Leaf17

Not good news but I really appreciate your advice so thank you. Should I scrape back the loose/rotting bark before mulching? What would your recommendation be for what mulch to use? In my experience, neighbouring cats do their business in wood chip so keen to avoid that! Cheers, Jack

Hi all, It took me over a year to get round to mulching... Having dug down a little around the base of the tree and done some research, I am pretty certain that the tree has collar rot. I'd really appreciate your views on if you agree and if so, what can be done to save the tree. It's many decades old and we're very fond of it so I'm worried it may not survive. I've attached some images of the worst section. The bark easily comes away and an inch or two of the collar appears to be rotten when I prod it. Thanks very much in advance for your guidance. Jack

Thanks all very much for your suggestions. Having now researched Trentepohlia I think this is the reason for the orange colour. And I have strimmed right up against the tree so maybe I wasn't careful enough. I'll remove the grass then mulch. Main thing is none of you seem too concerned! Thanks again, Jack

Hi all, Hoping you may be able to help with a problem we have with our apple tree - photos are attached. We live in north of the UK and moved to this house 3 years ago. The apple tree is very old and produces loads of fruit. I noticed a few months back that bark has started coming off the bottom of trunk. This area is orange and the same colour has started travelling up into branches. We love this tree so I'm worried that it may be something bad. I removed some fairly large branches (up to around 4 inches diameter) in March 2021 to allow for small shed which will have been about 5-10% of the tree in total. Other than that, I trimmed the canopy a little but haven't done anything else to it since we moved in. I'd be really grateful if someone could let me know if they know what's wrong with the tree and if it can be remedied? Thanks very much, Jack