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Apple tree disease
KeenOnGreen
Posts: 1,831
in Plants
Our patio apple has what looks like mildew. Should we just remove the leaves or should we prune that bit of trunk too. What might have caused this and is there anything we can do to prevent the rest of the tree from being infected?
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Is it really mildew? It's very early in the season for that.
Could it be the soft downy white fuzz that often covers young leaves on fruit trees and others?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Ah, right ... just seen the photo (I was on my phone which was very slow this morning).
That's not 'normal fuzz' is it? It doesn't look very good at all
Don't know what others think, but the first thing that came into my mind was Fireblight
but fortunately I've not seen a lot of it, so ............. 
Maybe some help here? https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=769
Last edited: 23 April 2017 11:12:20
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
We've had Fireblight before, on Pyracantha, and it looked quite different, like the leaves were burnt and brown. Here's an even clearer photo, looks like some sort of fungus. The rest of the plant is healthy, is is another patio apple tree just next to it.
Can we see a photo of the whole tree, KoG? I would likely prune back into healthy wood but it would be good to see the whole tree to advise on where to cut.
Here's a wider shot of the plant. It's only a few years old, about 3 feet tall.
I'd take the whole branch out, right back to the trunk to be safe. That branch is a bit low anyway. Cut it just level with the end of the collar, like in the image on this page:
http://plantlifeonline.net/garden-blog/making-proper-pruning-cut
If that were my tree, I'd also remove the 2nd trunk growing from the base as it could be from the rootstock rather than from the grafted variety and will take over eventually. If the bark on the 2nd trunk looks different to the main one or the blossom is different then that would be a certainty.