Diagnosing problems with plants is no easy task. Don't assume everything you see is disease. Often less than pristine leaves are displaying signs of nutritional deficiencies rather than disease. You are always going to see less than perfect leaves on your trees, but it will rarely kill your trees. I will stick my neck out on a couple of the pictures above. I suspect the Honeycrisp could be showing signs of Cedar Apple Rust, a very common disease in the mid-Atlantic -- in fact it would be surprising if your apples showed no signs of it, unless they were specially selected varieties resistant to this rust. Neem is totally useless on it, and in fact like many fungal disorders there is not much you can do once it occurs: you must prevent it by spraying appropriate sprays early in the season (there are plenty of postings on Garden Web on this rust and its prevention). I suspect the Stella Cherry is showing signs of too much or too little water. Some yellowing leaves on cherries this time of year are not uncommon. With the very heavy rain and less than perfectly drained location my North Star cherry is in, it has a lot of leaves looking like yours. I'll leave the experts to comment on the other pictures, though on the whole I don't see much cause for concern in them. Regarding Neem in general, I would not waste my money on it. Michael Philips in his book on organic apple growing (highly recommended), "The Apple Grower," discusses Neem, and concludes that if it is to be at all effective on anything, you must be use hard to find and expensive cold pressed unprocessed oils, not the highly processed stuff you get at garden stores.

Thanks for the quick reply and the useful information. Unfortunately the problems on the apples and cherries aren't on a few leaves but on greater then 90% of them or I wouldn't be concerned. The two cherries have very few leaves left and as of this morning the Rainier now has several leaves turning yellow too. I spent some time with a more experienced fruit tree grower today, and his conclusion was that it's probably not water or nutrient related, and that there's no concern in the plum or apricot yet. He thinks both cherries have classic cherry leaf spot and the apples could be CAR or frogeye - younger leaves seem to have typical symptoms seen in both types of infection - either way it's fungal. I'm hoping he's correct that none of these issues should actually kill the trees. Any one else have any thoughts on this diagnosis?

The plan at the moment is to start a treatment of Chlorothalonil (Fung-onil) on all the trees when the weather calms down and keep an eye on them the rest of the season to try and keep it from spreading to any new growth. They're too young to have fruit to worry about this year. Any opinion on whether this is the most appropriate fungicide to use?

I definitely plan to adopt a preventative program next spring. And thanks for the book suggestion - I've read a lot of conflicting opinions on neem oil on the internet so good information from a trusted source would be helpful.

Christine

Hi Christine-
I'm going to attempt a diagnosis here on the only picture that rang a bell for me...

On the HoneyCrisp... I'm thinking this is mite damage. Specifically, I'm looking at the polygonal damage in the lower right of your picture. It looks very similar to the polygonal damage that I first encountered here. Pay close attention to Don Yellman's words.

A guess on the Stella cherry... Keep in mind that I know almost nothing about cherries... but on apples, a yellow leaf is usually simply a leaf that the tree has said "You're not worth it to me, I'm going to let you go". It's quite common to find early-season leaves like this shaded by more dominant later-season leaves. If you just have a few small leaves like this, I'd say that's probably the case. If you have many leaves like this, I'd keep looking for other answers.
Good luck,
-Glenn

Whenever trees so recently purchased and planted are in trouble, the reason is at the roots -- either too wet or too dry.

Disease so early on is uncommon because, if the trees were well-grown -- which usually also means, sprayed regularly for problems common locally -- you obtained them at the peak of health.

Stick your finger in the soil of the original rootball to find out.

If it's dry, make certain any added water is applied directly to the rootball more often than to the surrounding soil.

Glenn - thanks for the comparison on the honey crisp. No one I spoke with had suggested that so far but it's worth a very close look at the tree. Unfortunately on the cherries I'm looking at anywhere from 50-80% damage/yellowing. They're looking really pathetic!!

Jean - When the Stella was planted, it didn't look all that great even in the first day or so but I chalked it up to "stress". All the trees were picked out 3 weeks ago and then we had to wait for Miss Util to get the property marked before digging. I'm guessing there was an issue when we picked them out and being a fruit tree novice I didn't notice. Over the next 3 weeks of waiting and another week after planting, everything just may have progressed. The roots feel fine and the other trees we had put in on the same day (ornamental cherries, forest pansy redbuds) look great and feel the same at the roots. It gives me pause about the tree farm we bought the trees from...

I'm still waiting for the winds to die down, so I'm trying to decide on a plan. The Fung-onil says not to apply within one week before or after an oil based pesticide is used. What I have on hand is from Shultz (Garden Safe Multi-purpose Garden Insect Killer) which is .02% pyrethrins and 0.2% piperonyl butoxide. Can I use both of these together or should I try the anti-fungal first and keep an eye on the apples? If the damage doesn't slow down on the apples I can wait a week and switch to the insecticide I have or some other product that other posters recommend. Thoughts??

I will be so glad to start prevention with something a little less toxic next Spring!!

I doubt the trees are diseased. Looks like all is environmental. So, far, they've had a tough time.

Dear Dr.,
I would suggest a strategy wait and see. How recent are the transplants into the ground? Is the soil amended with small wood chips/perlite to help with drainage? Are the plantings in a low area? Yellow leaves to me point to slowly draining soil or too much rain/watering.

This past May I put a number of fruit trees in the ground, and had immediate concerns as well. I actually contacted my local county agricultural extension (usually connected to a university with a agricultural based program). In my state its Penn State.

I would just google your county name and "agricultural extension". They have the info and wherewithal to diagnose your disease. They can even have a sample tested if need be. Usually, when I call, since I am not a commercial gardener, I speak to a master gardener. I have found them to be very helpful.

To fill you in with what happened. I thought I had a fuji apple and 2 pears with fire blight. I emailed pictures to the master gardener and asked. He immediately replied and said that it did not look like fire blight.

He also informed me that most trees go through an adjustment phase where the newly transplanted roots cannot keep up with the demands of the quickly growing tree. Consequently, there is leaf loss and the tree is more susceptible to disease.

I'm telling you I kept my receipts close, because I really thought this tree was going to die. 100% of the leaves were affected. I was thinking to myself, how is this tree going to photosynthesize with no leaves? My only solace was that the tree trunk was a nice green color (like the variety standard)

I waited a month or so, and since the damage to my leaves did not look insect related, I sprayed with Serenade, an organic multi purpose fungicide (from Fedco organic mail order). Now since it has been quite rainy and damp in PA this year, it seems to wash off in the rain soon after I apply it.

However, whether it has been me suppressing the infection with Serenade, or the trees have overcome the transplant shock, the leaf tips on the branches are budding out again with good, healthy leaves. I believe all of the original leaves are going to die, but not before bring replaced with new ones.

My suggestion: take some pics and call the master gardener. They have seen most diseases and can step you through a treatment.

Read up on the various diseases of your trees during the winter and order products mail order (since some of the products will not be available locally-I have gotten many an odd looking for organic products at the local Lowes).

If you are going fungicidal route, I think most are broad spectrum- suppress or kill a variety of types.

I really like Fedco to order supplies from, they are organic (for me a plus), they are an honest company, they ship quick.

They also carry broad spectrum products Spinosad/ Monterey Garden spray for insects and Serenade, fungal supressant/fungicide

Read up: I know fire blight is the kiss of death in Pennsylvania for apple and pear right when the first buds emerge in spring- transmitted by pollinators, so I am trying to devise a plan to cover them (?) in the spring.

Not 100% sure of what to do, but thinking about it now so I won't be caught by surprise in the spring. I see you have a honeycrisp, you may be facing the same issue.

Here is a link that might be useful: VA agricultural extension links on the right

Giggles,

I don't have a comment on the various leaf ailments of your fruit trees. However, I've not seen any formulations of chlorothalinil approved for use on pomes. As a fungicide cholothalinil tends to be somewhat phytotoxic (phyto means plant, and toxic means, well, toxic). So if you spray your pome fruits with chlorothaninil, it may well cause more problems than it cures. Same goes with spraying chlorothalinil after shuck split on stone fruits.