Greetings! I am attaching a picture of what I believe is known as "witch's broom". I cut it off an evergreen huckleberry which seems to develop this periodically. I was told by an arborist to burn it. As I look around for more information about it, I am puzzled about it and its relationship to mistletoe. I read in Plants of Coastal BC that mistletoes cause witch's broom. Another arborist told me that witch's broom causes mistletoe. (How?) Mistletoe is parasitic; witch's broom is "disorganized growth"? I have a couple of good sized hemlock which I value, and don't want them harmed by mistletoe or witch's broom (or anything else!). Do I need to be concerned about any of this? Thank you for any comments, April
Witch's brooms can be caused on some plant species by mistletoes, but there are numerous other causal agents on various different plants, often fungi (e.g. Taphrina). A broom on one species is highly unlikely to infect a different species.
This is a smut. Look in your book under evergreen huckleberry, if it is Pojar & Mackinnon I think you will find they talk about it there.
Those of you interested in the witch's broom there was a great thread a while back. Try... search / show posts and enter "witch's broom " = correct spelling . Witches broom also caught some stuff. Liz
