Terry's trees

[teepeeat]

Hi folks

Got a poorly apple tree that I need a bit of advice on.

Bit of history - heavily overgrown with bramble pulling down lower branches and entwined with a number of elders.

These were all removed in the last year or two.

I have not pruned it, just trimmed broken branches.

Not sure how clear it is in the pictures, but the tree you see standing is actually a branch of the original which has fallen over possibly about 20 years ago -certainly been like that at least since 1998.

Always had a lot of fruit (cookers) except last year, but then not much fruit about last year at all.

 

What advice from the assembled experts as to what we can do to keep her going.

[agg221]

OK, several things going on here.

 

Firstly, it has fallen over. This is not a problem. The original Bramley (sown 1809) fell over in 1900 and re-grew from a branch, and is still going strong.

 

Looking at the tree, the photos don't make it entirely clear, but it looks like there is not much in the way of annual extension growth and the centre is getting very bare, which means the branches are probably getting over-extended (which is consistent with your comment on broken branches).

 

The first thing I would do is cut everything down around the root zone. This will also make working on it easier.

 

I wouldn't touch it until late autumn/early winter, when the leaves have yellowed and mostly fallen at the earliest. There is a particular range of airborne spores around at this season which you want to avoid landing on freshly cut surfaces.

 

I would then remove any dead wood, and shorten up anything particularly long. I can't identify any particular cut points from the photos, but in your first picture you can see a point about two thirds of the way up where the branches arch right to left and another set carries on up. I would look at taking out the ones which are heading on up. The ones which arch also look quite dense, so I would look to thin them a little - helps air get through reducing wind resistance and lets light get to the branches so they don't die off. This will all help to reduce leverage on it, making it less likely to blow right out of the ground through twisting, or for new bits to snap off. Coincidentally it will make it easier to pick and manage in future.

 

In your last picture, there is a horizontal branch running right to left, which then turns upwards. At the point where it turns upwards there is a young shoot. This is the kind of thing you want to encourage. For now, you are looking to get a few of these going, which will happen if you head the tops back and let light in. In subsequent years you will be able to thin these out to space them to form new side branches. You want to encourage them to grow at about 45degrees to the vertical, so choose the less vertical ones to leave. If you have to leave some vertical ones because they are well placed, bend them down to the right angle and tie them there with a bit of string (in the growing season they will 'set' to their new angle in about 6wks). This will ultimately allow you to cut right back to your new branch structure, forming a more compact tree which is more stable.

 

To get it growing again, in about March I would stick down a double thickness layer of cardboard all around the root zone, which might be the drip line but having fallen over you will have to guess at this a bit. This will stop it competing with the weeds for water and nutrients. Before I did so I would give it a decent dose of Blood Fish and Bone (or Growmore) so it's a good slow-release balanced fertilizer. I would then mulch over the cardboard with either well rotted compost or chip/bark which had been stacked for a year - if you don't then the cardboard dries out so the rain doesn't soak in as well, and it blows around. Cardboard lets the water through but suppresses the weeds. The worms like the glue so they pull it down, aerating the soil. This means you will have to renew the cardboard from time to time, just don't let the mulch get too thick.

 

The above is likely to give you a lot more years out of it.

 

Alec

Edited September 25, 2013 by agg221

[Jesse]

Now before the above post and looking at the area around I would just have suggested to leave it alone, just to die in peace as an old man , it could even in this state go on for another 10 or 20 years, and producing increasingly great harvests of fruit , because the best fruits are produced from stress or that feeling of impeding death, but if you do have the time to invest agg 221 advice is both very detailed and spot on, great advice agg

[teepeeat]

thanks for the responses.

 

Alec, as always, a very detailed explanation. Thank you.

 

the tree is luckily quite protected from the wind with the trees beyond (to the south) and a steep bank behind me in the first picture. It was also choked with elder, some of which were taller than the apple hence I guess why it was reaching for the sky.

The bramble etc was well over the top of the dead branch sticking out to the right in the first pic with just the tops sticking out above.

 

It is not very clear in the pictures, but in the third pic you can possibly make out a lot of black fungal growth along the original stem - will have to get a close up.

Presumably the advice given will help to fend off the effects of this or does something specific need to be done in this respect - difficult without a close up to determine what it is I know.

 

Something else I have noticed is that a lot of the branches higher up have splits in the bark along their length.

I think a few more pictures required !!

Edited September 26, 2013 by teepeeat

[fagus]

Great reply agg221,reduce competition and feed.

[teepeeat]

Hi Fagus

 

That has been my approach so far to remove the competition, but have not been down for a couple of months to clear the nettle and bracken

 

there are also a lot of boulders and dirt piled up on the uphill side against the now horizontal original stem. Would clearing this help or would it be too much of a shock to the tree as it has been like that for a long time??

(hope that makes sense - dont know a lot about how these things work)

[Commando]

Alec you are the man when it comes to apple tree advice!! ''Alec the Apple'' Ha Ha!

[teepeeat]

some pictures of the fungi growing on the apple tree.

Anybody know what it is?

[teepeeat]

Nipped in and did a bit of clearing in between heavy showers today.

A few original roots remain although the base of the trunk is now hollow (3rd pic), but wondering if it would have rooted from the stem perhaps where the soil has piled up against the uphill side (last pic), or from the branch that is impaled into the ground next to the blade in the 4th pic?

Edited September 26, 2013 by teepeeat
clarification of pictures