Taking good care of the plants in your backyard can bring you great satisfaction.On the other hand, it also offers a good deal of challenges. Occasionally, you could come upon strange things that leave you scratching your head. Recently, a Reddit user from Oklahoma found something unusual in their trees: a significant quantity of yellow jelly and what they referred to as a “jelly alien nut.” Confused and curious, they turned to the online community for answers.
This mysterious phenomenon was determined to be caused by cedar-apple rust. To complete its life cycle, it requires two hosts; apples and crabapples are the most common hosts. Although the name implies cedars are involved, juniper trees can also be affected.
How to Identify Apple-Cedar Rust
The symptoms of cedar-apple rust vary depending on the type of tree it infects. On the twigs of juniper bushes, brown, persistent galls may develop. When spring weather turns damp, these galls grow orange gelatinous horns. The juniper host is unaffected, however the twig farther away from the gall may die.
The leaves of apple or crabapple trees get circular yellow blemishes shortly after they bloom. As summer progresses, these lesions turn into brownish tufts of threads or cylindrical tubes. They are hidden beneath the blotches on leaves, twigs, and fruits.
Understanding Life Cycle
Now, you might be wondering how long this ailment lasts. Well, galls start to form seven months after the initial disease. After eighteen months, they turn into gelatinous lumps. The galls produce golf-ball-shaped depressions from which telial horns emerge the following spring. When it rains in the spring, the brownish telial horns spread out and become a vivid orange color. When they release their spores, the horns eventually droop, dry out, and fall off. After they die, the galls remain attached to the tree for as least a year. The infection is most noticeable in the spring when the galls are covered in gelatinous masses.
Managing Cedar-Apple Rust
Fortunately, there isn’t much of a treatment for this infection. Cut off the afflicted areas to prevent the illness from spreading. It’s crucial to keep in mind that cedar-apple rust won’t kill your trees—it will only damage the plants’ aesthetics. If you would rather be proactive, you can use fungicides or select apple cultivars that are resistant to this disease.
To sum up
In conclusion, even though you might not often see cedar-apple rust in your backyard, your trees are not in grave danger. It’s essential to comprehend this infection so that, in the event that it materializes, you can respond appropriately. Tell people about this information so they too can recognize and understand cedar-apple rust. I’m toasting to your productive gardening!
Wish list written by a foster child in Oklahoma
Dreamcatchers for Abused Children is a non-profit organization devoted to reform of abused children. According to their website, their main goal is to “educate the public on all aspects of child abuse such as symptoms, intervention, prevention, statistics, reporting, and helping victims locate the proper resources necessary to achieve a full recovery.”
Recently, the organization shared a heartbreaking list written by a child from Oklahoma who ended up in the foster system after enduring severe abuse from both his parents who were heavy alcoholics. The boy never experienced love or the joys a childhood normally brings. All he ever knew was negligence and starvation.
Years went by before a neighbor noticed that horrible things were taking place in the boy’s home and decided to alert social services.
Once police intervened, the boy was taken to the Dreamcatchers for Abused Children organization who made sure the little one ends in a new and loving home.
Finally, when the organization found the perfect family and shared the great news with the boy, he made a wish list on which he included all the things he wanted in his new forever home.
Needless to say, the list melted many people’s hearts. Many took their time to comment how the things on the list are not something a child should dream of because they should have them automatically as most of them are just basic needs.
This is the list:
“Things I want in my family:
I want food and water.
Don’t hit on me.
A house with running water and lights.
I want love.
Mom and dad don’t fight.
I want no drugs.
Don’t kill my pets.
Help with school.
Nice clean clothes.
No lice. No bug in house.
Clean house.
Clean bed with covers.
Don’t sell my toys.
Treated fair.
Don’t get drunk.
Tv in house.
Let me keep my school stuff.
Nice shoes.
My own comb soap. Nice house and safe and heater coat.
Toothbrush.”
This list is a reminder that we should never take the things we have for granted.
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