I have just read the article by Harry Burton in the Pome News. It is identical to a letter he posted in Nafex's Pomona a few weeks ago. I sent him an email about the Nafex article and he either ignored it, or saw fit to make no changes to his submission to Pome News, or he was too late to change it.

The problem is that Mr Burton makes no mention of Junipers. That leads me to assume he does not know that the disease known as Apple Cedar Rust is not connected to the Cedar family of trees, but in fact is connected to Junipers. Red Cedar is one of those missnamed trees, because it is really in the Juniper family. His example of a large cedar nearby which he planted several apple trees is unclear because he does not stipulate what kind of Cedar tree he was refering to. If this tree was a true Cedar, it would not have produced the disease Apple Cedar Rust. I have seen this issue come up many times from different fruit growing forums, including my own group Midwest Fruit Explorers (Midfex), and have tried whenever possible to make this distinction on the Juniiper trees being the culprits.

I myself have had problems with Apple Cedar Rust. I pulled out two Red
Cedar trees when they caused the disease with some adjacent (10 feet)
apple trees. I tried Ferban, and other suggested fungicides, but nothing
worked. I think that some apple varieties may be more resistant to the
Apple Cedar Rust, but it hit three different varieties. It was most pronounced on trees closest to the Red Cedars, but did have a lesser
affect on other apple trees as far as 100 feet away.

I live in the Chicago area, but it is hard to believe that climate differences
would account for different results between B.C. and me. My advice, don't
plant any Junipers (which includes Red Cedar) near your apple trees.

Sheriwn Dubren