Sabrina, The best advice that I should give to you is contact your local agricultural extension office. This/these network(s) of local offices are usually connected with a state University or College with agricultural programs with experts who know your local area (and related diseases/pests) the best. Additionally, I have never been charged for their services. I'm not sure where you live in CA, but this is one statewide network that may be helpful(http://ucanr.org/), its the UC Davis center hub for ag extension offices. California has excellent resources in that the agricultural industry is huge, and many experts are in the area. What I did when I suspected fire blight on a new tree is take the best pics that I could. Then I suggest that you call up the ag office and speak with a specialist, master gardener, etc and if needed, send the pictures to him/her via web. I thik that even in certain special circumstances they send people out to look at trees. I think/hope this approach will end the guesswork for you as it did for me. Best of luck. http://ucanr.org/ce.cfm or- Type this into Google: university of california davis agricultural extension office

It looks like your apples had some curculio damage and there is a small bit of cedar apple rust on the leaves as well as some leaf-curling aphid damage but its not that bad. As ltilton states they mainly just need pruning and spraying. The bigger question you need to think about is if you have the time and interest in tending for fruit trees, they require several sprays per year, monitoring for problems, time to read up on how to do it, etc. And as you can see they tend to get a lot of problems, most of them quite minor but some of them not minor at all. Scott

This is an off-label use for those fly-strip bars that contain dichlorvos, so do not expect that competent orchards who have to follow federal rules will be using this method, but it does work for the small orchardist. I had a borer making frass on one of my trees. Tried to get him with a wire and all that. I thought I got him, but the next day there was more frass. So I cut a sliver of plastic off one of the fly-strip bars that I store in the freezer (in a jar, so that it is preserved indefinitely) and poked that into the borer hole. Then the opening of the borer hole was plugged with kids modeling clay (to confine the dichlorvos vapors to his tunnel). The vapors from the fly strip sliver killed the borer dead as a doornail. No further damage to the tree, and it chugs on.

Google 'air-layering' for specifics on the method you are contemplating. Grafting is much more reliable than air-layering for all apple cultivars, as far as I know. Different cultivars have very different take-rates for rooting cuttings (and layering branches). Sounds like your cousin may not have done something right. I wonder why your brother-in-law wants to cut the tree down. You might want to consider contacting a local orchardist to see if you could get some help with grafting. I bet you could find someone that would be VERY HAPPY to help you save a threatened apple cultivar. Many would probably accept a scion for their own use as payment for their service. If you can't find someone locally, post a request on the Fruit and Orchards Forum.