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Re: [nafex] drought-stricken apple tree



Thanks, Tom, but it's certainly not just "late" because about a fifth of
the branches have leafed out, and even have a few flowers.  (although
even those look kind of thin.)  I did water it heavily last week, and
will continue to do so for a while (maybe for the season.)

We have had odd weather.  85F two weeks ago, and snow last night.  The
whole winter has been odd, relatively warm, and not much snow.  We are
on drought alert.

Ginda
eastern Mass., zone 6

Thomas Olenio wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> What do the leaf buds look like?  Dry or moist?
> 
> I use to live in Methuen (near Lawrence, MA).
> 
> It is still very early in the season.  Some trees have leafed out and
> others are dormant.  A tree weakened by drought may be a slow starter.
> 
> I would start by giving it 30 gallons of water a week, mulch it well, and
> spray it with antidesicant spray.  Give it plenty of water, and tools to
> retain it.  The weather has been odd, and it may need some TLC.
> 
> You may want to top dress 1" with manure too.
> 
> Tom
> --
> Southwest Ontario
> Canada Hardiness Zone 6a
> (similar to US zone 5)
> 
> On Thu, 25 Apr 2002, Ginda Fisher wrote:
> 
> > I have three apple trees (two crabs and a jonathan) and last summer's
> > drought was hard on them.  It didn't occur to me that a mature crab
> > apple needed supplemental water, and the one that didn't get any runoff
> > from the garden lost all its leaves early, and the apples withered on
> > the limbs.
> >
> > This spring, only a few of the branches have leafed out.  (It's a clump
> > of many branches coming from a cluster in the ground, not a single-trunk
> > affair.)  The healthy crabs in the neighborhood are just past full
> > bloom.  I have tried cutting open the bark of two of the apparently
> > lifeless branches, and both showed green, although neither was full of
> > sap.
> >
> > It's possible that my earlier grafting experiments hurt the tree.  Every
> > grafted branch  is leafless (so are most of the others) so either
> > mechanical damage or some virus is a possibility.  The other crabapple
> > is doing fine.  It also bears several grafts, but I was careful to use
> > different scions on the two trees, and avoid any cross-contamination, so
> > if I had one or two sick scions, they could easily have infected only
> > one tree.
> >
> > Any advice?  Should I cut off the leafless branches?  Wait a year and
> > see what happens?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Ginda Fisher
> > eastern Mass., zone 6
> >