Apple tree thanks a milk vetch

This apple tree has been sad from the first year transplanting. It has some kind of fungus already. Very few leaves or sprouts.

The milk vetch at its foot finally took off in august.

The apple seems to have gone out of its way to say hello, twisting a new sprout rapidly spiraled down to the friendly milk vetch. The whole side of the apple tree next to the milk vetch is happier. Coincidence?

Maybe. Perhaps someone knows if the below ground proximity of two root systems mirror the above ground proximity in terms of beneficial or negative interactions. To put it simply, would the happy side of this apple tree relate to it being the same side the milk vetch is on?

Anyway, the situation tickles me:

I wonder if there could be some kind of interaction going on here such that when the apple tree picks up pheromones of a beneficial plant it then sends some new growth to be near that benefit. If I were a flowering/fruiting tree I think I'd want to have growth near a plant that attracts pollinators as well as potential predators for detrimental bugs.

I wonder the same. We got this milk vetch as part of a apple tree guild on the internet. Seems to be working!