To: NAFEX Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [nafex] Sudden die back on apple trees and few blossoms
Date: Tue, 20 May 2014 02:07:48 -0500
Spring here in the Chicago area had several unpleasant surprises for our
orchard.
Of the seven apple trees of various ages, only one had a reasonable
amount of
blossoms. This Winter we had a heavy snowfall and now wet Spring
conditions. Some of
this could have been due to a very heavy crop last year, but most of
these trees
do not go biennial, as a rule. What is more disturbing is that two of
our older
dwarf apple trees have lost a lot of branches and show very little leaf
production.
There are no signs of fire blight, and we have never seen it here. Some
of our
other trees, like plum, sour cherry, and apricot did put out blossoms
and one
young Rubinette tree did, as well. Peach trees and pear trees also
showed no
blossoms, and they have not shown biennial behavior before.
The biggest concern are the two apple trees that look very stressed and
might
not make it through the season. I had sprayed with copper and dormant oil
early this Spring, which should have had some beneficial effect. I wish
I knew
what is killing these trees.
Sherwin Dubren
Morton Grove, IL
Zone 5
[nafex] Sudden die back on apple trees and few blossoms,
sherwin, 05/20/2014