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white powdery leaves on apple
treehugger80
Posts: 1,923
in Fruit & veg
my mothers apple tree's new growth has gone twisted, and is covered with a white powdery substance,
I think its a fungal infection due to her not pruning her 10 year old tree EVER (even though I have offered)
she thinks its silver leaf (despite me telling her that only stone fruits get it, and also that it looks totally different!)
can anyone confirm that is fungal? and tell me how to treat it? (i'll try and get a photo, but seeing as its been raining on and off since Sunday here it might take a while)
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Posts
Without a picture it is not easy to be accurate, but it actually sounds like Mildew. That is caused by dryness at the roots more than anything else. Try spraying with a 9 parts water to 1 part milk solution and giving the tree a really thorough soaking, despite the rain.
Definitely not Silver leaf which as you say does not affect Apple trees. Nor is it due to lack of pruning.
You could prune off the affected new growth if there is no fruit on them. Look up Summer Apple tree pruning on the Interweb thingy.
thanks, i'll try the milk trick first, pruning with be plan b