{"id":368586,"date":"2026-07-10T19:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T19:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/368586\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T19:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T19:15:08","slug":"what-is-a-witchs-broom-and-why-did-it-show-up-in-a-lubbock-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/368586\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is A Witch’s Broom And Why Did It Show Up In A Lubbock Tree?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently saw a very interesting post in Lubbock Gardening and Plant Lovers<\/a> on Facebook (a fantastic resource if you’re into that kind of thing). A Lubbock local (hi Brandi!) posted about what appeared to be a very gnarly and strange nest in a tree- asking what the heck could have made this nest? Some guessed squirrels or large prey birds, but upon closer inspection, it appears to be what is known as a Witches Broom.<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0The History Of Prickly Pear Cactus In Lubbock’s Culture<\/a><\/p>\n

The “Spooky” Witches’ Broom Anomaly Explained<\/p>\n

Mr Maple Show does a fantastic job of explaining and showing a witch’s broom in a Japanese Maple. According to these tree experts, a Witches Broom is usually a genetic mutation that causes many small branches to sprout from a single point, which resembles a nest, or, for those of us who love all things spooky, a witch’s broom.<\/p>\n

Witch’s Brooms Are A Rare Opportunity<\/p>\n

Mr Maple Show also mentions growing unusual trees by grafting these twigs onto other rootstalks, because the new growth will take on the same variations. So cool! Some nursery owners and plant enthusiasts<\/a> see witch’s brooms as a perfect opportunity to create new cultivars, like dwarf versions of the orginal tree.<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0Wolfforth Farmers Market Makes Amazing Offer To Sunday Vendors<\/a><\/p>\n

Other Reasons A Witch’s Broom Can Happen<\/p>\n

Other potential causes<\/a> for a witch’s broom include interference from other critters including, “fungi<\/a>,\u00a0oomycetes<\/a>, insects,\u00a0mites<\/a>,\u00a0nematodes<\/a>,\u00a0phytoplasmas<\/a>, and viruses.” Since we have both trees and things of that nature, a witch’s broom can form in our area, although they are fairly rare, and a cool thing to see in person. But if you have one in your yard, you may want to get an arborist to look at it to ensure your tree doesn’t have any of those potential underlying conditions.<\/p>\n

But Is It a Nest Afterall?<\/p>\n

It can be! Animals are incredibly smart and adaptable, and if there’s a free deluxe condo in the neighborhood- why not move in?<\/p>\n

Summer Activities That Land Lubbock Kids In The ER <\/p>\n

We all want to have fun in the summer; however, some summer activities lead to more ER visits than others. Here’s a look at what ER doctors are seeing in the hospital, and how to make these activities safer. <\/p>\n

Gallery Credit: Renee Raven<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I recently saw a very interesting post in Lubbock Gardening and Plant Lovers on Facebook (a fantastic resource…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-368586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}