The Forestry Forum

I've been cutting the pines on my place & finding a wood ball in the middle of the limb. This isn't anything I haven't seen before but one of the trees is covered with them. It has maybe 20 power limb. This just got me wondering what it could be.

Any ideas?

Sounds like Rheumatoid arthritis.   :P

It sounds like a Pine Gall Rust.

Walesy thank you. I just Googled that & the pictures look like it. Is there anything that should be done about it?

Glad I could be of assistance. I have only run into this fungal disease in an urban setting so I don't know how you would approach this in a woodlot/forest setting.
In the infected pines I have seen the swelling eventually releases spores  and these spores can spread to other trees. The gall eventually girdles the branch and the growth above the swelling dies. In an urban setting this is easy to remedy by removing the offending branch.
Perhaps a local forester or forestry department at a state university local to you could give you some better answers.
Best of luck
Bob 

After reading up on it a little I think it is worse then I first seen. I found another tree that the trunk is busted open about 4 feet up. I don't have many pines & I'm harvesting most of them is how I found it. The one that the trunk is busted otherwise looks healthy (to my uneducated self) & still has enough trunk to support its self. It is to small to harvest tho. We have a department of Forestry close to me. Should they be able to offer suggestions? I've seen this fungus on oaks in other places but I haven't noticed it on me but I also want looking for it. Most of my pines seem to be having a hard time this year & are pouring pitch out like crazy. My plans weren't to cut the them yet but I figure I'd be better to go ahead & take them. I'm having trouble with poison oak & honey suckle in that area & losing control of it.

Thanks again.

I believe that what you have with the "trunk busted open, is fusiform canker.  Nothing you can do about it.  Many trees live long lives with it.  It is not terminal.  However, the cankers make the tree more susceptible to breaking off at the canker in a high wind.  Check out this link to see if this is what you have.

http://athenaeum.libs.uga.edu/bitstream/handle/10724/12427/C440.pdf?sequence=1