It’s been awhile since I posted but just thought I would ask. This is a tree I am going to rip out. It is a host tree
. I grafted several varieties to it last year in the hopes that I can pick the ones I like and graft them to a new tree in the next year or two that I’m going to plant in a different area. I was an idiot, got busy with life and forgot about it. Honestly, I did not think that it would start to rot with fungus underneath the parafilm. Lesson learned for sure. I know the tree looks horrible but just remember it’s getting ripped out. I just need the scion wood. My main question- if it is blight do I need to rip it out right away to prevent spread to other apple trees right next to it? I have a gala next to it. Or do I have time to wait for my original plan and pull it in a year or two?
I’m just a hobbyist, but it’s not what I know fire blight to look like. I have a few apples with that black soot - I think it’s “sooty mold”, which I’ve read is superficial. Mine have had the soot for years and I don’t notice anything bad from it other than aesthetically looks bad. Have heard of people scrubbing it off their trees manually with a scrub brush and fungicide, dunno if it stops it from coming back though.
Interesting there’s all the mycelium in the graft area. I’d assume having parafilm would hold moisture there and protect, to facilitate its establishment if it was present already, kinda like in one of those mushroom substrate bricks. I have peach trees and persimmon trees with large dead sections in old wood, with mycelium all up in the dead parts. I left them alone to see how it affected trees - but it’s been 7yrs and I don’t see issues.
So yeah, I think you’ll be ok for a few years to keep those scions alive, before you eventually take out the tree. You could also try doing something like an air layer to try and save them, if there are no other trees to graft them onto.
Good luck with your apples!
I appreciate your reply and advice! Thanks.