05/08/2026
Check out this cool fungus we spotted this morning! This is (ymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae) Cedar Apple Rust.
This fungus requires two host plants to complete its lifecycle - junipers (such as this Eastern red cedar here on the farm) and anything in the apple/crabapple family. Not harmful to the cedar tree, it can cause major issues for apple farmers as these spores can infect the small apples and apple leaves, reducing the potential harvest.
It is a zombie-like fungus as the gelatinous material is a combination of both fungus and tissues from its host tree. It has a roughly 24 month cycle, spending 20 months on its cedar host and 4-6 months on its apple family host.
The spores can also travel up to 3 miles on the wind to find it's apple host!
The spores also cannot infect their own kind. Spores from cedar trees can only infect apple trees, and spores from apple trees can only infect cedar trees.
This fungus forms small galls on its juniper hosts and when we receive heavy rainfalls in the spring, such as we did yesterday, the galls sprout these slimy jellyfish like horns and releases billions of spores to complete its lifecycle.
Non harmful to humans or animals, it is one of the stranger funguses that we have here in the southeast. They are usually only around for a few hours until they dry up so they are somewhat rare to see unless we have a very rainy Spring.
