It was my assumption that the stress was caused by over watering on my trees due to the protracted heavy rains that occurred last year. I will be installing a drip system this year so I will have more control when it comes to giving the trees more water. My soil is very sandy outside of the hole that the trees were planted in so I never thought that to much water would be an issue.
I’ve read there are four causes of leaf curl: (i) too much water, (ii) not enough water; (iii) aphids; and (iv) other factors. 
I don’t know for certain that water stress caused mine, but I do believe I wasn’t watering enough, especially given my rapidly draining gravelly loam. Will see if irrigation fixes the problem…
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Hi all…I have Kingston Black, Golden Grimes as well as 5 other varieties of hard cider apple trees. We have great soil, a great amount of rain this Spring and got the trees in without a hitch. But some of the leaves did curl. The guy I got them from said pests, but we really didm’t have that issue, only the leaves curling.
Having been in the ground for such a stretch of time somewhere else, then getting transported , then replanted…causes some stress. We saw 2 Kingston and 4 Golden Grimes get hit with the leaf curl and browning. We only water with a drip every 4th day, so over watering wasn’t the issue, and we knew that after 2 months, they don’t need alot of water.
I went to get some nutrition that was really light and figured it was July, so not too close to Fall to hurt. I bought on Amazon “Botanicare”. It’s a plant energy product. Good for hydroponics, plants in soil also. I went and bought a back pack sprayer. Mixed the proper dilution and went from tre to tree and sprayed on the soil around the tree.
3 days later, I noticed a slight but definite change in the leaves. I have hopes this maybe softened any stress the trees may have had.
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ive got an infant apple tree few months old, leaves are curling in a wave pattern, see picture.
looks to be pest free, im thinking its lack of water? i dont water it too much, is there such thing as watering too much or too often?
thanks for your input, sorry old thread i know
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You might be right but I don’t know whether the extra water would cause the curl or not. The lower left side leaf looks curled and you could check on the underside just to make sure the curl isn’t the result of aphid damage.
thanks for the reply, no aphides, everything looks clean, only thing i can think of is not enough water, i water her maybe once every 3 days and only top layer,could it be the hot and cold weather? its sunny day time and night gets really cold, sudden temp change? should i bring her indoors at night?
any help would be appreciated
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Just an update on this issue. The same G. Smith tree is showing leaf curl again (Spring 2024). Thankfully(?) I do have very small whiteish aphid/nymphs on the leaves which gives credence to them being the cause. I’m amazed to find them considering the number of lady bugs that I was seeing on other nearby trees. Here is to hoping that others that encounter this issue are able to handle the issue better with this information. (Side note: This G. Smith also suffers from WAA more than any other tree on my land, not sure if its related)
Two of my apple trees always have some curled leaves at the top in spring. I have found spiders or caterpillars dwelling in their cozy leaf tunnels. After June, no more are affected. None on the other trees, either.
Shrug…
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