Knowledgebase

Apple tree #875450

Asked July 01, 2024, 9:37 AM EDT

Good Morning! We have a couple of apple trees, one of them is showing symptoms the last few years of some kind of disease. I uploading a few photos for you to see. What would be the best way to treat this? And also it is actually fixable? Thank you so much! Dayling

Kandiyohi County Minnesota

Expert Response

Hi Dayling,

This looks like a very old tree with some possible decay. What do the leaves and branches look like? The branches with leaves in the photo look healthy. 

The bare areas on the trunk look like the tree was damaged or debarked at some point. Do you know what happened? 

When you say you think the tree is sick I’m not sure what you’re referring to. Can you give me more detail? It looks like maybe there’s some white mold in the bare area, and perhaps yellow fungi on one of the big branches in the first photo?

More detail would help. Thanks!

MJ Replied July 02, 2024, 9:28 AM EDT
Yes! We think is fungi. Leaves they do look healthy and last fall we had apples. The bark is looking very old and sometimes we can peel the bark easily.  There is something we could do to avoid debarking? Or that’s part of the aging process? We think the tree is probably 25 years old or more.

Thanks!

Dayling 


Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 2, 2024, at 8:28 AM, Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:


The Question Asker Replied July 02, 2024, 10:12 AM EDT

Thanks for the additional information. Your tree is very old. Some poor pruning done many years ago appears to have introduced decay in the large bare area. It’s too late to do anything about that.

While it’s normal for harmless lichens to grow on the bark of older trees, those yellow mushrooms may signal internal rot in the tree.

You can’t do anything to stop this. Don’t peel any bark off. If the tree is hanging over other trees or structures and would do damage if it fell consider having it removed.

Otherwise, since it’s still bearing fruit, enjoy it for now. Apple trees can live for a long time but after 25 or 30 years they begin to decline. 

Hope this helps.


MJ Replied July 02, 2024, 10:40 AM EDT

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