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Problem: Ash Rust - Puccinia sparganiodes
Host Plants: Ash (Fraxinus spp.) and cordgrass (Spartina spp.)
Description: Ash rust, caused by Puccinia sparganioides, is normally not a serious disease in Kansas. The disease is often associated with wet weather during the spring. Leaves and petioles of ash become twisted and distorted; eventually birght orange powdery cups form on the leaves. This rust, like cedar-apple rust, alternates its hosts. The orange spores produced on ash do not reinfect ash but rather infect a wild grass (cordgrass, Spartina spp.). Spores are produced by the cordgrass during the fall and remain on the grass during the winter. Infection of ash takes place the following spring during warm, wet weather. Since cordgrass often grows in wet areas or ditches, ash trees in the vicinity may show more severe rust.
Recommendations: No control is needed on established trees.
References:
1. Tree Diseases in Kansas. K-State Research and Extension, publication C-674, pg 8.
2. Deciduous Tree Diseases. North Dakota State University Extension Service, PP-697
3. Diseases of Trees and Shrubs, Cornell University Press, pg. 252
Last Update: 03/28/2003
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