2nd Year Of Apple Growing - 2nd Disaster

[Grandad Al]

Hi all.

A quick hello.. Helloo. I am a new Grandad and a new gardener (2.5 years) mixed success, so I thought I would chuck the books in the bin and join a forum and get some real advice!!


My problem is as above. My 2nd Year growing these great little minature Apple trees and for the 2nd year they have gone all rotten - on the tree, in a rather odd shape.. The birds seem to like them, but they taste awful!!

Is this a silly amateur mistake?? or a common problem?? I live on a hill near the Moors with the best and worst weather Britain has to offer - if that makes any difference??

I used the usual generic compost, water regularly, My garden is on an old slate mine, so draining is a problem.

Thanks all

[chengjing]

I can't offer any help about your problem but I also got a miniture apple on its third year. It does not even got a flower. Maybe it will make you feel better.

[Nicos]

Hello!
There are quite a few fruit eperts on the Vine- unfortunately I'm not one of them!

BUT....most fruits split because of uneven watering- often after a dry spell followed by lots of rain.
I think that's probably what has happened to your tree.
Young trees need lots of water for the first couple of years so they can establish their root system.
If yours fruited last year it won't have been concentrating on its roots and will have struggled more during this summers drought.
Split fruit will allow pests and virus and bacteria into the fruit....hence them going rotten
As to not tasting nice- well perhaps they hadn't had a chance to ripen properly before they dropped off?

Just some ideas

Don't give up- next year they will be fantastic!

[rustylady]

You say compost - are you growing them in pots then?

[FB.]

Your problem is caused by the fungal disease "scab".

Scab requires at least several hours of dampness for the spores to germinate on the fruits. Early season prolonged drizzle is about the worst situation, since the fruit is immature and easily damaged, plus the amount of growing it must do means that any early scab will ruin most of the crop.
Varieties vary in their resistance to scab - some are very prone, some are partially resistant and some are highly resistant.

The scab fungus kills or distorts the point where it infected, so that as the fruit grows, it splits and then rots once other pests enter the split.

Everyone's favourite apples (the commercial types; Cox, Gala, Braeburn etc) are quite prone to diseases; supermarket apples are bred for smooth, shiny, colourful, perfect shape, even size, all ripening at the same time to save picking, and for tolerance of rough handling or long journeys across oceans.

Unfortunately, disease resistance is not bred into most of todays commercial varieties, since supermarket apples will receive a full spray routine during each season to protect them.

My advice: re-graft the trees to a more resistant variety.

Alternatively, consider spraying them to protect against scab - take care if using fungicides as some leave residues in the fruit, or are toxic.

My Laxton's Superb is too prone to scab and suffers like yours, so this winter, I may "graft-over" to a more scab-resistant variety.

I have made a number of postings about my "real-world" and "spray-free" apple growing, in which I have chatted about disease and pest resistance and other features.

Here's a link to some pictures of apple diseases - scroll the whole page as there are some better pictures at the end.

> Link here <

[chrisguk]

Personally, while scab seems an issue, it does look like claw marks of some kind. In the mean time, i would recommend removing all fruit that are going rotten like that, to prevent the spreading of diseases/rot etc between the two fruits.

[Nicos]

Thanks FB- that was intereting to know!

[FB.]

Personally, while scab seems an issue, it does look like claw marks of some kind. In the mean time, i would recommend removing all fruit that are going rotten like that, to prevent the spreading of diseases/rot etc between the two fruits.

Although it has some resemblance to claw marks, it is simply the skin ripping as the scab-damaged fruit grows. The scab-infected spot dies and is unable to expand as the fruit grows.
Once the fruit splits, pests and diseases enter the fruit and it is rapidly ruined.

Here's a picture from my Laxton's Superb, with a claw-mark appearance:

[chrisguk]

And i thought my scab infestation last year was a big problem! Im just fortunate enough it never got to that stage

I sprayed pretty early this year, when leaves had finish emerging IIRC. I dont spray often at all, just enough to stave off a large scale attack, but i simply cant tolerate just how badly scab effects fruit output.

My Apple Scrumptious seems particularly vulnerable.

[FB.]

My Scrumptious gets moderate amounts of leaf scab, but the fruits are generally OK as far as scab is concerned, but Codling maggots destroy most of the apples on my Scrumptious bush.

I try to avoid sprays - I prefer to grow varieties with natural resistance.

If you spray, it will be the early-season sprays that have the greatest protective effect, plus sprays timed to block scab germination immediately after prolonged rainfall.

[FB.]

Here's a couple of year old picture of my unsprayed Egremont Russet apples.

You will notice that there are many brown patches on the leaves, caused by scab infection.
As is quite common with "old-fashioned" and russet apples, the fruits have good resistance to pests and diseases - the cluster of fruits in the following picture are all healthy and undamaged, despite the scabby leaves (lots of scab lesions are highlighted with yellow circles).
Ultimately, it is clean fruit that we want. Some scabby leaves are acceptable.



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