Apple leaf curl

[team3m]

Hi all...just planted up 50 4 year old grafteds in what i hope to become an orchard. Stock was sposed to be disease and insect free on arival from Alberta grower (cold zone, need standard stock trees, not dwarf or semi-dwarf). Noted leaf curl on "red baron" variety of apple (no, not the crab apple red baron, but a hybrid they came out with out west) but not on the other varieties. soils are heavily conditioned here with peat moss and horse manure as topsoils is sandy, acidic and sparse. Are some plants more sus to diseases? Am also collected wild apple seeds for some grafting experimnets i plan on doing next spring.

Yes, i faithfully sprayed for bugs and disease every two weeks and even went so far as to spray the surrounding bush crabapples and hawthorns. No maggots, but obvious other signs of distress. Anyone else growing apples in hostile 3A/B zones? Besides deer rabbits and mice, what other winter killlers do i have to look forward to? Cheers, had to do the apple thing to attract deer and wild turkeys to the property. Yes, the trees are fenced high and tight.

[Steve]

So the root stock came from Alberta. What part of Canada are you from? I'm growing several cold hardy apples in what is marked zone 4 on the maps but is actually zone 3. We get down to -40 degrees (C or F, same temp on either scale) sometimes. Most years, we will have a few nights that get down into the -30 to - 40 range. About 2 years out of 10 the coldest night does not reach -30 F. I am also growing Red Baron as one of my varieties. They have never shown any unusual susceptibility to disease. I don't believe leaf curl in apples is a real serious problem. More a sign of stress I think (it's well after midnight now and brain is really tired). If they are looking fairly healthy otherwise, the problem just might be gone next season. I'm also growing Rescue apple crab, a very small nice tasting apple that is ripe right now. Chestnut crab, also small but very sweet and good. It will ripen in a couple more weeks. What else.... Connel Red, Sweet 16, Norland (early, mostly medium sized and gets mushy fast), Mantet (can be large and beautiful. Getting over ripe now. Sweet but not my favorite), Sunrise (my first real crop this year. I ate one tonight and they are crisp and good but a few days from being fully ripe). 3 or 4 others...

Steve (in the Adirondacks of northern NY)

[sherwindu]

Some varieties of apple show more leaf curl than others, and it is not necessarily harmful to the trees. If you see other signs like early leaf dropping, or it is affecting the fruit production (too soon in your case), then I would begin to get concerned. I am in zone 5, but I think my remarks would hold for you. Not sure if you are trying to attract or deter these critters? Almost anything that can climb a tree would be a potential problem. Sounds like you are taking the proper measures to protect the trees. By the way, try and use a spell checker on your postings, it will avoid any misunderstandings in what you are trying to convey.

Sherw> Hi all...just planted up 50 4 year old grafteds in what i hope to

[Marley1372]

Turn the leaves over and check for apple aphids abd potato leafhoppers.

toad

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