Thanks for the update and the pictures! Itâs good to know that your trees healed well. I was curious how they did because Iâve got a ton of rabbit and vole damage to deal with. Iâve got about 200 apple and pear trees in a fenced-in 60â x 60â nursery. The trees are 1 to 4 years old, ranging in size from less than a foot to 7 feet tall, with each one wrapped with a 24â plastic vole guard. Even though the nursery is surrounded by an 8-foot polypropylene mesh deer fence fortified with a 28-inch welded wire rabbit fence, it was no match for the 2 to 5 feet of snow thatâs been on the ground for most of the winter. With the snow higher than the rabbit fence, they easily chewed through the polypropylene mesh, and, in a single night, nipped almost everything down to snow-level (about 30â). The bigger trees are missing big patches of bark, maybe 2/3 to 3/4 of the way around the trunk. Oh - and under the snow, on the smaller trees, voles skeletonized everything above - and sticking out of - the plastic guards like piranhas. I saved what I could by wrapping what was still standing above the guards in aluminum foil, made some patches in the fence with poultry netting, and dug a trench in the snow all the way around the nursery. In the process of mending the fence (which took a few days), rabbits got in only once. They ignored all the aluminum-covered trees, and gnawed on raspberry canes instead. Once mended, the rabbits havenât got back in. As for the vole guards, they can only save the wood that theyâre guarding. I wonât know the full extent of the damage until the snow melts. It stands at a little under 2 feet deep right now. Itâs just devastating to see such damage. Heartbreak aside, my concerns/questions are: Will there be new growth (from the scion/variety Iâm trying to grow) if there are no visible buds? Is there anything I should do to keep disease (scab, canker, fireblight) from entering the wounds? Good luck!

I've had aphid infest my artichokes so bad that water wouldn't work. The stupid buggers were so thick that in order to knock them off with water, I had to spray so hard that it broke the leaves. Not to mention the angry ants crawling up my boots. That's when I went to the insecticidal soap. I would think in your situation, that may work best since your apple tree is just a seedling... you don't want to rip its leaves off with water blasting. You can get a spray bottle of it at the garden store (or hardware store) for around 5 bucks. Just remember that when dealing with aphids, they are persistent, so you must be too. Check it every day and spray it every other till they're gone, then at the first sign of reinfestation, you can get away with mechanical methods... water, q-tips, whatever works. Oh and honeydew is just a sweet name for aphid poop.

Agree w/ken on the large leaves and I would not worry to much BUT the little baby leaf above that big leaf (2nd pic) what is going on with the very tip. How much water are you giving it in Salt lake. Apples need a lot of water. If not on a drip, dig a depression moat around the base of the tree and fill with water. Remove any grass or weeds from the trunk out to the edge of moat berm. Depth s/b about 2" deep and about 3' out from ONE side of the trunk(6' in dia.)now you can use the hose, water on dribble. Fill up the depression with water. Slow and deep. .......................................Use the "fruit and orchard forum" maybe it will work a little better for ya

We have had a lot of rain lately. I'm pretty sure there hasn't been any hail, though. We did have really strong winds the other day. I think these pictures were taken the day of the winds, though. Maybe before. It's the second year's growth.