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Apple tree help please

mariet-ukmariet-uk Posts: 2
in Fruit & veg
Hi, we moved to a new house last year (in Hertfordshire UK) and gained a large, old apple tree in the garden. We’re complete garden novices so are looking for some guidance on whether this tree can be helped...
Last year we just let the tree do it’s thing and whilst it produced many apples unfortunately they were all inedible as got codling moth. The tree also had woolly aphid and was an attraction for wasps who seemed to be gouging out the bark? I’ve added a picture of the tree below and a close up of some of the bark gouges - one looks quite fresh. Any recommendations for treatment, pruning, any guidance on how to sort it etc would be very much welcomed and appreciated. 
Thank you in advance 😊


Posts

  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    Looks like the previous owners did a bit of a hatchet job with their pruning. Too much big stuff taken off at once and you get lots of small shoots like yours. You could shorten those shoots by about a third but I would suggest spreading the work over 3 years, one third each year.
    For codling moth you could try some of the suggestions here https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=489
    The gouges look like mechanical damage from an axe or machete. The wasps are probably just taking advantage of the damage to harvest wood to make their nests.

  • clarke.bruntclarke.brunt Posts: 215
    edited March 2021
    I'd say it's now 3 growing seasons since someone did some very severe 'pruning' and chopped off all the main branches. Could just about have been 2 growing seasons ago, but I'd go for 3, as if it had only been 2, then I wouldn't have expected much flowering and fruit last year. It's reacted to the severe pruning by putting out loads of new shoots from near the cut ends.  The shoots look to be covered in fruiting spurs, so I'd expect lots of blossom shortly. I think I'd leave it for now, then maybe next winter remove a proportion of those shoots back to their base. I wonder if someone removed some in a previous winter, as maybe there are less than would result from such severe cutting back.

    The cuts in the bark really look as though someone took a few swings with the axe - think the wasps would just be taking advantage of the cuts to take some chewed-wood nest-building material.

    I'm not an expert in fending off the pests. 'Grease bands' seem to be the thing for stopping the moths climbing up the trees to lay their eggs (later edit: realised that 'bands' are for 'winter-moth', not effective against codling moth), but are supposed to be on the tree all winter. Woolly aphid doesn't seem to do all that much damage, but particularly likes to congregate around large pruning wounds. I think from the look of the bits of woolly aphid I had last year that a tiny parasitic wasp has arrived in the area and is keeping the numbers down (someone posted a great photo of dead aphid husks the other week, after the wasps had hatched out from them).

    This is always going to look like a battered old tree, but apples are very resilient. I like the rot holes and other such things on my old tree for the biodiversity they encourage.
  • mariet-ukmariet-uk Posts: 2
    Thanks both for the input, very much appreciated. That codling moth link was helpful, and their control methods seem pretty straightforward. Although it leads me onto my next question... do you think the tree is worth saving? I feel a bit sad for it but assume even with removing some of the spindly branches as suggested it will still just always look a bit of a mess now? I’ve also noticed quite a lot of the bark seems to be peeling, is that normal? Such a shame it got hacked so bad as it’s a big old tree so assume it would be pretty old - any idea how long it might have taken to get to this size?
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