What’s Growing on That Red Cedar?

Perhaps the strangest things that you might see each spring are the bright orange globs hanging in the eastern red cedar trees. They look a bit like orange marmalade being pushed through a garlic press. Moist to the touch and about the size of a golf ball, these ornaments adorning the cedars are actually fungi.

The life cycle of the cedar-apple rust fungus (Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae) depends on both apple and eastern red cedar hosts. It’s possible to find cedar-apple rust anywhere east of the Rocky Mountains where eastern red cedars and apples coexist.

For most of the year cedar-apple rust is hard to see. However, when spring rains moisten the hard brown kidney-shaped galls that over winter on cedar trees they develop bright orange spore horns. These are very conspicuous and make the cedar look like it’s fruiting. The spores are then blown, sometimes several miles, onto apple trees infecting young buds and leaves. Over the course of the summer the fungus matures and eventually spores are blown back to the cedar trees to overwinter as small galls.

The fungus does not permanently harm the eastern red cedar trees. However, if left untreated, cedar-apple rust will damage apple fruits to the point of making them unsellable. This is a major concern for orchard owners. Today, fungicide is used to prevent cedar-apple rust from destroying crops, but that wasn’t always the case.

In 1914, apple growers wrote the Cedar Rust Act of Virginia allowing them to destroy cedar trees on neighboring property in an effort to control the fungus. While most people enjoy eating apples, a lot of people also like eastern red cedar trees, especially if they’re on your own property. You can imagine how people reacted when they woke up to see their neighbors cutting down all their cedar trees.

This all came to a head in a classic 1928 court case where a judge determined that apple trees were more valuable than cedars, and therefore more worthy of protecting. Cedar tree owners would not be compensated for their losses, but would be allowed to keep the wood from the cut trees. Remember to thank those folks who lost all their cedars next time you bite into a delicious apple!

If you happen to be out on the next rainy day, try to find an eastern red cedar. Hopefully you’ll have a new appreciation for those bright orange galls and their complex history.

Have you seen cedar-apple rust fungus before? Tell us where and when in the comments!

232 thoughts on “What’s Growing on That Red Cedar?

  1. Bob Finley

    Two days of constant rain 4-9-23. Elon, NC. Orange fungus balls on several cedar trees.

    1. Emmie

      Thank you for your informative post. I found 3 of these growths across our dozen or so Eastern Red Cedars after heavy rain of this past weekend. When I first saw one from across the yard I thought it was a sleeping Eastern Red Bat, which we have seen in our pines before and is of a similar shade of red-orange. Then I got closer and thought “wait just a minute!” Thank you for answering what they are and for the history notes. –Southeastern PA

    2. David Carter

      I just spotted some here in Normandy, TN. We have an apple tree that never produces, too. ?

  2. Susan

    Thanks for helping identify these orange things in my red cedar that I just thought of as a pine tree. Explains why my small orchard was dead . We moved in about 4 years ago and I just seen them all over the tree looked like tropical flowers from a far . I’m in Indianapolis.

  3. P B Hager

    Saw two on same cedar tree In Floyd County, GA. on edge of overgrown tree line. First time ever. The tree is at least 30 + years I don’t know if any apple trees in the area, but old homesteads are all around from Civil War days. I pulled them off. Lots of rain.

  4. Thomas Wilson

    Just noticed the rust blooms today on a cedar tree in my yard. It has been raining a few days now. I’m in Haleyville Alabama. I’ve been here for all my life (51 yrs) this is the first time I’ve noticed this.

  5. Kevin Clanton

    I live in North Alabama and these things are everywhere now. Any know fungicide to get rid of these?

  6. StaZ

    Just looking at our cedar tree, and it has this amber fungus all over the flat needle parts of the tree. It has been raining here every few days, most tree leaves coming out. I was wondering it it affects the Redbud trees. They are not doing well since I planted that tree. May have to cut it down.

  7. Deirdre

    Eastern Ontario (Ottawa, Canada): It rained today after a long dry spell. This is the first time we’ve seen this cedar rust – and we’ve been here for 45 years. The Red Cedar grows alongside a Crab Apple tree.

  8. Diana Coyne

    First time seeing this on our Cedar tree and we’ve lived here 16 years. We have one apple tree in close proximity so we’ll see if it ends up having issues. West Springfield, MA

    1. Paul Racicot

      We have 2 orange apple-cedar rust spore horn growths on our front yard cedar tree in Uncasville, CT that showed up for the first time this year after a very rainy spring season.

  9. b674

    All over the beautiful cedar trees in Fort Wetherill Park in Jamestown, RI. Horrible looking things

  10. Colleen

    They are all over our cedars here in Bedminster, NJ. Pretty cool looking. Thanks Mother Nature 🙂

  11. Dorothy Sokolowski

    I just noticed some of them on my cedar tree today. Lived here over 35 years – western Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

  12. Paige

    Just noticed them today and I have lived here 50 years. I’m in south west Berks county, Pennsylvania

    1. Carolyn Insley

      I just saw them today for the first time ever! I’ve been here 15 years in Hebron Maryland. It’s been a cool rainy spring, and it’s raining today.

  13. Krista Brown

    Found them all over my red cedar. I live in southern Ontario Canada. Anyone know if they will hurt my chickens if they eat them?

    1. Linda

      Juse noticed them on our 2 cedar trees…….hadn’t seen them befor, and lived here for 52 years (South Central Minnesota). We have a few apple trees so will have to watch them now….ugh! Any suggestions appreciated…..

  14. Rick Hill

    Incredible stuff – we’ve had two “crops” of the fungus on a large cedar in southeast Huntsville, Alabama, this spring.

  15. Kevin

    We have it in our cedar trees for the first time in several years. We used to have an apple tree in the yard, but it died several years ago. The area we live in used to be a large orchard, from what I understand, so there are probably some apple trees still in the area. We live in Hutchinson, KS.

  16. Robert Richards

    I have four of these short bushy cedars which blew into yard as volunteers.

    This is first year seeing this rust fungus.

    Makes the cedars look like they are in bloom.

    Thank you for providing this information.

  17. Linda

    Yup, found them on my walk this morning. Couldn’t figure out what they were so I used Google. South Eastern Ontario

    1. T. Walther

      Just noticed them today after our heavy rainfall in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. Some of our neighbors have apple trees maybe not for long.

    1. Mary Holli

      My husband and I live in Bloomington IN, and yesterday morning, our Cedar looked like it had been decorated for the holidays. The tree is approximately 12 years old, and this is the first time this has happened. Happy to learn the tree will not be harmed. We are also expecting the emergence of Brood X cicadas in the next few days.

    2. Bob Hutcherson

      We have them in our cedar trees first time we’ve ever saw them. We live in southern Indiana.

  18. Willem Riper

    We live in Southern Kentucky and our cedar trees are full with those orange fungus, never really noticed before, find it kinda pretty though.

      1. Cindy

        We just moved to Kansas City six months ago. After a lot of rain we have these orange spores all over our ten cedar trees.

  19. Gina

    First time we have seen these in middle Tennessee, bright orange after a good rain. Thank you for identifying!

  20. Cathy Schnelle

    We love in the city of Sparta illinois.
    I just noticed this orange rust growth on my trees. My husband said they are there every year.

  21. Lillian Wood

    We have this fungus on our cedar trees in northwestern Arkansas. We have an apple tree in our front yard and plenty of cedars surrounding the property.

  22. Jeffrey Dowdy

    4-24-21 60 years of age and today is the first time I’ve ever seen this. My cedar trees look like they have orange Christmas tree ornaments. temperature is mid fifties, and rain all day here in west Ky.

  23. Judy

    We had many last year in Kentucky, the first I had noticed them. They’re “in bloom” again today after half an inch of rain. We have many cedars. I fear my neighbor’s apples are doomed.

  24. Cheryl

    I pulked of a gelatinous star shaped thing of of a cedar tree. I have never seen it before. It is semi transparent reminds me of a starfish.

  25. Denise

    Middle Tn. Our class seen these on our walk on the nature trail today at our school. They were very mesmerized by them. I came inside to look up what they were and seen your article.

  26. Erica S

    I’ve seen this on a wild Cedar Tree in Southwest Ohio more than five years ago! It had the orange growths only one season, but the remaining cores have stayed on the tree since then.

  27. S. Griffith

    Heavy rain over night in Red Hook, No. Dutchess County, NY. Several on my tree: first time I’ve seen them in 12 years here.

    1. jack

      It rained today (6/11/20 at 1:30 pm). when I went out at 6pm, the hairy orange things were all over the red cedar

  28. Sandra hatheway

    I live in central Nebraska and saw lots of these on a cedar tree in my yard last week. I think I had seen a few previously, but this was so many more. I have 4 dwarf fruit trees— 2 are apples—espaliered on the opposite side of the yard, so I will watch those for whatever. Actually, one has not being doing so well for some time. Thanks for the info

  29. Lisa Croce

    My backyard!! Rain today- bright spiky orange gelatinous growths!! Ran back to google what they are! I am new to this house- it was built in 1960- this is a stand of about 8 eastern red cedars! Such interesting information! No apple orchards nearby- so no orchardists have these trees on their radar!!
    Lisa Woodbury, CT

  30. Cheryl Delorme

    My son was walking in the woods and came across this on a ceder tree. He snapped a photo and I had to Google to find out what it was. In reading the other comments, it seems that it is in bloom everywhere this spring. Seems like it might be a bad year for apples. We are in northern Vermont.

    1. Amanda

      These interesting bright orange fungi are on a majority of our 15 red cedar trees. I was glad to find this post and learn about cedar apple rust fungus. We live on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, near Henderson Harbor.
      Thanks! Mother Nature never ceases to amaze!

  31. Sheila

    Spotted the cedar-apple rust fungus on my cedar for the first time ever this morning, and I’ve lived here 42 years!
    They look to be more the size of baseballs than golfballs

  32. Lilianna

    I have peach trees and lots of this fungi on my cedars… does it affect peach trees? Fig tree?blueberries?? I live in MA

  33. Denise Rustman

    I’m in Northern Indiana and we just had a ton of rain. This left quite a bit of the fungus on our tree. It is kind of cool to look at. Had to google it to figure out what it was.

  34. Pauline Phillips-Gill

    I live in southeastern Iowa and noticed these on my cedar trees. I do not have any apple trees on my property. Very strange looking and call to ask what to do with them.

  35. Mary

    In Portage, MI, just aw a couple of trees with the fungus in our area, which used to be an orchard. We thought they were flowers. Thanks for clearing it up.

  36. Carla

    We have these orange rust balls ALL OVER our cedar trees. They line both sides of our one-acre property. We have an apple tree also that has never produced any apples. Should we just cut the apple tree down? Will that eventually cause the fungus to die in the cedar trees?

    1. Phillip Rogers

      If you can prune it. Then drive 3-4 rusted -12 penny nails into the trunk near the ground. Next year it should bloom and have apples.it worked for us.

  37. Melissa

    We live in North Eastern West Virginia and do tree work residentially and some commercial, we was at a repeat customers vacation home looking over her trees and cam across these in her one cedar, which there WAS apple trees on the property also and both seem to be healthy over the past 20+ years till now and one had the fungi on it and never had before….seen it on bark of trees before but never like this….good to know this now for future customers…..thanks….

    1. Marcus Perry

      I live in northeastern North Carolina and have several eastern red cedar trees as an 800 foot border. I have had this fungus in these cedar trees for several years now. I am not positive but believe my apple trees, beans, squash, tomatoes , cantaloupes and cucumbers in my nearby gardens are being affected. About midcycle of these plant’s growing season the leaves develope spots and soon look like dry weather has set in. Fruits dry up and quiet forming. I would be interested in knowing if others have had such an experience.

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