Can I revive an old apple tree?

I have an apple tree that must be at least 40 years old. A cooker - possibly a Bramley. It branches into three trunks at ground level. Each trunk is about 18 inches in diameter.

In the past couple of years large branches have died off. In spring 2012 for example it flowered as usual, started setting fruit, then the leaves of one bow just withered. I cut it off. This happened later in the year to another branch, and to a number of smaller branches.

The bark on some of the branches is peeling, though I've no idea if this is disease, age or poor soil. The tree is more or less in full sun and in well-drained soil.

I'll dig in some rotted manure next week, but is it in terminal decline? Would sawing off some branches to make it smaller re-invigorate it?

Thanks.

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner

Sounds like paper bark as opposed to canker, try cutting back to clean wood and painting the cuts with something to keep infection out. Used to be Arbrex but i'm not sure if thats still available.

The well drained soil is a good thing, waterlogging doesn't help.

Apples usually respond well to a good pruning

 

If there is an horticultural college near you, it may be beneficial to you to approach them and see if trainees are allowed to prune the tree under supervision.

Just a thought. Cheers, Tony.

 

Some photos would help. Fruit trees are pretty resilient on the whole and 100+ years old isn't unusual, so age as a factor is unlikely.

 

Sounds like the sap isn't getting up to the branch to me, but it could be desease. Or it could be damp collecting in cracks. Mind you, a decent tree should be able to cope with a little desease. Perhaps it's got too big or dense? Was it pruned regularly?

I've got four apple trees by the river, so this is just what I've learnt from experience. The largest branch of the one I had neglected sort of fell on the neighbour's fence and their complaint spurred me into action. It has (or had) whole branches coming from the ground that looked dead. I reckoned the best I can do is be ruthless. I didn't saw branches just because they looked dead, but I cut off everything that didn't have at least one twig coming off it with a recent bud on it. I just looked round the tree so I could tell what that year's buds looked like. I sawed off every branch that had a damp hole through the bark, where old pruning cuts looked ragged or where there was ragged fibre showing. And when I cut, I cut into the good part of the tree, not leaving any dead wood, an inch or more above a branch division (depending on the thickness), so that where I cut will shrivel up and the sap will get diverted into the healthy twig or branch.

Once I did that the tree was seriously lop-sided so I had to cut off some healthy branches just to re-balance it.

I used to paint the larger cuts but after a few years of doing that I can see that the ends crack and let in water. Now I just slope the cuts so the rain runs off and the tree then seals the amputation itself.

I cut the worst dead branch in summer so that the tree could repair itself and did the rest in winter to minimise the shock. It looks healthy now but I'll have to wait a bit till it's recovered enough to give me a crop.

It's meant to peel a little. I have a look under the peeling bits to see if there's mould in which case I try to re-cut the area so that damp can't collect there. You might want to aerate the tree if it's looking a bit dense: prune the branches so that you could pass a football between them.

There are other things I do: keep the grass short under the trees so insects don't have a shortcut ladder to the buds. I mulch heavily around the trunks (but not touching the trunks) with grass cuttings.

It's not dead until its dead. My absent river neighbour came and cut his lovely Granny Smith down to a waist-high trunk. Because he was too lazy to pick up the fallen apples I suppose. But he left one or two tiny twigs on it and they grew buds and now leaves and they're getting bigger every year.

You didn't say if you've been pruning it regularly. If not, then you should do the sawing this winter, to remove dead wood, cut its height and shape it if necessary and to aerate the middle. In the spring new twigs and leaves will be the sign it's recovering but you'll have to wait till next year for fruit. Then every summer starting August 2014 prune the new shoots lightly so that the energy goes into a few fruit clusters.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

 

Thanks for the replies. It has not had regular pruning because it's not been that vigorous and the branches are fairly open. (Some website said you should be able to fire an arrow through its bows from various angles without hitting a branch. Well you can!)

The cutting has usually been when the leaves are seen to have died, though I understand the best time is in the winter, but it's not easy then to see what's dead!

Before all the snow, I dug in five barrow loads of well rotted manure round it - that should help. There's life in it yet, and from advice here it looks that if necessary, quite savage cutting won't kill it.

 

If you're not sure what's dead in the winter, then you could just cut its height, for the sake of re-invigorating it and then the fruit will be convenient to pick. I measured the height my hands can reach when I stand on the ground, and then (using a ladder because it's easier) sawed off everything above that (adjusted slightly so that the cuts are a couple of inches above a branch division where the other branch has a bud). Now I don't need a ladder to prune the new shoots.

 

I wouldn't attempt (sp) this till early spring. Dont take my word for this, as we all have different ideas, I'm sure you will get better advise from members who are more qualified