Old Man Apple

[RogueRose]

This apple tree came with my house (that I rent) and has to be about...hmm...70 maybe 80 years old. My neighbor was born and raised in this house and she said her brother planted the tree when he was a wee lad and she is in her 80s. I moved in in August and the apple barely had any fruit. It had shriveled up things that I think used to be fruit Last year things came in that resembled apples but they were ready about July! I dunno what's up with this tree. I did some research on apples and talked with the landlords and the tree obviously had never had a pruning a day in it's looooooooooooooooooong life. So last fall the landlord did some major over-haul pruning and cut some branches as it was pretty low to the ground.

THIS year I NEVER seen this tree bloom so much. It looked better than ever:


However it still seems to be going on the fast-track fruiting:



Some of the healthier ones:



This is where you can see some of the shriveled ones and what are those dots on the apples?


And anyone know what they are? They never seem to turn completely red. And they never seem to be able to get big either.

Not really sure what I can do for Old Man Apple.......I imagine these things have a lifespan and it might be reaching the end of it.

[!potatoes!]

they'd probably get bigger if you thinned them out to one fruit per cluster (not necessarily easy in a tree that big)... if fruits' really ripe in july, you may have missed the best time to thin this year, but it still might have a decent effect.

not sure right off about the spots.

[JONA878]

Hi HRose.
Your tree could have a good few years left yet.
The original Bramlety Seedling tree over here fell down in a storm at the begining of the 1900's and a branch re-rooted and is still cropping 112 years later.
As regards the damage spots.
Two likely culprits.
Capsid damage will cause skin lesions like that and also hail damage will result in skin pits like that as well.

As regards the variety...could you please cut one of the apples in half across its waist and take a picture of the core profile.
May be able to shorten the possable list down a tad then.

[RogueRose]

they'd probably get bigger if you thinned them out to one fruit per cluster (not necessarily easy in a tree that big)... if fruits' really ripe in july, you may have missed the best time to thin this year, but it still might have a decent effect.

not sure right off about the spots.

It kinda seems to thin itself with shriveling and dropping fruit....there were A LOT more on there and there's dropped fruit all around the tree. I could thin it further. But even last year there weren't many on there and they still got ripe in July. And always small fruits.

I got to get pics of the fig tree. It's gonna be awesome this year.

[RogueRose]

Hi HRose.
Your tree could have a good few years left yet.
The original Bramlety Seedling tree over here fell down in a storm at the begining of the 1900's and a branch re-rooted and is still cropping 112 years later.
As regards the damage spots.
Two likely culprits.
Capsid damage will cause skin lesions like that and also hail damage will result in skin pits like that as well.

As regards the variety...could you please cut one of the apples in half across its waist and take a picture of the core profile.
May be able to shorten the possable list down a tad then.

Hi Jona, Thanks for the tips! The landlord took a graft of this tree and planted it a few feet away. It's finally growing this year taller than it has in previous years but still taking awhile to take off. So we'll have a piece of it when it goes. We have a concord grape vine from the original owners (also probably around 60-80yrs old) that I thought was a goner but it seems to be coming in now.

We haven't had any hail this year, so I imagine it's the capsid damage. It comes every year. Is this something that comes every year. I'll get pics of a cross section when I get home from work this afternoon! Thanks so much for your help!

[JONA878]

Hi R.Rose.

Apple Capsid does its damage around the green cluster stage of the apples growth.
Normaly it's pretty insignificant but if it does get to persistantly bad that's the time you have to spray.
Carbaryl, Chlorpyrifos and and Fenitrothian all give good control.
But as the scarring is normaly only just on the surface of the apples and does not effect eating or storage...I don't think it is worth spraying unless the problem is huge.

[RogueRose]

Hi R.Rose.
But as the scarring is normaly only just on the surface of the apples and does not effect eating or storage...I don't think it is worth spraying unless the problem is huge.

Yeah it's never stopped us from eating them.

[RogueRose]

Took me awhile, but here are pics of the cross section of the apples on Old Man Apple:

[JONA878]

Hi RR.

The one thing that keeps bugging me about your apples is the extra long stalk.
It's very like those on the Delicious family but...the fruit is not consistant with them.
A couple to check on for you......Adams Pearmain and Esopus Spitzenburg. ( this last one is a very old American Traditional).

The other queary is, ...is there a grafting union low down on the trunk of the tree?
On a tree that old it would be almost at ground level and appear as just a large swelling around the tree.
If there is no such swelling then I would be inclined to think that your tree has been grown from a pip and as such has no name....you can call it what you want. The long stalk is very indicative of a crab cross breed.

Let me know.

[RogueRose]

Hi Jona,

It is a very old tree, as I said which I imagine definitely makes it hard to identify! There is a split pretty low but I'm not sure if I'd call it a swelling, but of course the base is thicker than where the branches split (this is the only pic I have of the base, not the best, sorry!):



We've eaten the apples off the tree before and they're very tasty. Not really tart but not sweet. They don't turn all the way red. But don't stay green either. But we've never had a good year of them growing to full maturity. At least not what I think is full maturity.