What Happened Here?

[CrazyEd]

Hey everyone — hope you’re all doing well.

I ran into an interesting issue with a few Galarina apple trees that I grafted. Three trees from the same planting/grafting group recently died after developing trunk cracks. I haven’t gone back to confirm the exact planting year, but they were at least ~7 years old. One of them cracked very severely (photo attached), while the other two had similar but less dramatic cracking before dying. Crack is on the east / southeast side for this tree.

Some details that might help diagnose it:
• All three trees: Galarina on B.118 rootstock
• Same age class and grafted at the same time
• Planted close together: two next to each other, the third about 50 yards away
• No other nearby trees affected
• Soil: well-drained sandy soil

Tree care: all my trees receive the same treatment:
• window screen trunk guards
• cages for protection
• similar soil amendments
• no fertilizer and no spraying

Interestingly, I had one other Galarina from this same grafting batch die in a similar way about five years ago. Assumed it was isolated, but now maybe related.

On the other hand, I also have a Galarina on MM.111 rootstock that I purchased from Cummins and planted in 2011, and it’s actually the largest apple tree on the farm. I likely used scion wood from that tree when grafting these.

So the issue seems limited to the B.118 Galarina trees from that grafting group.

Has anyone seen something like this before? I’m curious whether this could be:
• graft incompatibility
• cold damage / southwest injury
• disease
• or something else.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bigboreblr]

I only have 3 on M111. They grow like weeds in my soil. Which may not be a good thing. MY issue is the branches break too easily.

Can you see the grafting union? Maybe something right there.....

Thee is a general hatred for B118 on here, and justifiably so. I feel B118 should be reserved for redwood scions. Galarina is a grey one. The asain siberian crab lineage. No clue why, but I see the red wood guys doing alot better on B118.

Any amending you've done to them. Fetilizer lime? Had any dry spells past year. I believe B118 can be root lazy. Maybe found enough minerals, but didnt make enough roots for water. Soil a bit richer than others in the area. Grass got tall? Voles? Recal anything on the leaves or see anythign on the bark. Cutting into sections of the wood might show insect boring maybe.

Fragile branches and real fast growth make me hesitant to promote Galarina. Only got 1 Williams pride, but see that one is like that too. I believe we should have a nice mix of trees. Some of them should be fast growing / early to bear, not many though.

Glad to see you back on here.

 

[Bill]

Is it planted through Lumite? I see black ground cover. If it's lumite did you open the hole up so it didn't girdle the tree?