Apple tree looking unhealthy
dave allen
Posts: 2
Hi everyone,
I have a Red James Grieve apple tree which I planted in the middle of April but doesn't look particularly healthy.
It was a bare root tree approximately 3 feet high.
Before planting it I soaked the roots in a bucket of water for approximately 45 minutes.
It was then planted it in a mix of multi purpose compost and John Innes No 3. This mix was down to approx. 8 inches in the ground.
I also sprinkled a generous amount of Rootgrow Mycorrhizal Fungi in the ground before planting the tree.
It has one small, limp green leaf about 1 foot above ground level, a number of single small brown leaves up the tree then two small bunches (approx 5 leaves each) at the top which are also small and limp.
Even though we've had a reasonable amount of sun, especially in the last two weeks, and I've watered the tree regularly it's not shown any signs of life at all.
For info, I planted a second bare root apple tree (Bloody Ploughman variety) at the same time which has been fed and watered exactly the same but this has a decent amount of new healthy leaves on it.
Please can anyone help or give some advice?
Cheers, Dave
Posts
that sounds like a tree failure caused by it being bare rooted for too long and either drying out or getting frost to the roots (or both) before it got to you, contact the company you bought it off and complain - you will want a full refund.
to be fair April is very late to be sending bare roots out anyway, as most apple trees will be in leaf, if not flower by April.
Hi there,
Thanks for the reply. Is there anything I can do to revive the tree or is it too late for it?
Cheers, Dave
you could try and keep it damp and move it to a more shady area (a couple of hours of sun early morning or evening would be fine) to try and reduce stress levels and hope for the best, but it might not every recover.
one note of warning, anything that starts growing below where the variety top was grafted onto the rootstock (look for a lump in the bark near the ground) will be the rootstock not the variety you bought and must be removed otherwise you could end up with a non eating apple.