Sooty Deposits

[PoolfieldMember]

Over the last couple of years my applea and pears have had a sooty deposit on them, I prune in summer for fruit and winter for tree shape so airflow should be fine.

I don’t want to use chemical sprays but I have read that spraying with airated compost tea might boost the trees ability to resist diseases. Has anyone tried this?

If you have been successful how did you make airated compost tea and what kind of spray bottle will cope without blocking? When should the trees be sprayed?

[PoolfieldMember]

I am doing the winter pruning on my fruit garden and thankfully my cordon apples are looking good but the freestanding apples and pears have a quite bad attack of canker.

I was looking to see how far back I need to cut to remove it but on the Bramley I don’t think there will be much left. Should I just accept defeat and cut it right down and replant with canker resistant varieties?

[charlesModerator]

 Your canker and soot combined make me wonder if you are in a humid site. I remember a friend having sooty apples on trees with little air blowing through and it does not look nice. Canker is even more serious, in theory you are supposed to cut right back but Bramleys are pretty hardy and I would leave some fruiting branches on that one.

[PoolfieldMember]

That is the weird thing, these trees are in a windy field and although we planted hedge as a windbreak they still get blown about. It is a field that we considered putting a windbturbine in!

I have cut back all the little twiggy bits on the Bramley that looked sick, being very careful to keep cleaning the secateurs and made sure the centre of the tree is open. Now I’ll just have to hope.

There was a Newton Wonder that required more serious surgery but what is left is healthy.

[thehelpfulgardenerMember]

It seems the problems you are having with your apple trees are indicative of poor growing conditions. The sooty deposits is something called ‘Sooty Mould’ which is a secondary condition, this grows on the honeydew excreted by aphids living on the leaves above. Get rid of the aphids above (which usually live near the ends of the shoots)and the sooty mould would die out. It sounds like you have already pruned your apple trees and this will help.

Nonetheless, because the trees are not growing very strongly, it is more than likely that these problems are going to continue. Therefore, I would suggest that you need to start to improve the fertility of the soil around the apple trees and then they would be better able to resist any pest and disease attack. You may also like to consider having your soil tested by http://www.thefertileearthconsultancy.co.uk who would be able to advise you on the best ammendments that would be needed to improve the health of your trees.

[charlesModerator]

 Alastair, I am uneasy about you offering your company’s products here, however helpful they may be!

I shall leave your comment up for now but I do not want further posts about selling stuff.

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