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Apple tree trunk rot?

joevass787joevass787 Posts: 19
in Fruit & veg
Hi all,
We have an apple tree in the garden, I don't know age but its well established, very gnarled but fruits every year we've been here. The apples are not always brilliant, some are good some bad.
I noticed last year while cutting the grass around the very bottom of the tree that there was alot of woodlouse. I dug away the grass and dug down a little and found that they have undermined around the whole bottom of the tree by a sizeable amount! About 2 inches in some places. 
As far as I know woodlouse only eat dead wood? So I'm guessing they are not the cause. Has the tree just seen its day, as I've said I'm not sure on age. It's just started to sprout some green so it's still growing but the trunk is a worry. Can I save it?

Thanks for any help you can give. If needed I will try to get some photos.

Joe

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited April 2018
    Hi Joe :)

    Photos would be good ... the whole tree and the damaged bit. 

    It's a good idea to keep grass away from the base of trees as the trunk can be accidentally damaged by mowers/strimmers etc. so that may be what has happened ... but let's have a look. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • joevass787joevass787 Posts: 19
  • joevass787joevass787 Posts: 19
    Hope these pictures are OK. Thanks
  • joevass787joevass787 Posts: 19
    That is a shame if thats the case Pansyface. When we first bought the house the garden was a jungle and the apple tree couldnt even be seen with all the ivy and other bushes growing all up it. Its the only thing we kept after taking down everything else. Perhaps the overgrowth was to much for it.

    As i said, it still seems to be growing so we may have some more years left in it and we will have to decide what we will do with the space when the time comes.

    If what you said is the case im assuming the canker will eventually be around the entire trunk (if it hasnt already) and one year it will just stop budding??

    Ill do some reasearch on canker and see what to expect.

    Thanks for the help!!

    Joe
  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923
    personally i don't think that loos like canker, it almost looks like the graft point, they're usually bulbous like that, i would get some mulch around the tree to keep the grass away from the trunk (strimmer damage is also a possibility)
  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    Treehugger80, that's an interesting comment. The whole tree is clearly dripping, therefore severely affected by Canker for a while. It's a tree hanging onto life. Trees also take some time to die too. They come into leaf later, less vigour and drop their leaves faster.
  • joevass787joevass787 Posts: 19
    As I said before, when we first got the house the garden was very overgrown and the area of the tree was probably the worst so it wouldn't surprise me if it was struggling. I had to pull away alot of ivy to expose the tree again. From having a good look at it yesterday it does look to be holding onto life. I will leave it be for now and see what happens, but it probably isn't good.
    As for the dripping. The photos were taken on a wet day so I'm not to sure but it may look worse from the weather then normal. 

    Thanks all for your help! 
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