Hello, We moved into a house with many fruit trees in the backyard and a long row of tall cedar hedges in behind the fruit trees. The first year went okay, but last year (as I've learned off of this site) Our pear tree had a terrible case of Pear Tree Trellis Rust. I understand that in the spring the fruit trees should be treated with dormant oil / copper based spray to help with this problem...but my question is should I be doing anything to the cedar hedges? They cover a lot of space and I'm not sure how or what to spray them with to stop the cycle of rust!! I've included two pictures one with the cedars in the background so u can see how close they are and the other of the rust problem on the pear tree. Any help would be much appriciated! Thanks
So the arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) is an alternate host for pear tree trellis rust, which has been positively identified as being what is on the pear? If so, I would think same directions given by Cooperative Extension and other sources discussing alternate host aspect of pear tree trellis rust would say when and where to spray.
The alternate host for pear trellis rust needs to be a juniper (Juniperus), from what I understand. I don't know what her source of information was for this factoid, but Derry Walsh mentions that a juniper within 1km of an apple tree can be the alternate host for Cedar Apple Rust. So, you might not be able to do anything, if there are junipers in a neighbour's yard that are causing the problem.
