Hilary Connolly asked 13 years ago
I have recently moved into a house that has three apple trees, one plum tree and one unknown tree in the back garden. I am a complete novice at gardening so desperately need a bit of help. All the trees have some sort of disease (rotting fruit, withering leaves, etc) to varying degrees. Help? What can I do to help them?
1 Answers
Gerry Daly Staff answered 6 years ago
This is brown rot disease, caused by a fungal infection which spreads from fruit to fruit, either touching on on the same trees.
Remove, or gather up and bury all the affected fruit to reduce the source of infection.
This disease is usually worst in a wet summer but does not normally appear this early. It most seriously affects trees with soft growth, too much feeding with manure, chicken pellets and other fertilzers high in nitrogen.
Apple potash in spring for 3 years at 50g per square metre, or wood ash if you have it. This helps to hardens the trees.
