Young Apple Struggling

I have a 4 year old apple (unknown variety) from a scion taken from a very old tree on a property that I owned many years ago. The new tree has been developing nicely and set a half a dozen fruits this year that I removed. Over a recent 7 day period most of the leave on the tree have gone brown (see image). None of my other 20 apples are showing this. I am worried that the tree is dying because it can not be replaced. Advice appreciated.

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Is the bottom of the trunk black from grafting sealer or do you have a borer problem?

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Looks like a serious root problem.!
Likely crown / coller rot / verticillium ?
While late in the season, you may be able to chip bud it to another root stock / tree.
If coller rot,…The root may be dieing , can not support top anymore. Even though the top is disease free.
Verticillium may be in the top as well. So there is some risk of transferring it to another tree,
So …
If you chip bud it to another tree, … Don’t put it on your next favorite tree, a sacrificial rootstock would be good.
It’s late in the season to chip bud, but may be your best shot to save it ?

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Those sound like good possibilities, given the sudden and widespread wilting. I live pretty close to @jag44314, in a similar microclimate, and I haven’t observed this type of problem here. I wonder if it might be due to a rootstock difference. Jim, what’s this tree grafted to? Nearly all of mine are on MM111.

To help ease your mind, consider that unless the original tree was grown from seed, there is a good chance you can discover what the variety was and get a scion of it somewhere. If all else fails check with the current property owner to see if original tree is still alive. Good luck.

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions

To answer your questions: The root stock was M111; the black area at the bottom of the trunk is not from a grafting sealer and I don’t have an explanation for it (see attached image); I shared fruit from the original tree with a group of growers in the Healdsburg, CA area in the 1980’s. They identified the tree as a Swaar. I have a Swaar in my orchard now and the fruit is very similar, but Swear lacks a sticky coating when ripe.

While gathering additional images (below), I noticed that the trunk was not stable. I removed soil from around the trunk and found good roots on two opposing sides but nothing on the other two. My first thought was gophers but I found no evidence of gophers in the area of this tree or anywhere else in the orchard. I diligently trap gophers that enter the orchard.

Unless someone has a different diagnosis, I think that I will accept the gopher theory and stake the tree, giving it additional water for the next couple years. I have had to do this a couple of times over the years and all of the damaged trees recovered. I must say, though, that those trees did not prematurely shed their leaves as they did in this case.

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