These Trees In New York State Have Orange Strands Resembling Shredded Carrots

There’s so much natural beauty all around us within New York State. We can explore hiking trails to see mountains, lakes, waterfalls and more.

During our adventures in this great state, we can keep our eyes out for all of the greenery of the trees, blossoming flowers, butterflies, fungi and more.  

These Trees In NYS Have Orange Strands Resembling Shredded Carrots

With the warm weather, sunshine and mix of rain that we have in New York State, I’ve noticed a few beautiful things. The grass appears to be greener and bright, the trees have filled in more and more mushrooms in the area.

In addition to seeing mushrooms, we may notice something that looks like shredded carrots on trees in New York State. It’s funny and true!

I was curious and looked up what these carrot-like strands could be on trees. There are other nature lovers who uploaded pictures onto social media to ask the same questions. Those who responded back didn’t know what these strands could be and thought that it was just as cool as we did!

I remembered that I have used a really helpful app called Seek iNaturalist before. We can take pictures of insects, animals and plants and upload them onto this app. It then helps us figure out what it is that we took pictures of.

Of course, I used a picture of the shredded carrot-like strands from trees in New York State on Seek by iNaturalist to fuel my inner nature lover knowledge and to share with others.

Seek iNaturalist Shared Helpful Information About This Fungi On New York State Trees

According to Seek by iNaturalist, it shared that the shredded like carrots strands are a Cedar Apple Rust! They are also referred to as Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginanae. Seek by iNaturalist described this as,

“A plant pathogen that caused cedar apple rust.”

They also highlighted that this could be where apples, crabapples and the Eastern red cedar all exist. 

The Forest Service of The U.S. The Department of Agriculture also shared information about the cedar apple rust. They shared that,

“Cedar apple rust is a member of the family Pucciniaceae “

Where Can We See Cedar Apple Rust On Trees In The Hudson Valley?

It's possible that you will now notice cedar apple rust on trees in the Hudson Valley. It could be on your next hiking trail, in someone's yard or randomly driving around the area.

Cedar apple rust appears when it has access to cedar and apple trees which is pretty neat!

Arborscape is a landscaping and tree service within Westchester, NY. They provided information about the cedar apple rusts in our area. Arborscape also shared it is not harmful to trees and how this could look like a peach. Others agree with me that it can appear like shredded carrots, haha.