birch tree rust

john.gaskin1 · September 2021

my birch (Jacomundiae) has suddenly got orange rust on leaves. What is the correct treatment for the cure of this and when should it be done please. Many thanks

Jac19 · September 2021

I researched this extensively when Hollyhocks plug plants I bought brought rust into my garden. The advice is to collect all the leaves that fall in autumn and remove them from the garden. Like take them somewhere and burn them.

Where do you live? The harsher the winter, the better. Because spores of rust will over winter. Then next season plant only rust resistant plants. Hopefully, after about 2 seasons the rust will disappear.

Liriodendron · September 2021

Sorry, @Jac19 - this could be a bit misleading. There are more than 5000 different sorts of rust, all specific to different hosts, so @john.gaskin1 's birch rust isn't going to infect anything else in his garden (except larch, if he happens to be growing it).

Rusts are fungal diseases and are common in warm, damp conditions. Yes, collecting and destroying fallen leaves in autumn, by burning or composting, is the way to go... it won't get rid of all over-wintering spores, but they'll be much reduced. Next year the weather may be less congenial to the rust, with luck. In any case, it's very unlikely to damage the tree in the long run.

Jac19 · September 2021

Do not compost and re-use the compost as Liriodendron said above. Rust (fungal) spores will go all over the garden with the compost and infect the rust susceptible plants. with a vengeance Rust spores even over-winter. The thing to do is to remove and destroy the fungal infected leaves and fungal spores by INCINERATION or by taking them all to a dump where there are no plants to infect. Be careful to get all the leaves you possibly can and remove them from the garden and have the garden as clean of the SPORES as possible when the trees sprout again after winter.

Composting and using that compost to spread the rust SPORES everywhere will be a disaster. Fungal spores grow and become even more virulent in the warm composting environment and will re-infect everything vulnerable the moment you use that compost. it is better to do nothing and leave the leaves under the tree for the winter cold to kill off as much of the spores as possible.

Incineration (fire) or dumping them, removing entirely out of the garden for when the trees sprout next spring is what makes things better.

Jac19 · September 2021

Please don't compost and re-use the compost. Rust (fungal) spores will go all over the garden with the compost and infect the rust susceptible plants with a vengeance Rust spores even over-winter. The thing to do is to remove and destroy the fungal infected leaves and fungal spores by INCINERATION or by taking them all to a dump where there are no plants to infect. Be careful to get all the leaves you possibly can in autumn and winter and remove them from the garden and have the garden as clean of the SPORES as possible when the trees sprout again after winter.

Composting and using that compost to spread the rust SPORES everywhere will be a disaster. Fungal spores grow and become even more virulent in the warm composting environment and will re-infect everything vulnerable the moment you use that compost. it is better to do nothing and leave the leaves under the tree for the winter cold to kill off as much of the spores as possible.

Incineration (fire) or dumping them, removing entirely out of the garden for when the trees sprout next spring is what makes things better.

Dovefromabove · September 2021

I totally agree with @Liriodendron … rusts are host specific to one group of plants … so hollyhock rust will only affect plants in the same family.

There is absolutely no need to panic about rust or take extreme measures to deal with it. Some years are worse than others for fungal conditions … this year has been a bad one. Many of us have lost our tomato crops to blight … another fungal conditions.

In the autumn fungal
spores are everywhere … to try to stop them would be like King Canute and the tide.

What is more it is these very same fungal spores on the autumn leaves that help break them down into leafmold and compost. We cannot garden without them.

Jac19 · September 2021

I completely disagree. Use only rust SPORES free leaves and other stuff for compost.

There was no rust in my garden until I bought the dwarf Hollyhocks plug plants. I did not have the heart to remove the dwarf Hollyhocks when the rust first showed up on them. And then they spread to Hollyhocks that were fine that I brought up from seeds. And then the rust spread to some roses, to the Bees Balms, and a nearby tree and a couple of shrubs.

I have removed the rusted Hollyhocks and pruned the infected rose leaves and Bees Balms, taking care to get all the rusted leaves. I took them all to the beach and burned them. Now I am collecting all the leaves that fall of the rusted tree in a tarp "skip" thingy near the garage - i sweep the leaves once a week. I will incinerate these too, once I get a good size collection. I brought an expert gardener in to kill an invasive ivy and he said that if I keep doing that, the worst of the SPORES should be gone, some of the SPORES over winter, but winter kills a part of the remaining spores. The colder the winter the better.

So, I am going to skip planting Hollyhocks that are vulnerable to rust for one season.

For this season I bought my compost and will make some from kitchen stuff and non-rested shrub clippings only.

Dovefromabove · September 2021

I’m afraid you are mistaken. The rust did not spread from your hollyhocks to your roses and shrubs. That is an impossibility. As we have explained to you, the scientifically proved fact is that rusts are ‘host specific’.

To the inexperienced gardener it may seem that’s what has happened … but the fact of the matter is that this is the time of year when all sorts of rust spores are in the air, and weather conditions have been ideal for their proliferation. Different spores have landed on your plants and developed.

My mind boggles at the thought of taking garden rubbish to the beach and burning it there 🤯

Fairygirl · September 2021

I'm sorry - but @Liriodendron and @Dovefromabove are right. Rust is everywhere and what affects one plant doesn't necessarily affect another.
The weather is a large part of how/where it exists and spreads.
We don't suffer too much from it here, but it doesn't mean we don't have it. Birch is particularly prone, but an otherwise healthy tree just shrugs it off.
You might get early leaf drop [most birches here are already quite bare] but birches are early to get back into growth in spring, and I'd expect your tree will be fine next year @john.gaskin1

Liriodendron · September 2021

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=271

@Jac19 - this is the advice from the RHS which talks about composting the fallen leaves. The RHS is a trusted body, @john.gaskin1, which does extensive research - I'd go with their advice if I were you...

Thanks for the back-up, @Dovefromabove and @Fairygirl

Fairygirl · September 2021

It's like many pests/diseases - it rarely becomes a huge problem if the surroundings are good, and by that I mean the general health of all plants. Airflow and good hygiene are the best methods of prevention.

birch tree rust

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