I notice this most years on some apples, but it seems much
more pronounced this year, however this year 3/4 of my couple hundred apple
trees (many varieties) have it. I do not see significant insect populations
on affected stems, and the new leaves have eventually come out unaffected
in previous years. In looking on various apple disease websites I have seen
nothing like it, so I am asking for ideas of disease, insect,
virus, deficiency, etc. ....names or ideas for me to look farther
into. It seems Nafex photo page site still cannot upload images, so I
have started one of those free photo sites for my fruit related pics, hope
it works...