what's wrong with my apple tree?!

12 years ago

I've been noticing a couple of the top limbs of my apple tree aren't looking too good. The rest of the tree looks ok and have leafed out, but these two top limbs are looking a bit sickly although it appears they are trying to leaf out.

I did use the dormant spray really well on it I guess about a month ago. Is this a bug or disease starting on my tree? What, if anything, can I do about it?

Here's a shot of one of the top limbs (I bent it over to get the picture):

And here is the whole tree:

You can see the two top branches that look kind of bare.

Thanks for any advice!

Marj

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Comments (6)

Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
12 years ago
Looks fungal from here. Your first dormant spray should be around Thanksgiving. Nonetheless, several fungi this year are very happy all of a sudden, and combined with the too-dry winter and winter kill, could be several things in combo that I don't see specifically from here. All the Extension Agents this year are fully up on our fungal issues.

Dan
mstywoods
Original Author
12 years ago
More branches have started looking bad, so I snipped one off as well as a leaf that has some reddish coloring on the bottom and stopped by OTooles. They think it is blight. They recommended cutting off all the branch parts that are looking bad, disinfecting the clippers after each cut, and then hope for the best. They said spraying now might not help, and could just be a waste of money.

So I gave my little tree a pretty good hair cut, taking off all the obvious bad tips as well as trimmed off the tips of all the other branches as well (partly to make it look more uniform, but also as a precaution in case those has some bit of it as well). I threw out all the branches into a garbage bag and put into the trash can.

Any other tips on what I might do if it is indeed blight? From the little bit of googling I did on it sounds like it is pretty common for young apple trees, but there are some varieties that are more resistent to it (of which mine must not be!). If my tree doesn't make it after all, I'll be sure to look for one of those! I just hope it doesn't spread to my Peach and Pear trees. And speaking of my Peach tree, I'm actually wondering if that's where it came from. We bought all 3 trees last summer, and the top of the Peach starting looking bad fairly soon after planting it. But then fall/winter came, and everything went dormant, so didn't think much more about it. I did prune that part of the Peach tree several weeks ago, because it wasn't showing signs of growth. I don't remember trimming on my Apple tree after that, though, so hopefully I didn't actually do the infecting ... but not real sure.
Guess it's another one of those "wait and see" situations!

Marj
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Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
12 years ago
Did they tell you to clean your pruners after each cut? What kind of blight?

Nonetheless, you don't want to take it to a nursery. Your County Extension is where you want to take it.

Dan
mstywoods
Original Author
12 years ago
Yea, Dan - they stressed the cleaning the clippers part, so that's what I did. They didn't specify what type of blight, though.

I looked up the Jefferson Cty extension, and found their website. They have some info on fire blight, which sounds like what my tree has (by the description of the leaves and twigs): http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1411.html

I skimmed through the article, and they seem to be saying not to spray now as well. Just trim back the bad stuff, then spray during dormancy. Guess the spraying I did a month ago wasn't enough! I'll be sure to spray in the fall as well, this year.

My pear tree isn't showing any signs of it, so hopefully it will be ok.
Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
12 years ago
Not fireblight, which looks like the branches have been set on fire. If I were to wager, I'd say the nursery guessed.

Jeffco Extension is pretty good and if the fungus (likely powdery mildew) comes back, take a branch into them (call first) for ID. And don't prune the branch tips any more, that is one of the last things fruit trees want.

Dan
mstywoods
Original Author
12 years ago
Yea, they definitely guessed. The pic above doesn't quite show it, but the twigs were turning blackish like that article describes. Maybe it's a combination of the powdery mildew and the blight ??? I'm going to leave my poor tree alone for now and keep a watch on it. If I see the powdery stuff, I'll be sure to do as you recommend, Dan!

Thanks!!