Popcorn disease

[The Mama Chicken]

So my mulberry tree has strange looking fruit this year. The berries aren't ripening but they are getting bigger than normal and turning brown. I looked it up and found out that it has Popcorn Disease. Now I have to go out and pull all the infected berries off and burn them. Hopefully next year we'll have better luck with it, because I really want to make mulberry ice cream.

I have whole branches covered with these deformed berries.

You can see the huge, swollen segments right next to the smaller, normal, segments.

 

[Carol Dee]

Interesting but strange.

 

[897tgigvib]

What causes that?

Is it a virus, a fungus, a bacteria, or something else?

Can it spread to different species, genera, or families of plants?

Darn! I was hoping to hear about Mulberry Ice Cream!

 

[The Mama Chicken]

It's fungal, I don't think it can spread to things other than mulberries, but I'm not positive.

ETA: The fungus Ciboria carunculoides

 

[desertlady]

aww sad !! I love mulberries !!!