# My apple tree needs help.



## Ralph Roces (Sep 2, 2005)

I planted an apple tree three years ago, last year was very sick, with a black grim? fungus? so I sprayed it with a spray from a special Green house in my area, the guy told me that was black fungus??? I have no idea but the fungus went away. This year I got a beutiful tree, with a lot of flowers, and small apples and I was very happy but one by one of the apples were lost, only one remained in the tree and it got dry and never develop. I don't know what I am doing wrong, my neighboor told me that I need another tree or to cut down this one. But when you take care of a tree since he was a baby, this is like killing your child. My wife wanted for me to cut it down, because does not bear fruit.
I am sad, and I had serious conversations with him. But he does not care, I tried different fertilizers, all organic. But nothing. Please help after all he is my tree the only apple tree in the neighbohood, and I think that's part of the problem.


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## Lararose (Aug 6, 2005)

If your tree is growing well now and the foliage is looking good, just keep nurturing it along. Apples do need another variety to pollinate. If you choose to put another tree in, choose one of the disease resistant ones out there. Also, it is not uncommon for apples to take some time off fruiting. Some will skip a year to bear. If you have crabapple trees in the area they can pollinate your tree too. If your tree looks good and is growing well, then don't worry too much about it.


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## WisJim (Jan 14, 2004)

Three years is young to get any fruit on an apple tree, so it may dropped fruit just because it wasn't big enough to support the fruit. Get some good reference books, at the library and then buy the ones you like, and learn a bit more about apple growing. A good one to start with is The BackYard Orchardist by Stella Otto.
Good luck.


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## birdie_poo (May 10, 2002)

Give it time...fruit trees WONT give you the instant satisfaction of a zuchinin in summer...you have to wait. I have had an apple tree for several years. This is the 1st year it ever gave me any apples and they were about as big as a doghnut hole...but there were lots of them. My other tree started off like gangbusters, but now has tapered out with nice size fruits. It's not uncommon to have 3 generations of flower to fruit on that one.


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## Beergeek (Sep 14, 2005)

Ralph-
You may need to have a spray program for your apple tree. If you want to go organic, I have seen good organic recipes for tree sprays on this site. You probably need to spray every two weeks (except when it's blossoming) to ensure good fruit production. I had a crabapple tree in my side yard the always flowered, but rarley set much fruit. I sprayed it bi-weekly, and ended up with two 5-gallon buckets full of crabapples (useful for adjusting pH/flavor of hard ciders).


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## woodspirit (Aug 3, 2005)

crabapples will pollinate an apple. The "black fungus". If it is on the leaves then sounds like apple scab. Don't water the leaves. A fungicide would work. Just do some readind to make sure that you get the right fungicde. I think Daconil will work but check with someone in the nursery field that you trust. However it sounded to me like you were saying that the black scum was on the branches or wood. If thats the case then what you saw was sooty mold. That is caused by insects like scale or aphids that suck the sap and then expell the sugars as waste. the sugars then turn black and resemble black mold. The mold itself won't cause harm unless its on the leaves and then acts to prevent sunlight and causes the leaves to fall early. in this case an insecticide would be needed. You could also use an all-season oil. That will smother the insects and is better environmentally.


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## greenboy (Sep 5, 2005)

what do you mean by spraying? sorry I may sound stupid


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## woodspirit (Aug 3, 2005)

If you want perfect looking fruit then you must spray every two weeks during the growing season with a pesticide that contains a fungicide/insecticide combo.Except when the tree is in flower. Two hundred years ago people didn't buy ortho products to spray on there trees. However apple juice, cider and apple jack, yum, were the main liquid that everyone consumed followed by rum.


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