Egremont russet apple tree

[divvy]

I have had this dwarf tree for 4 years , and until last year it was doing fine . Then I noticed some of the leaves in one area had turned brown and the apples didn't come to anything . The were deformed and small . This year the discovery next to it has leaves and flowers but the russet has only a few leaves and no flowers so far . Do you think I should dig it up and start again


Sent from my iPad using Grow Your Own Forum

[fishpond]

Do you have any photo's of the tree and the ground underneath?
How close is it to the Discovery?
Do you prune, feed and water it?
What rootstock is it on?

[divvy]

I don't know the rootstock , I prune it to keep it manageable height . I feed it with marshalls marvellous muck . I water it when needed . I will post pick in daylight tomorrow . There is no sign of disease .


Sent from my iPad using Grow Your Own Forum

[divvy]

As promised photos of the tree . Hope these help . There are leaves coming , but slowly . They are behind what would normally be . It is 10 ft from the discovery . They are both planted in flower beds but all flowers are shallow rooted ones .


Sent from my iPad using Grow Your Own Forum

[fishpond]

Sorry, I can't see any phots.

[divvy]

No !!!!! I took pics and clicked on upload and nothing happened .


Sent from my iPad using Grow Your Own Forum

[divvy]

Update , still no flowers or fruit this year , some leaves are brown at edges , rest of tree looks ok so I've given it a good prune and hope for the best . My cherry tree , no fruit again this year . It did have some , but as the last 3 years the fruit I'd hard and turns a reddy colour and drops off . Victoria nurseries said it sounds like not enough water , so this year I have drowned it , on top of the large amount of rain we have had , still have the problem so it can't be water . Victoria plum , coming along nicely , then in the last couple of days one whole large branch from the trunk has gone funny . The fruit , which was doing well has shrivelled and the leaves are droopy . No sign of any disease that I can see . Don't know wether to leave it and see what happens oral the whole branch off , which will leave a great big hole in the front of the tree . Again , it can't be lack of water as ground soaked as well . Am just about ready to give up on them . In contrast the discovery apple is doing well and a weedy Braeburn that I got from wikcos is going leaps and bounds . Can't understand it

[FB.]

If you can post some pictures there's a good chance you can deal with the various problems. Without pictures it's like trying to get a doctor to diagnose a medical condition over the phone; a high risk of a mis-diagnosis and incorrect treatment while the underlying problem gets worse.

In the absence of pictures, my guess is that your 'need to do something' tendency may be the problem (indiscriminate pruning and feeding). In general, the best cropping trees are unpruned, slightly hungry and slightly thirsty. Someone once said of fruit trees: 'if in doubt, do nowt'.

[orangepippin]

I agree with FB, very difficult to say much without photos. Over-doing feeding, or over-watering, or pruning can easily cause more problems than they cure. FB's point about if in doubt ... is absolutely correct, in fact I would go further and shorten it to simply ... do nowt. Usually the only time you need to do things quickly with fruit trees is when you see aphids on them.

[FB.]

Usually the only time you need to do things quickly with fruit trees is when you see aphids on them.

Nah - do nowt.

Grow 'em on big rootstocks and after a few weeks the tree will get angry and send out so many new shoots that the aphids can't ruin them all.
I have a young Edward VII M25 being trained as a half-standard which suffered an extreme aphid attack which devastated all the new shoots about a month ago (aphid attack is a particular problem on the late-out-of-dormancy varieties such as Edward VII and Court Pendu Plat). But in the last week Edward VII M25 is mounting a massive counterattack and has the hoverfly larvae and ladybird larvae as assistants.
For every shoot the aphids ruined, the tree is now producing about ten more. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow.

[orangepippin]

Yes, in effect the aphids have carried out an early summer pruning ... but it might have been more effective to have squashed the early arrivals, allowing the tree to get on with something more productive like producing apples ...