[mumofstig]

Its an aphid called woolly apple aphid.
If you squash them you get a bloodlike mess.
As I recall it takes quite a lot of spray to get through
the waxy 'fluff' to kill the bug. Must admit my apple
tree has had it for years and I've done
nothing.

please excuse me as i know nothing on fungicides or anything else similar i trry an avoid all that kinda stuff, it seems to me to be powdery meldrew . i'll get pics tomorw and see if i can get enough of a close up for you . but also the leaves are slightly dead looking with a silvery colour ??

which is it aphid or mildew? These posts are confusing..to me anyway..

[karlooben]

i am confusing myself dont worry , this is why i am asking on here as i dont know if its meldrew or wooly ahpid . but thing i can do is get pics tomorw .

[mumofstig]

Good idea mate

[karlooben]

theres nothing like being confused  it all works out in the end .

i'm checking pics online from other sites and so far its all pointing at woolly ahpid   

[sunshineband]

Slightly dead looking and a silvery colour sounds like powdery mildew fer shor 

[karlooben]

knowing me the tree will have both probs  , its a small tree that was never looked after . who ever it was that planted it never bothered to cut the wire from the main trunk so it got stunted badly an then there  was all the wire around the branches etc it took some doing to cut them .

[Trillium]

Sounds like it should just come down even if it didn't have diseases. If it's not producing or you don't have the time or expertise to prune correctly, then there's little point of keeping it.

[karlooben]

thats a dilema i have , i dont know nothing about trees although ppl on my site do . the tree is within my chicken run an its right next to the main fencing an chicken house so as and when the branches get to much it has to be pruned back anyway , my girls love the tree










an it does produce a really good crop of apples considering its pretty small

sorry about this post be all over the place somethings just gone wrong with my key board  of to fix it

[joyfull]

Looby, have you asked the other people on your site about what it is and the best organic way to treat it? Perhaps just chopping it back and burning the infected branches may be all that is required.

[karlooben]

well i have finally diagoisned  woolly aphid , now i just got to make up my mind on wether to cut the whole thing down or not .

[barney rubble]

I'm going to post a pici of a tree thats behind me (and that I probably rely on the bees to use to polinate my bramleys ) - it doesn't loom too healthy - is it close to anything you've seen? (will alos post in grow your own too)

[barney rubble]

mouldy apple tree - crab or something of that ilk

[mumofstig]

look here for wooly aphid infestation
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=38681.0

[karlooben]

that looks the same as my tree bear with me and i shall put the pics on .

[bradleyt]

It could be some sort of dry sap too.. mould is not all that invasive to apple trees. Could also be some sort of insect or bird shenanigans. Keep a watchful eye on the tree and maybe you can catch a culprit.