tree question

[capt.dunc]

what's caused this?
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the tree was fine this time last year, but now it's gone crazy with growths and has an ashen grey look to much of it, it's a young crab apple.

 

[Geoff Dann]

Either a fungus, or insect larvae. Probably a fungus. Or a bacterium...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrobacterium_tumefaciens ?

See "Crown Gall disease" in apple trees. It's possible the galls, initially caused by the bacterium, have a secondary, fungal infection.