APPLE TREE - WITHERED LEAVES

loco-colo

Please see pics - Other leaves look healthy and little apples growing - Clusters like this throughout tree. Thanks

loco-colo

loco-colo wrote: »

Please see pics - Other leaves look healthy and little apples growing - Clusters like this throughout tree. Thanks

Pics

smacl

Also had this with one of my older trees and would be interested in hearing peoples thoughts. I had it down to inadequate pruning last winter and changing weather, but this is purely guess work. I carefully cut out the damaged sections about a month ago and have seen no recurrence.

vicwatson

Possible storm Hannah damage, were they young leaves? Is the damage south/south west facing?

loco-colo

Thanks - Good point - it may be that the tree has too many blossoms for it's size and is pruning itself, so to speak. I think it had these last tear - but not as many - I did nothing with them and still got a great crop - maybe i will trim them off like you did - will wait to see any replies. Thanks.

looksee

I don't know much about apple trees, but check out fireblight.

loco-colo

looksee - jeez that looks very like it - I had never heard of it - will check out procedure now - Many Thanks.

loco-colo

Video about fireblight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwPG7zqA5N0

macraignil

I have a crab apple tree that seems to be susceptible to this and have been cutting off the infected branches over the last couple of years. The tree is still growing mostly healthy branches but I still haven't managed to eliminate the problem completely. It's been annoying since I have the tree in a fairly prominent place in the garden and the cutting off of the diseased branches have made it look a bit ugly but still hoping I will be able to eliminate it completely at some stage. When I have got this on other apple trees the normal winter pruning of anything diseased has sorted it out but as your video points out growing resistant varieties is the best way to combat the problem. The video advocates cutting much further back into healthy wood than I have been doing so that might be important for eliminating the disease as well.

smacl

looksee wrote: »

I don't know much about apple trees, but check out fireblight.

That looks remarkably like what I'm seeing. Must double check my pruning efforts later on.

looksee

It seems to affect an assortment of trees, on apple trees it was a bit of a guess.

finla

Leaf curl is usually caused by a sap sucking insect, could be aphids. They're also the cause of any sooty moulds that might be there. I usually just take out any leaves that are curling.

loco-colo

Just after spending a couple of hours pruning - I am 95% certain that this is fireblight - I remember it being on the tree last year but I would just have crumbled off the brown leaves with my hand - obviously it has been developing since and is back much more extensivelyy.

When I got into the heart of the tree, some of the branches / stems are effectively dead - so now I am pruning back as recommended in video - half my tree is on the ground (I read this has to be disposed of and not composted too).

Hopefully looksee you have helped me to salvage my tree - it is 60 years there - planted by grandfather. Thanks.

upupup

loco-colo wrote: »

Just after spending a couple of hours pruning - I am 95% certain that this is fireblight - I remember it being on the tree last year but I would just have crumbled off the brown leaves with my hand - obviously it has been developing since and is back much more extensivelyy.

When I got into the heart of the tree, some of the branches / stems are effectively dead - so now I am pruning back as recommended in video - half my tree is on the ground (I read this has to be disposed of and not composted too).

Hopefully looksee you have helped me to salvage my tree - it is 60 years there - planted by grandfather. Thanks.

I had a problem last year that I thought was frost damage on my apple trees and the same problem this year again, so I looked closely last night after reading this thread and it looks a lot like fireblight...I cut out all the infected branches so hopefully I have it under control now.

loco-colo

I went back to tree today - and having closely examined every limb and following down from withered leaves - I got the saw out - I would say I have removed 60% of the tree - only keeping green healthy looking areas - In the process probably took out a hundred or two little apples - painful - but it had to be done I think.

This thing can develop at 2 inches a day down branches I read - and no doubt I know now it was happening - Looks a lot healthier now and anyway I had too many crossing branches etc - which promotes disease - space in the middle now to breathe - I always think an apple tree should have the wine glass shape.

And speaking of wine ....

smacl

I did some extra judicious pruning on my apple tree today, though the withered areas hadn't changed much if at all over the last couple of weeks. A fair amount of woolly aphids in evidence that I also brushed off. I think the withered bits are more likely a combination of age, storm damage and the aphids on my tree but will keep an eye on it and post back if any of the withered bit re-appear.