Should i be worried about my apple trees?

[new gardener 1052]

Good evening my apple trees aint looking too healthy to me, i have attached some pictures for you guys see what you think is going on here. they are discovery on M27/ Falstaff on M27/ and James grieves on M27. all been in the ground about a year now.

[Greenleaves]

Unfortunately the pictures are out of focus, what do you think is wrong with them?

[veggiechicken]

As Greenleaves said, its hard to make out the apple branches!
Its still early in the year for apple trees to be showing much action and it may also be affected by whereabouts you are in the UK.

[lookbettertomorow]

Nothing wrong with your trees, it's your camera that's not happy

[new gardener 1052]

Sorry for the bad photos, (being out of focus) but what looks to be flower buds on my trees look shrivelled up and a dark colour. It's hard to see in the pictures. In in aberdeen. Trees are in a well shelter spot against a south facing wall

[WendyC]

I'm in southern England and the buds on my apples tree on the plot haven't opened yet. The crab apple in my sheltered south facing garden has buds which have unfurled only in the last day or so. If you want to check the stems are alive, just scratch a little of the bark off. They should be green underneath.

[FB.]

The orange tinge to the wood in the second picture is reminiscent of canker.

[Greenleaves]

^^^if that's FB's view I can't argue with his knowledge

[new gardener 1052]

The orange tinge to the wood in the second picture is reminiscent of canker.

Thanks for help but how can i treat canker?

[veggiechicken]

Don't panic. Take some decent photos and I'm sure FB will have another look for you.

[new gardener 1052]

photo still bit out of focus but hope you can see what I'm talking about.

[spamvindaloo]

Do you have a macro setting on your camera? It might help to focus on the bud as you are currently focused on the wall behind it.

[AkionTotocha]

Or hold a piece of paper behind the branch so the camera knows what to focus on?

[FB.]

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photo still bit out of focus but hope you can see what I'm talking about.

I can see it, but I can't see enough detail to be sure it's canker. Nor can I see whether there are signs of cankers elsewhere in the tree. And it would be helpful to know which variety and rootstock.

Normally cankered shoots are pruned out, several inches back from the obvious infection. Even then, it may return at the site of the pruning cut or may appear elsewhere in the tree.

In my experience, even a small amount of canker can badly stunt a young tree, as if it spreads some kind of poison through the whole tree. So if a young tree has lots of cankers it's often best to dig it out, burn it, and replace with a different type of tree. Trees tend to get more cankered as they age, so canker at an early age is never good.