Fungus On Apple Tree Trunk

What Is This Strange Growth On My Apple Tree

Hi. Just noticed this as I started pruning my Liberty apple tree. What is it and how should I deal with it? The entire branch is nonproductive perhaps I should cut it back to the trunk?

Another question: I recall reading somewhere that pruning should only be done when dry weather is on the horizon for 14 days. Is that true? I’ve got some pear trees and a couple more apple trees that I’d like to work on this week but we’ve got rain the forecast later in the week.

One final question: Can you recommend a business or a person that I can hire to spray my orchard? I have decided that is something that is best left to a professional. I live in Grants Pass.

This is likely apple anthracnose canker. Infection generally occurs during fall rains and first appears as a small, circular red spot on the bark new cankers are most visible when the bark is moist. The discoloration extends into the tissue as far as the sapwood which contains the functioning vascular tissue.

The mainstay of apple canker control is pruning out the cankers.

The best time to prune trees is during the dormant period, usually in late winter from November to March. It is best to make pruning cuts during dry weather. Dead or diseased branches should be removed as soon as possible.

Pruning that is done during:

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How To Treat Apple Canker

Prune out affected shoots when winter pruning, cutting well back beyond the affected part. Take care to apply only the correct amount of fertilizer. Apple tree canker is more liable to attack trees growing on ground that is prone to water-logging, or on acid soils or where there is poor air movement caused by close planting or high hedges. Many varieties have good natural resistance to this disease and should be chosen where growing conditions are less than ideal.

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Many Common Problems May Affect Apples

Apples are prone to more than their fair share of diseases, and physiological problems as well. But theyre still deliciously rewarding, once the harvest comes in.

While its easy to say that you should plant resistant varieties, if you buy a house with an apple tree or two in its yard already, your trees may not be resistant to the local pathogens.

In this case, practicing good hygiene with leaves and fruit on the ground can go a long way to preventing some nasty issues, along with following best practices to maintain adequate airflow, keep an eye on drainage, and properly sanitize pruning tools.

You may have to rely on fungicides to cure your trees of the many types of fungi that can infect them. But the pathogens sensitivity to particular fungicides can vary around the country, so check with your local experts to see what to use to treat your trees.

Have you had success rescuing or resurrecting an infected apple tree? Or do you want to vent about a tree that you lost? Either way, we would love to hear your comments below.

And for more tips on growing the best apples at home, check out these guides next:

Your Apples Are Misshapen With Lumpy Indents And Insect Holes

The likely culprit is the plum curculio. This small weevil can cause serious damage early in the growing season by feeding on the buds, flowers, and early set fruit. Adult females cut a hole in the fruit into which she lays her eggs, and the larva feast on the fruit before reaching maturity and exiting.

Though this rarely destroys the fruit, it can lead to unsightly blemishes. Treating your trees with insecticide early in the season can help, as can removing any damaged apples as soon as you see them and preventing windfalls from rotting under trees.

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How To Treat Powdery Mildew

This fungal disease overwinters on the tree to re-infect growth the following year, so break the cycle of infection by removing diseased material. Prune out affected shoots in summer and gather up and remove fallen leaves in autumn. Good airflow discourages mildew, so bear this in mind when winter pruning and thin out dense growth. Powdery mildew infections are worse when the soil is dry, so give an occasional thorough watering when there are long periods without rain. There are growth invigorators and chemical fungicides available to combat powdery mildew but sprays are hard to apply on a tree scale.

An Infection That Wont Stop

These spores are easily blown by the wind and cause secondary infections on new shoots, leaves, and fruit.

As long as the shoots continue growing, the leaves and shoots can continue to become infected.

The infections typically occur at night at 65 to 80°F when the relative humidity is greater than 70 percent. While this sounds really high, it is common on the lower leaf surface.

The disease on the leaves occurs first on the undersides and may appear like chlorotic spots on the top of the leaves.

As time passes, the tissues that are infected develop the classic silver-gray powdery mildew appearance.

Fruit that is infected will come down with discoloration and netlike reddish brown colors. It may also be distorted and/or dwarfed.

High levels of powdery mildew at the end of the growing season can damage the tree in two ways. First, it can increase the number of infected buds, so you will have a high level of infection next spring. And second, it can inhibit the formation of flower buds, so that there will be fewer or no fruit produced the following season.

And if that isnt bad enough, a tree that is heavily infected with powdery mildew can become susceptible to additional types of infections.

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What Is Fire Blight

Fire blight is a bacterial illness that affects fruit trees include apples and pears. It thrives in hot, humid climates, usually appearing strongly in the spring and reducing as dryer summer temperatures occur.

The bacteria infects trees undetectably in the fall or winter, hiding in branches and unopened buds. Then in the spring, it begins to emerge through openings in the branches and foliage and becomes apparent. The infection can be spread through gardening tools.

How To Treat Fire Blight

Unfortunately, fire blight is very difficult to treat effectively, and overusing certain bacterial sprays can cause the tree to develop resistance to treatment.

The best ways to fight fire blight is prompt pruning and sanitizing tools. As soon as you notice symptoms of infection, prune away the affected branches 8-12 inches from the lesion. Sanitize all gardening tools in a 10 percent bleach solution mixed with a few drops of dish liquid to avoid spreading the bacteria between trees and branches.

Keep the sanitizing solution nearby as you prune and dip the tools in between each cut to avoid spreading.

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Bracket Fungus On Apple Tree

This bracket fungus is growing on an apple tree in my garden. I noticed one growing in the same position last year and just knocked it off. The tree is otherwise in pretty good condition. Should I try to remove it with a fungicide or just leave it be?

• 2That’s only the “fruiting part” of the fungus. Most of the fungus is in the tree, meaning there’s an area of rot

Keep a close watch on the tree if its in danger of falling on people or buildings when it falls, because it will, at some point. Bracket fungus like this on a tree trunk spells death I’m afraid, so its just a matter of time till it dies. As Ecnerwal says in the comment, this is just the fruiting body of fungal mycelium which have invaded the tree, and it will be progressing throughout the tree over time, destroying the wood as it goes. There is no treatment I’m afraid.

There Are Ugly Brown Circular Patches On The Apples That Create Lesions In Their Flesh

Apple scab is a fungal disease that can wreck your crop because it creates lesions for brown rot to enter the fruit.

You might notice it in the early spring as sooty lesions on the underside of the leaves, and it will spread through the rain. Infected leaves may curl up and fall off, and the fruit will have dark, scabby lesions.

As the fungus wont affect the fruits flavor, you can peel off the damaged skin and use as normal.

Prevent a future outbreak by removing infected leaves from the orchard in the fall. Its also a good idea to plant resistant varieties, including Crimson Crisp, Gold Rush, and Mac-Free.

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Diseases Of All Fruit Trees

Cankers on peach and other fruit trees are common and occur after winter injury. Branches with cankers can be removed with pruning, but when cankers occur on the trunk, removal becomes difficult without damaging the tree. Gumming or sap oozing on peach or plum branches is a sign of winter injury or disease, but in many cases, the tree eventually recovers from the injury, so tree removal should not be the first option unless the tree is obviously dead. The trunk area under large limbs are less hardy than the rest of the tree and a common site for cankers. Cankers enlarge gradually from year-to-year until the limb or trunk is girdled. Since most of these cankers occur on trees that suffer from winter injury, they may be unavoidable in cold climates.

Phytophthora root and crown root can be lethal to fruit trees. Planting in well-drained soil is the best way to prevent this disease from occurring. When soil is saturated for 24 hours or longer, infection is more likely to occur. Symptoms may not appear right away, but generally become evident during hot, dry weather when trees display wilting, stunted shoots and early yellowing of foliage. At the soil line, tissue under the bark will have red or brown areas, a spongy texture, and possibly, a distinctive musty smell. There are no resistant varieties.

How To Treat Apple Scab

Once you have determined that your apple tree is infected with scab, you need to begin a rigorous treatment regimen right away. This includes a few important steps:

• First, clear all the fallen leaves from around your apple tree. This reduces the risk of infected fallen leaves spreading spores to the tree when spring arrives again.
• Make sure you keep your apple tree pruned. This reduces the foliage available to spread the fungus and encourages healthy circulation through the branches.
• When spring arrives, apply a commercial fungicide to your apple tree every two weeks as soon as new shoots appear.

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Apple With Fuzzy Stuff On The Trunk

Question:

My neighbor has an apple tree that is about 4 years old. It is doing well, producing apples, etc., but recently it started to develop white fuzz on the bark. When you touch the fuzz, it turns red. It almost looks like cotton down. Do you have any idea what it might be? Is it a fungus?

Monica L.

Valencia Co.

Answer:

You have described the wooly apple aphid. This is a small insect that feeds by sucking the sap from the tree’s bark and roots. These aphids cover themselves with a waxy material that looks like wool or cotton fluff. Sometimes they transmit diseases by carrying the disease from one tree to another. In large numbers, they can cause considerable damage by weakening the tree, especially young trees. It is such a problem that some of the dwarfing rootstocks for apple trees were developed to be wooly apple aphid resistant.

When you see the aphids actively feeding on the trunk, treat the aphids with the control measures mentioned above . Give the trees adequate water and nutrients to maintain the health of the tree to allow it to resist the aphids on the roots for as long as possible. Older trees may show only minimal damage from aphids feeding on their roots, but younger trees may be severely injured.

If the tree requires replacement, choose one grafted onto a wooly apple aphid resistant rootstock.

The Apple Leaves And Branches Are Covered In A Light White Powder And Are Starting To Shrivel

You might recognize these symptoms from squash plants, as your apples likely have powdery mildew . Though it wont kill the tree, it can weaken it over time.

As with most fungi, it overwinters in infected leaves, so keeping the orchard floor clean in the fall will lead to less risk the following spring. You should also ensure that your trees get good airflow and are appropriately spaced to not create wet conditions for fungi to thrive.

Powdery mildew resistant varieties include Liberty and Gold Rush.

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Fire Blight Of Apples And Pears

Fire blight is a common and very destructive bacterial disease of apples and pears . The disease is caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora, which can infect and cause severe damage to many plants in the rose family . On apples and pears, the disease can kill blossoms, fruit, shoots, twigs, branches and entire trees. While young trees can be killed in a single season, older trees can survive several years, even with continuous dieback.

Disease Development

Fire blight first appears in the spring when temperatures get above 65 degrees F. Rain, heavy dews and high humidity favor infection. Precise environmental conditions are needed for infection to occur and as a result disease incidence varies considerably from year to year.

Symptoms

Fire blight symptoms vary depending on the tissue affected and can also vary between pear and apple.

Blossom and Spur Blight

Blossom and spur symptoms appear in the spring. Bacteria gain entry into the tree via blossoms and new shoots. Diseased blossoms become water-soaked, wilt and turn brown. Bacteria spread rapidly into other flowers in the cluster and then move down into the spur. Spurs become blighted, turning brown on apples and black on pear .

Shoot Blight

Stem Cankers

Fruit Blight

Rootstock Symptoms

Management

The Trees Have Curled Leaves And Produce Only Stunted Fruits That Arent Fully Formed At The Base

This is often a sign that rosy apple aphids feasted on the young fruits in the spring, which deformed and stunted their growth.

Theres not much you can do once you see the damage, so early control is critical. Your best option is to monitor your trees closely and spray insecticidal soap on the site of any outbreaks. Natural aphid predators like ladybugs can also help keep populations in check.

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How To Prevent White Fungus On Apple Trees

Keeping your orchard healthy is the best way to prevent white fungus from taking hold in your apple trees. Planting new trees that are resistant to white fungus and keeping your orchard well-weeded are some of the most effective ways to avoid an outbreak.

Preventative measures:

• Provide good drainage for your soil, as this will help keep it dryer and more conducive to healthy root growth.
• Fertilize regularly with a balanced fertilizer formulated for fruit trees at least once a year if youre not mulching between plantings. This will encourage strong root systems as well as healthy foliage growth which helps prevent diseases from infecting the tree itself.
• Keep weeds out of the ground around each tree so they dont compete with its roots for nutrients this also reduces humidity close by which can lead to fungal diseases like apple scab growing on leaves above ground level when rainy weather strikes again later that season.

How To Identify Apple Scab

Apple scab causes black lesions on both the leaves and the fruit of the apple tree. If you notice odd, dark splotches on your tree, it may be infected with apple scab. The lesions might sometimes look olive green. In bad cases, the fruit can eventually turn brown, and the leaves may turn yellow and fall off prematurely.

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Common Diseases Of Apple Trees

Apple Scab Apple scab is an apple tree disease that leaves warty, brown bumps on the leaves and fruit. It is a fungus that primarily affects trees in areas that have high humidity.

Powdery Mildew While powdery mildew affects a great many plants, and on apple trees it can decrease the number of flowers and fruit and cause stunted growth and blemished fruit. Powdery mildew on apples will look like a velvety covering on leaves and branches. It can affect any apple variety, but some varieties are more susceptible than others.

Black RotBlack rot apple disease can appear in one or a combination of three different forms: black fruit rot, frogeye leaf spot, and black rot limb canker.

• Black fruit rot This form of black rot is a blossom end rot, similar to that found in tomatoes. The blossom end of the fruit will turn brown and this brown spot will spread across the whole fruit. Once the whole fruit turns brown, it will then turn black. The fruit stays firm while this occurs.
• Frogeye leaf spot This form of black rot will appear just around the time the blossoms on the apple tree start to fade. It will appear on the leaves and will be grey or light brown spots with a purple edge.
• Black rot limb canker These will appear as depressions on the limbs. As the canker becomes larger, the bark on the center of the canker will begin to peel away. If left untreated, the canker can completely girdle the tree and kill it.