BlackBinder
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2016 4:57 pm

Need Dwarf Grafted Apple Tree HELP!

Hi everyone,
New gardener here with a mini grafted apple tree question.

I have 3 year old apple tree purchased from a nursery. Last year it produced maybe 3 apples and seemed healthy. This year it has many more apples on all of the different grafted branches but something is wrong. Some of the leaves are turning colors and/or getting spots and dying. Please help me figure out what is wrong and what I can do to help it? I've never posted here so hopefully the pics will come through.

The types of grafted branches are: Melrose, Yellow Delicious, Honeycrisp, and Gravenstein. All are semi-dwarf and we live in Oregon if that makes a difference. Thank you all for your time.
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JONA
Greener Thumb
Posts: 812
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:11 am
Location: Sussex. England

Hi BB,
First the spots...they are caused by scab. This is a fungal infection that affects both apples and pears and occurs in wet warm weather. To protect your tree against it you need fairly regular sprays that lay down a protective layer against spores germinating. Rather like you would protect a rose against black spot.
The yellowing can be caused by several different things I'm afraid.
If it's mainly on just one or two of the grafts I would be inclined to think that it's because the grafts are struggling to feed the amount of leaf on that particular graft. Solution here would be to remove fruit from that particular graft and perhaps even prune some of the wood to relieve pressure on the graft.
There are defficiencies that can cause it...but if parts of the tree are healthy, then I would lean towards a struggling graft.

JONA
Greener Thumb
Posts: 812
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:11 am
Location: Sussex. England

Further info on your apples BB.

Melrose.
Jonathan X Delicious. 1944.

Yellow Delicious.
A strain of Golden Delcious .
Original bred in 1890 possibly a Grimes Golden seedling. Clay County, West Virginia

Honeycrisp.
In 1960 bred as MN1711 then in 1991 released as Honeycrisp.
The variety Keepsake has been identified as one of the parents . The other parent not known ....but it may well be another trial Apple that has since been discarded.



Gravensteins.
This is an exceedingly old Apple.
Claimed to have arose in a garden in of the Duke of Augustenburg at Castle Graefenstien in the 1600s.
Across mainland Europe it is the main culinary Apple, while here in the UK we use the more modern Bramley Seedling.



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