Help wanted on reason for diseased apples

Hi
I have a 4 year old apple tree that never seems to fruit very well. This year has been the worst as the apples seem to be diseased - some of the leaves are also looking "poorly". Can anybody tell me what the problem is and what I should do to erradicatng th problem?

Many thanks

Chris

 

Hi Chris

I think your apples tree may have more than one problem. The fruit seem to be suffering from a bad case of bitter pit (especially the third photo) and there may be some kind of infection as well. It's not going to be much good for you this season and all you can do is look forward to next season.

First, try to improve the general health of your tree by giving it a good balanced feed and plenty of water during dry spells. This will help it avoid physiological problems which, traditonally, were thought to make bitter pit worse.

You also need to practise good hygiene by getting rid of diseased fruit and leaves as soon as they appear. You'll also probably need to spray it with a fungicide (I'd advise doing some research into what's currently permitted) if signs of disease reoccur.

The fact that the tree has never fruited well suggests to me that the problems may be too deep seated for treatment now. I'd suggest giving it one more season with plenty of TLC to see if it can respond. If not, digging it out and planting a new tree, preferably in a new spot, maybe the only answer.

 

Not so sure the apple problem is Bitter pit. Cut one open and if the brown spots go right through the apple then that is what it is. It could also be Scab, if the spotting is only on the skin. If so then the advice given is good. Sadly though Bitter pit is caused by a lack of Calcium and it is difficult to treat. This year we have tried to get lime into the sub soil round our treee which suffers from this condition. If not then sadly there is nothing much one can do.

 

Thanks for the swift replies. I have picked a couple of the apples and cut them open and the spotting is only on the skin. The actual flesh is quite sweet. I believe that bitter pit also makes the flesh bitter. I have some fertiliser which I have found out is quite high in potassium so maybe that has been one of my problems.

Unless tolds otherwise I will cut off the infected fruits and trim off the bad leaves, put some calcium based fertiliser down, and mulch and see if that helps next years fruit.

 

Calcium deficiency is the main cause of Bitter Pit

 

If the problem is not Bitter Pit then you do not need to add Calcium. You do need to find a fungicide though . I use Bordeaux mixture, sprayed on every 2 weeks from when the fruit is first set until 2 weeks before we start eating them. The wind this year has meant I could not spray and the apples are badly affected with Scab.

 

Thanks Palustris. As I am pretyy sure now it is not Bitter Pit, I have managed to find the Bordeax Mixture (Vitax) you talk about so will try that next year. Fingers crossed!

Thanks to everybody who has reponded to my problem - fantastic forum!