Cedar Apple Rust on twigs/branches--what to do?

6 years ago

Location: Champlain Valley, Vermont

Affected Tree: Benton Red/Pennock, just a few years old (should start bearing this upcoming year).

Issue w/tree: Local orchard ID'd (via the pics below) that I have CAR on some twigs/bud areas. I understand this does not occur often, as I have not seen much info about it on the internet.

Question/opinion sought: In reading up about CAR, it appears to have an interesting/complex life cycle directly linked to Juniper/Cedar trees (of which there are NONE nearby, oddly). It seems to affect apple leaves and fruit on a season to season basis, with Immunox being a preferred preventative spray. However, I have it on and in the tree itself. Did the fungus exhaust itself this past season, or will it continue to spread and wreak havoc on my young tree? It would be a bummer to severely prune such a young tree, and I'm hoping it can instead heal around the affected areas--as I think can be seen in one of the photos.

Any thoughts or direct experience in this regard?

This is my first post, BTW, and I appreciate anything I can get.

Cheers,

Cliff

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Comments (9)

Cliff
Original Author
6 years ago
Bumping this in hopes of getting some advice.

Thanks!
Jean
6 years ago
Don't know much about this disease. But here's info from the University of Vermont: http://www.uvm.edu/~fruit/?Page=treefruit/tf_ipm/KeyAffectingApples/Diseases.html

You might also contact your county Extension Service office wo will have info for home gardeners.

Find the office in your county by using this interactive map:

http://npic.orst.edu/pest/countyext.htm
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kifr, I don't know where you are but CAR has been really bad in my location this year--although it has been drier than usual. Don is right about how far the spores can travel, and I think this has been a year for the "right" conditions for it. Some years back, I cut down all the red cedars on my property and that essentially cured my problem until recently. I guessing there has been an increase in cedars on neighboring properties. Unfortunately you can't cut down all the neighbors' red cedars. I don't believe that it can carry over each year from a previous infection of the tree. As I understand the cycle, it requires passing back and forth between the apples and junipers. The apple has to be infected by new spores in the air each Spring. Each leaf spot is where a single spore landed, and the fungus grows into an ever enlarging circle until the spots eventually destroy the leaf. I'm not too upset this year about it since my apples were pretty much wiped out by the late freeze along with my pears, plums, peaches and most of my blueberries, etc. Hopefully next year's conditions will be less conducive to CAR infection. In addition to Don's suggestion of red delicious, my Enterprise apple is virtually rust free. This is a truly disease resistant tree for me. Some of my other disease resistant varieties such as Jonafree and Fiesta seem to have quite a bit of CAR this year though not as bad as the Yellow delicious or Grime's golden which looks really terrible. Dave
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Thanks for the responses. How toxic is Immunox/myclobutanil? The warnings of course make it sound horrible and our water comes from a well not far off. Unfortunately, there will be no getting rid of the cedars, for family reasons. And while the area around the trees is mowed and underneath is kept mulched and weeded, the rest of the field (and the surrounding fields) are basically tall weedy grass that gets mowed once a year. That's not going anywhere either unless someone gives me a brush hog and a tractor to pull it with. I guess the best bet moving forward is to try to spray at the right time(s) in the future. I'll look into the suggested sprays for this year, though. Randy - My William's Pride isn't bearing yet (just put it in this year). I've had them from farm stands though and thought they were good enough to try planting. I don't have any tasting notes or anything, though :) Anyway, I hope they're good. Thanks again. Sam
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Cliff
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks for the links Jean. I'd seen the UVM info page, but it doesn't really address CAR on twigs. This disease has interesting life cycle to say the least.

I'll give my Extension service a call after the holidays. Cheers!
mes111
6 years ago
Myclobutanil ....

Widely available. Most easily found as Spectracide's IMMUNOX is all big box stores ( Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart etc.)

Easy.... Easy.... Easy.... treatment

Mike
Cliff
Original Author
6 years ago
Yeah, thanks mes111. I've read up Immunox as a preventative measure for the future. However, I'm still unclear about what to do with the existing signs of it on my twigs/branches. Typically, it seems that CAR appears on leaves and apples--both of which fall off each year, thus allowing for a chance to preventative spray.

I wonder if the 'lesions' as seen in the pics above require removal from the tree to prevent further spreading, OR has the damage been done and the tree will try to heal over the affected areas?

Cheers. Happy New Year
vafruitluvr
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I am not an expert on Cedar Rust but the pics you show do not look anything like Cedar Rust that I have had on my apple trees, I thought Cedar Rust only affected the leaves on Apple Trees. As MES111 mentioned Immunox is the best solution for Cedar Rust. You have to spray around bud break to about 6 weeks after bloom - roughly every 10 to 14 days depending on the rain. Your one pic where the limb looks burnt and split open looks like fire blight. If it is you need to cut off the limb twelve inches below the blight and throw the limb away. You have to treat your pruner in clorox to get rid of the bacteria. Again I am not an expert but I spray my Apple trees in the fall around Thanksgiving and near bud break with Kocide 3000 for fireblight. Then I spray a mixture of Immunox, Captan and Regalia to fight fungus and fire blight.
mes111
6 years ago
Cliff,

I don't think that this is Cedar Rust on the twigs.

Like vafruitluvr said, I would try a good drenching Kocide or other copper spray on the branches as a dormant spray and also as a early spring spray.

As a dormant spray I would add horticultural oil and/or a sticker .

Mike
Cliff
Original Author
6 years ago
vafruitluvr and mes111--

Thanks for the comments and advice. I looked into fireblight a bit more and can see where you are coming from. Oddly, none of my other trees on the property are affected by this--perhaps this variety is highly susceptible. We also had a VERY wet blossom time last year...

It looks like some of my cankers could be associated with fireblilght as well. At this point, I'm kind of leaning toward removing all affected areas of the tree (which is a lot for such a young tree, unfortunately) and having some Kocide on hand for this year..

On an unrelated note, I'll be trying my hand at grafting for the first time this year (topworking and rootstock) and have a bunch of scions coming to me. Since I'll be severely cutting back some of these young limbs, is there any potential harm in grafting on a few different varieties and trying to make a multi-variety tree? The only thing I can think of is that I'd want to make the cuts to remove the disease during dormant times, but the 'top-working' should be done at bud-break. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

Cliff
Konrad..just outside of Edmonton Alberta
6 years ago
You cant cut them out now and when grafting cut further down...should be about a foot.

Cedar Apple Rust on twigs/branches--what to do?

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Cedar Apple Rust on twigs/branches--what to do?

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