Identifying Apple Diseases & Apple Problems

Apple Diseases
In this short video we join Welsh fruit tree expert Ian Sturrock at an apple day clinic who shows us how to identify apple diseases and the causes of a number of apple problems.

Apples are subject to wide range of diseases and problems but the first step to curing and preventing these is identification. Ian covers 14 of the most common problems to afflict apples.

Some problems are more common or made worse in different areas of the country. In the humid and frequently rainy areas of Wales and the west of England, fungal diseases are more common than in the drier conditions of the east of England.

On the other hand, due to our wetter conditions in the west of Britain, cracking due to irregular water availability is less common.

Despite Ian’s stating sheep damage is a North Wales problem, I’m assured by friends that it’s a big problem in country areas of South Wales too!

Apple Diseases & Apple Problems

  • Apple Scab Fruit & Leaves
  • Apple Rust Mite, Red Spide Mite
  • Rosy Apple Aphid
  • Fly Speck
  • Sooty Blotch
  • Virus
  • Woolly Aphid
  • Sheep Damage
  • Short Tailed Field Voles
  • Codling Moth
  • Canker
  • Cracking
  • Apple Sawfly
  • Leaf Miner

More Information

Ian Sturrock is an expert on Welsh fruit trees. He re-discovered and saved the Bardsey Apple from the Island of Bardsey off the coast of North Wales. He supplies a large range of unusual Welsh varieties of apple and other fruit trees from his nursery near Bangor, Gwynedd.

Because they are varieties that have naturally selected for the conditions in Wales they are tough and disease resistant. Many fruit trees are grown in better climates in Europe and imported into the UK. They lack natural resistance to our problems

He can supply trees direct from the nursery or to anywhere in the UK by post. For more information see his web site: Welsh Fruit Trees

Posted in Fruit Growing
8 comments on “Identifying Apple Diseases & Apple Problems
  1. Brian Swain says:

    My Apple & Plum trees have disease on the leaf it curls up and goes brown. Please can you advise me what to do

    • John Harrison says:

      That’s not a lot to go on – my first thought is that a problem affecting both apple trees and plum trees – different species – may be down to cultivation.
      Are they getting enough water? Frost pocket? Soil acidity?

  2. Dianne Higgins says:

    My dwarf apple leaves are turning yellow, only one branch has ‘apple buds’. What’s wrong with it please

  3. ALAN SMITH says:

    My Bramley apple tree, about 38 years old, is fruiting heavily and very early this year. However, some apples when cut have large parts within with a “glazed” appearance. Those parts are neither harder nor softer than the “normal” parts.

    • Jenny Herkes says:

      Hi Alan,
      We have the same problem with our cooking apples, although the tree is only about 16 years old. We are stewing them to eat so hope it is ok!

  4. Peter Matthews says:

    Hi I have a 6 year old cooking apple tree in the corner of my small garden. The past couple of years the crop has been ruined by a pest which leaves a leaf stuck over a large hole in the apple. The apples have just been composted. Ive never looked at the inside of an infected apple. I’ve spoken to garden centre staff and non have been able to identify the pest or what control measures I need to save my crop!

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