Need some advice

[Scarecrow]

About 10 years ago I purchase 2 dozen apple trees (wild apple variety) from the St Lawrence Nursery.
They were doing well and I had a few start to produce fruit about 5 years ago.
Over the past 3 years quite a few (7-8) of these have developed a sickness. Not sure if its Fire Blight, Blossom Blast, or something else.
I read up on these and tried a few suggested approaches (heavy prune back, vinegar) but neither is helping.
The infected trees have basically stunted. Any new growth these trees get in the Spring eventually turns black and dies back.
The infected trees look worse each passing year.
My concern now is for my nearby other apple, crabs, pears, and wild plums which I also planted over the years.
I'm thinking I should cut down all the infected trees and burn them?

 

[chickenlittle]

I can't diagnose from the photos. Maybe canker or black rot? You could certainly cut them off below where you think it's infected and let them try to regrow. Removing the infection is the way to keep it from continuing.

The photos show lots of trees in the background. Do these get full sun? Do they get morning sun to dry off the dew? Sheltered from wind that would dry them off? I assume you don't spray anything?

 

[Natureboy]

Scarecrow, I share your frustration, some of my apple trees began showing similar symptoms in the late summer of 2018. The problem began in some of my more isolated trees that did not receive regular spraying throughout the growing season. The leaves began turning brown and dying, by September all of the leaves of the affected trees had either fallen or turned brown and curled up.
I took samples of the affected branches to Cornell Labs in an attempt to determine what was happening. Their tests revealed that the foliage was heavily infected by a fungus that causes Marssonina leaf blight. The report suggested that I prune the apple trees to allow for greater air flow to facilitate drying of the leaves and regular spraying throughout the growing season with a fungicide such as Captan.
Unfortunately, due to personal reasons, I was unable to continue my spray regiment throughout the 2019 season, missing most of August. When I was able to return to camp in early September I found that all of my trees had become infected. I plan on dedicating a greater effort to regular spraying with fungicides in 2020. Unfortunately, I had hoped to establish orchards of disease resistant apple varieties, primarily for wildlife, that would not require regular spraying. It now appears that this will not be possible.

 

[chickenlittle]

No way to prepare for something like Marssonina (unless you spray fungicide thru the summer). I have no idea which varieties may be susceptible or resistant. I'd never heard of it until i noticed on trees here in 2018. Many crabs dropped leaves early. I did not see much in 2019 when it was drier.

 

[Mortenson]

Not the kind of stuff ya want to hear about. Natureboy, if I recall correctly, you have quite a few good, disease resistant types. I wonder if having pears is one way to help offset something like this. I have more pears ordered this year because my two young orchards heavily favor apples/crabs at this point.

 

[Scarecrow]

I can't diagnose from the photos. Maybe canker or black rot? You could certainly cut them off below where you think it's infected and let them try to regrow. Removing the infection is the way to keep it from continuing.

The photos show lots of trees in the background. Do these get full sun? Do they get morning sun to dry off the dew? Sheltered from wind that would dry them off? I assume you don't spray anything?

I will take better pics this coming weekend and post them. Most of my fruit trees have southern exposure and get plenty of sunlight thou I do need to do some releasing from nearby growth. I have yet to try any sprays. Any suggestions would help. Thank you for the reply.

 

[Scarecrow]

Scarecrow, I share your frustration, some of my apple trees began showing similar symptoms in the late summer of 2018. The problem began in some of my more isolated trees that did not receive regular spraying throughout the growing season. The leaves began turning brown and dying, by September all of the leaves of the affected trees had either fallen or turned brown and curled up.
I took samples of the affected branches to Cornell Labs in an attempt to determine what was happening. Their tests revealed that the foliage was heavily infected by a fungus that causes Marssonina leaf blight. The report suggested that I prune the apple trees to allow for greater air flow to facilitate drying of the leaves and regular spraying throughout the growing season with a fungicide such as Captan.
Unfortunately, due to personal reasons, I was unable to continue my spray regiment throughout the 2019 season, missing most of August. When I was able to return to camp in early September I found that all of my trees had become infected. I plan on dedicating a greater effort to regular spraying with fungicides in 2020. Unfortunately, I had hoped to establish orchards of disease resistant apple varieties, primarily for wildlife, that would not require regular spraying. It now appears that this will not be possible.

If I recall the year this started we had a very wet and cold Spring right thru blossom. 95% of all the blossoms shrivel up, turned black, and died off. Most of the new buds on the trees eventually did the same. This pattern has repeated itself each and every since along with less new growth and little to no new blossoms. My problem with spraying is I live 2 hours from my property. I do manage to get up there almost every weekend but that subjects me to the weather on those days. The past few years we've had some really wet Aprils and Mays and quite a few mornings in the low 30's. From what I've read that's a picture perfect environment for disease. I will give them another heavy pruning and will try Captan......weather permitting on the weekends when I'm there. So far my co-located pears, crabs, and a handful of other apples (different variety) have remained clean.
I've never seen so many wild apple trees have their leaves turn brown and drop......by August.....like I did this year. I heard it was from just too much rain in May/June.
Not the actual monthly amount of rain but rather the number of rainy days within the month.
It'll be interesting to see how those wild apple trees respond. Thanks for the replies guys.

 

[chickenlittle]

Sounds like more than one thing going on. The blossoms do sound like blossom blast. It will kill some of the wood too but not spread too far back from the blossoms like fireblight can. The trees defoliating in late summer is more likely the Marssonina or maybe scab.

Blossom blast is more common with pears but can affect apples. It is a bacterial disease. I'm not sure what all you could spray for that but maybe copper, sulfur, or lime sulfur sprays prior to bloom. Commercially, they probably spray antibiotic too but I'd stick with just copper. Captan is a fungicide so it wouldn't help for blossom blast. Captan would work on scab and Marssonina but you have to spray on the right schedule for long enough and reapply if it gets washed off.

Personally, I'd remove what I can by pruning, hope for a drier spring, and see what happens. I might still try spraying copper but mostly I'd like to avoid spraying.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

From your pix it looks like you may have some shade from nearby trees. 2 things all fruit trees need is sun and airflow. Lots of both. Improving both of those can help make it tougher for diseases to thrive. Even a little shade when morning dew is present can mess things up. Try to open up as much as you can around your trees.

My camp is about an hour west of Bradford Co. and a bit south in the mountains - so we have similar temps. and climate. I have some of the wild apple seedlings from St. Lawrence Nursery too. With seedlings, you don't know what you're getting as far as disease resistance goes. I haven't seen the condition you show in the pix on ours. Wet springs and early summers have had effects on apple production though. Lots of rainy, damp days are just bad for fruit tree diseases. Most of our trees are planted in fields, so that helps with sun & airflow.

I don't spray for diseases either - just bugs. I have little knowledge of disease spraying, so I'm no help with that. (I know what Captan & copper sprays are, but I don't use them at camp). I too am 3 hours from camp, so I deal with the time/distance problems like you do. Weekend weather governs what can be done.

I'd go with Chickenlittle's advice and see what this spring brings. One thing - when you prune, it pays to have a small bucket with some Clorox water in it to dip your pruners in between cuts to minimize the chances of spreading disease from one limb or tree to another. Or take some 91% alcohol - it's cheap - and wet a rag with it and wipe your pruners between trees. It's like hand sanitizer in flu season for people!! Saves problems.

Where in Bradford are you?? I'm familiar with the areas around Canton, Alba, & Troy. I used to small-game hunt in those areas.

 

[Scarecrow]

I'll give them a heavy pruning this winter and collect the cut offs to burn. Last winter when I pruned them back I did use a bucket of clorox/water solution to dip the pruners in between cuts. I'll pick up a copper spray along with Captan and start applying at the proper time come Spring.....weather permitting. I'll see what happens from there.
My Property is NE of Towanda. I have 140 acres in Litchfield Twp......not far from the Athens/Sayre area.

 

[homerj]

You need to be careful with copper. Applying copper to green, growing leaves can burn them. Copper also builds up in your soil. Nothing wrong with using it, just use it carefully and according to the label.
https://www.goodfruit.com/working-with-copper/