I ask if there are guesses at what might make an entire 24 tree orchard of Dwarf apples lose their leaves very early. I am just posting, but they lost most leaves a few weeks ago. I’ll admit that we had some odd weather, either Monsoon, or drought the entire year. But not so bad that I would have thought they would lose all of their leaves. I fertilized some in the spring but probably much to little.
I have always used about a cup around each tree (10,10,10) and they are getting large now.
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Where do you live? Woody perennials will sometimes enter early dormancy if they don’t feel like they can support more growth. Drought is a prime cause of this, but also heat sensitive perennials will sometimes drop leaves like that. Around us the tulip poplar trees will start yellowing and dropping leaves in July if it’s quite dry, sometimes losing many leaves by September, especially if they are otherwise stressed or unhealthy
I’d say the dwarf nature of your rootstock would be a factor in this. Shallow, weak root systems keep trees small, and lead to precocity, but need a lot of babying during times of stress. Also the age of the trees could be a factor, if top growth is outgrowing roots.
The last 4 years in a row my apples have lost most of their leafs mid August do to Marssonina leaf blotch in my unsprayed orchard here in Wv.
This year , due to extreme drought, lack of sufficient wetness for infection, they still have most of their leafs. Also not much sooty Bloch or fly spec , but the apples are small.
This new disease ,Marssonina , is spreading east to west.
So maybe ? You have this, and / or other issues ?
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I have had exactly the same here. However, this year I have a decent crop of apples. Enough to make cider. The last 3 years complete defoliation and no apples.
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Z6A, lots of Fall behavior with fruit and non-fruit trees. Heavy drought here. One of the worst I can remember in decades.
Asian pear and Euro pear. Euro is more yellow.
I saw some people growing lots of veggies in boxes on YT. I could get nothing to grow. Tried, basil, cilantro, carrots, toms and zukes. These are yam greens. Only reason I planted them was I had yams sprouting. I also grow yams and sweet potato greens indoors. They grow great. These outdoor boxes have had maybe 50 to 70 gallons of water on them all summer. But heat is brutal for here. Next season may try onions or Kennebec potatoes. If they fail, I will trash them.
Small green plant is the biggest basil after 3 months. I got 1 cherry tomato before I pulled the plants out! Mix is mulch and mushroom soil or whatever it is called.
I’d be in sorry shape if I had to grow my food, although I produce plenty of tree fruit. And indoors I can grow enough yam and sweet potato greens to get some ‘greens’ nutrition. Maybe I would have done better if I got rain regularly. It was in the 90’s for 5 - 6 weeks with no real rain. Was 96 yesterday…no rain last week no rain this week.
Basil needs lots of water. It does love sun, but you want self-watering planters.
Also, it’s good to add clay soil to the mix in your planters. Mushroom compost, mulches and peat/coco core look wet, but they just wick away the moisture, like a fluffy towel. Clay retains moisture, but has to be mixed with fibrous compost, or it will harden into a brick when dry.
Another thing is drainage. It’s better to have a planter with holes in the bottom and standing in a tray. Unless you have system to monitor moisture under that mulch. I’d have to constantly poke a finger into the pot to be sure it’s neither drying nor rotting.
On a different note, it’s been so dry and hot here (zone 7), I’ve had to move my potted figs into the ground or cover the soil with broken tiles to reduce evaporation (regardless of clay&compost mix and mulching .
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How hot has it been, how much water ( rain) have you had?
I cant really remember like that. June was 2-3 inches a couple of times and 1 a couple of more. Very wet. July went to drought. I didnt mow my grass for a month. Where usually once a week isn’t quite enough.
I meant to reply to @MikeC
Most likely scab or a few other foliage diseases.
If the yellowing leaves have spots it could be a leaf disease. The leaf yellowing due to scab happens after rainy periods on my apples if I haven’t sprayed them. This seems to be what you describe.
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That is probably why the leaves are falling off. Lack of rain.
I am just now starting to see some leaves dropping off my apple trees and they are just a yellow color not blotched. We have not had a decent rain since June as well. I have mowed my grass only once since the end of May.
I have lost two little apple trees I just planted this spring because of lack of rain even with me putting water on them. It has been in the 100+m temps with such high humidity for weeks on end. Miserable!!!
If they’re turning yellow in like a kaleidoscope sort of way with green and a little black it’s probably Apple Leaf Blotch (formerly Marssonina Leaf Blotch). Myclobutanil seems to work well on it.
Drought or cedar apple rust would be my guess without more details.
Thanks guys. I’ll bet you’re right. I was thinking drought and it may be disease as well. I didn’t look at the leaves closely. AND… For a few years I always mixed a fungicide with the bug spray and I did not this year.
I’ll have a plan to add back the fungicide and water next year.