“What are these shredded balls on my property?”
A: "Juniper-hawthorn rust — it’s a fungal disease. It starts as a gall then the tentacles appear around spring or after rain. It probably won’t kill this tree but it can seriously mess up secondary host apple trees. The only way to get rid of it is to prune then burn the removed branches. Don’t forget to disinfect your tools after."
Thanks Internet.
"... and the liquid will drop through the slit in the middle."
Let's keep it clean; this is not an AO site.