[garddwr bach]

Just had an SOS from my daughter - she's just noticed advanced black rot on a fairly old apple tree in their garden!! I've never seen this so don't know what to advise.

Will it kill the tree? She has a good damson tree next to the apple. What should she do? I'm sure one (or more) of you has the answer.

[Trillium]

The tree can be saved but she'll need to do drastic work first. The rot is a fungus that looks like brown spots with a dark brown ring to them, and they go deep. She'll have to literally cut out every single bit she can find, no matter how small, and all branches with it. Very Important that she not drop any of the infected bits to the ground as it will release spores which will incubate and start again. All bits must be bagged and either burned or disposed of. All infected fruits and leaves must also be disposed of asap. Then have her go to her garden centre and ask specifically for a fungicide for black rot. She may have to do this next year as a preventative.
Also, all dead plant matter below the tree must be carefully scooped up to not spread spores and be disposed of. All care must be taken so the spores don't blow around and spread to other people's apple trees.

[gobs]

I'm sorry, I'm puzzled. How could she 'just notice' 'advanced' black rot, which usually starts in spring, so to be advanced it surely has been about all last season, which would mean a lot of her fruit rotted, how come she did not notice that? :?

Are you with me, or is she in diff hemisphere or ... just not having black rot, not advanced anyhow. :?

[garddwr bach]

Thanks, Trillium, for the prompt advice. My daughter's cut the branch off now and burnt it. The tree did fruit last year so maybe it's not as bad as she thought. We'll see what happens now.