Die-back Of Apple Trees

Categories: Fruit Growing

What causes the death of the top shoots in apple trees?



New wood is sometimes diseased by mildew, but die-back is usually due to

two different causes: One, the accumulation of water in the soil during

the excessive rains of mid-winter; second, the occurrence of low

temperatures, including frosts, after the sap has risen. Which of these

causes operate in a certain case depends, of course, upon whether the

soil was heavy and inclined to retain standing water too long, or

whether there were such frosts at about the time when the leaves should

start. Sometimes, of course, both of these conditions worked in the same

place; sometimes one and sometimes the other, but certainly both of them

are capable of causing the trouble. There seems to be no specific

disease; it is rather a matter of unfavorable conditions for growth.