I need help with a Bramley apple tree. It hasn't blossomed this year, and is covered in a white furry substance. The leaves are all curled up and covered in black bumps
Fiona Shaw (16.06.07)
Val Bradley: It sounds like your Bramley has a couple of problems and as this is a year without fruit, it's a good time to sort them out.
The white furry stuff will be woolly aphids feeding on the sap and you can treat
this with Provado. The black bumps on the leaves sound like scab and
you'll only clear that with repeated treatments with a fungicide like
Dithane 945.
Once the leaves fall in autumn, you'll need to rake them up and get rid of them or the fungus will just overwinter on them and come back next year. Badly affected shoots will need pruning out. The Fruit Expert by Dr D Hessayon is a great book to have a look at if you grow fruit, because it covers most of the problems you might encounter.
Have your say
Why not continue this discussion on apples on the
Forum. Non-members, if you follow the link you will be given the option to become a member of the site quickly via Quick Post, and able to post questions and messages on the Forum. Our team of experts will join the Gardening.co.uk community in answering your questions. To discover further benefits of free membership to this site, see
Why Join?
denotes Subscriber-only content | Thursday 20 November 2008 | Help | Glossary 
