Comments on: The Mysterious Phenomenon Killing America’s Apple Trees

By: Barbara

Barbara — Sat, 09 Sep 2023 08:37:49 +0000

I have a young apple that is now dying. It is in a grow pot with new soil so I know it’s not soil bourne. I wanted to have it replaced my 50 yr old apple which died. Constuction required it to be heavily cut back in spring. When it was recovering it looked beautiful. Then the leaves looked weak, turned brown and the entire tree died. I have been so confused as to what happened. It was a marvelous tree!
Thank you for this resource.

By: Alan

Alan — Sun, 04 Dec 2022 15:52:22 +0000

I had a Red Delicious Apple tree that was ten years old (but only about 2″ diameter) that suddenly, within two weeks, leaves turned brown and died. This was in early July of 2020 in Northeast Ohio. Wiggling the tree, I could tell it wasn’t firm in the ground. I was able to push it over.

By: Tim Cowan

Tim Cowan — Thu, 09 Sep 2021 16:59:35 +0000

I live near Black Moshanon State Park (about 10 miles NW of Penn State) on what has been a farm since 1850. We have many old apple trees and many volunteers in the thickets. Two years ago one of our old trees went through the RAP symptoms and has since then. This tree stands alone in a pasture less than 50 feet from Mudlick Rd. A small crab apple right next to the road is also affected and directly across the road a neighbors small tree is also browning and looking dead by August.
I decided to cut my two trees down and burn them in place to try to stop the RAD from spreading to our other apple trees. Should I wait to see if you come up with a solution or cure?

By: gclub

gclub — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 20:58:14 +0000

It’s great that you have a really good schedule. Because you can see the date and activity at all It is very convenient to prepare.

By: Tiffany Brown

Tiffany Brown — Sun, 22 Aug 2021 02:20:12 +0000

The government can only cloud seed with graphene oxide for so long before it effects everything that we attempt to grow. Why is Bill Gates now the largest farmland owner? There’s always more money to be made, apparently…even when you have more than you could ever spend.

By: Chris O

Chris O — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 22:29:13 +0000

So it isn’t just me! In July, in San Antonio, Texas, my sole 12-year-old apple tree, which has 4 different grafts, declined terribly in 2-3 days. As of August 7, all leaves are brown & dropping.
One graft is a dwarf; granny smith, golden delicious and “early summer red” are the other 3.
It’s in my backyard about 22 feet from 3 small healthy native Texas persimmon trees & on the other side, about 35 feet from the apple tree is a healthy Red Baron peach tree, also 12yo.
We’ve had a bit more rain than usual, but it hasn’t sat in water. Averaging 85 – 99 degrees, soil dries quick enough.
We do have birds (Jays, flickers, common wrens(?)) and squirrels on the tree many times a day, as we have 3 feeders on its branches.
As we finish using it as a bird feeder support, we’ll [carefully] take it down and burn it piece by piece to lessen risk of spreading whatever it is. I’m so sad for the tree & the orchardists’ loss of so many other trees..

Won’t plant anything in its place.

If there’s any way to participate in sending samples, I will.

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 15:44:09 +0000

In reply to Leo. I am a “backyard” grower on Long Island, NY and I had 5 dwarf apple trees that went through the same symptoms as described above for SAD.

By: Melanie Thomsen

Melanie Thomsen — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 11:26:15 +0000

In reply to Hay grower. What is that..?!

By: Ernst Heydenrych

Ernst Heydenrych — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 09:49:56 +0000

Hi, not an expert on M9 but are planting lots of M9 orchards at high densities. I would think that any kind of stress would have a negative effect on the root system, especially a newly planted young tree. With young trees, the first stress factor coming to mind is water, to little as well as to wet?

By: Steve Finley

Steve Finley — Mon, 22 Mar 2021 23:07:51 +0000

High density, M.9, young and dwarf. Are those the dominant characteristics or is the effect more broad? What about fertilization management programs? Any commonalities there?