It's still not too late to plant them either. They like it hot, and usually don't start coming up till May or June. That reminds me--I need to start planting them this week! :)