It's not Invasion of the Body Snatchers, It's Cedar Apple Rust

So, this winter we noticed these creepy things growing on one of our cedar trees. Mama had no idea what it was (It's the brown one). Then spring arived and lo and behold, it was on the other one out front of the house. So creepy. To me it looked like body snatcher pods had affixed themselves to my trees. It was obviously not some strange pinecone, but we let them stay, thinking it might be some insect or something.

Then they started to grow...

It rained. And suddenly our trees had these creepy anemone looking growths where the body snatcher pods used to be! (Orange image is courtesy of http://rurality.blogspot.com/ she has a great BLOG out of Texas- beautiful pictures, too.) Anyway, then I knew they had to be a fungus. So, I removed all I could reach from the trees out front (and got really scratched up in the process). But, alas! The ancient Juniper in my back yard had them, too. It was too tall to reach, so I decided to use the Web to find out what was growing on my trees.

You guessed it! Cedar Apple Rust. And it kills Apple Trees. It also explains why my apples were so sickly last year. :-(

Now, I'd hate to have to have that grand old juniper cut down, but there is NO treatment I can find that will stop the problem except spraying my apple trees every week with a fungicide that Lowe's does not carry. So, if anyone out there has any idea how to cure my juniper and thusly my apple trees- you know- what the old timers used BEFORE schmancy fungicides came into vogue- please inform me! I know this is not a problem that only showed up after chemical fungicides and I'm pretty sure our much smarter rural folks of days gone by actually treated the cedars/junipers, too. It's unfortunate that the trees are so close together, because an ancient juniper will not win over an ancient apple tree if it comes to having to cut one or the other down.

Well, I think I can make it to the corner store to get some Gatorade without incident. This stomach bug is horrible! Maybe I shouldn't have insulted it by saying it wasn't like the one in the '70s- it apparently got its feelings hurt and now has something to prove. :-P

I may have mentioned it before, but an upset goat sounds really creepy when its bleating is echoing off of surrounding ridges. ((Shudder)).

Ok, I'm off- maybe more later. Have a glorious day, and for all who live nearby- maybe just stand in the sun for a few minutes and just look around. It just might do ya good. The breeze is perfect today, making it not too hot nor too cold and the leaves are still in their whispery stage. When there's a break in the weed eaters, it sounds really, well- like what I imagine an heavenly sound would be like.

Have a good day all!

Rose