I am curious if anyone has any thoughts on what might be causing this in the PNW. At a few of my favorite coastal spots earlier this year I saw areas devastated by some kind of pathogen. The leaves turn grey like ash then slowly the whole bush dies. It seems to be more pathogenic to western huckleberries.
I thought it might be an issue with a rising water table and salt water enteing there, but today I was down around Sonoma further inland than what I saw in Oregon and saw the same issue with huckleberries and Salal down here.
I am a bit concerned as in Oregon it seems to be tearing through everything, even Scotch Broom (which I hate) is getting devoured and the branches that have been effected snap like kindling.
Pics 1-6 Sonoma 12/2025, pics 7-8 Tillamook 6/2025
Western WA here. Huckleberry witch's broom fungus (Pucciniastrum goeppertianum) is the fungus in the first few pics. It looks like those infections are pretty far along. The fungus bounces between true firs (Abies spp., not Doug firs) and Vaccinnium spp (blueberries, huckleberries, cranberries, etc) as hosts. I don't know of anything that actually kills it. All advice I've heard of for berry farmers and gardeners is to remove affected plants and/or pre-emptively cut down nearby true fir trees. The last pics don't have the same thickened stems and witch's broom growth stimulation that is normal for the fungus. I'm wondering if it is another issue entirely. Either that or I am just having trouble seeing it from the angle in the pics.
Salal is in the same family as Vaccinniums, but I don't think this fungus parasitizes Gaultheria spp.?
Scotch broom is in the pea family, I don't think it shares many diseases with huckleberries. Maybe there is a fungal disease that looks similar? I do know that oftentimes when the county sprays herbacides, some workers don't do a good enough job, and only the top branches are lightly sprayed. Next summer, the plant looks kind of like your last two pics, except more of an upright orientation because scotch broom just grows like that.
Since this is an issue that affects horticulture and agriculture, you may find more in depth info on P. goeppertianum on pnw universities' horticultural extension websites.
My phone won't let me send a picture I have of the leaves turning grey, I also just remembered I collected some samples when I have a chance I will try to post them from my computer.
Awesome, detailed response! Thank you, friend.
Yeah I almost thought about leaving those pictures out because it is not that specific pathogen.
It's something else, it doesn't cause them to bloat sort of the way that Pucciniastrum does, it's just the leaves and the branches turn a Ash Gray and become extremely brittle.
I thought I had pictures of a branch with leaves on it where they are that really ashy gray color but I couldn't find it when I was posting this last night