Forum home› Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Apple tree has died suddenly

zosia.kobyleczosia.kobylec Posts: 1
in Problem solving
I cut back my cooking apple tree last year, it bloomed and had fruit as normal albeit a lighter crop. This spring it bud and gave flowers but then all the new buds died suddenly and the tree has gone a coppery orange colour. It is due to the lack of rain?

Posts

  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    I'm afraid that does look just dead to me. That hole in the trunk isn't good. Is it hollow inside?

    How old is your tree and how tall? The recent dry and very hot weather would not have helped your tree to survive.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    If it's on a dwarfing rootstock your apple tree may have had a lifespan of only 15-20 years.  Bigger trees can live longer, but 50 years is old for an apple tree... so if you know it's been around a long time, it might just have come to the end of its normal life.  There are other things which might cause its death (honey fungus, for instance, but you'd expect to see other symptoms like loose bark with "bootlace" fungus underneath, in that case), but I think it would be unusual for a mature tree to die so quickly from lack of moisture.  I think you'd have seen it struggling, with yellowing leaves - and the other plants in your photo look healthy enough.
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Sign In or Register to comment.