Hi all - any help or advice would be huge - I've had this problem for multiple years now - leaf drop / fruit drop - late May. I have several
apple trees - Red Delicious and Honeycrisp. When I first planted them 5 years ago, they fruited in their second year just fine. After that, each spring, they drop leaves and young, developing fruit soon after flowering. Fruits dropped are about the size of a penny or smaller. This year, once flowering was complete, I sprayed with Bonide Fruit Tree spray fairly aggressively to minimize the possibility of pests and certain fungal infections. Prior to leaf drop, he trees looked very healthy and the Red Delicious had very many young
apple buds forming. Then all of a sudden, I noticed what looks like a few areas of Cedar rust. So I added copper fungicide to my spray and sprayed the trees with it it. Almost a day after spraying, the problem rapidly caused most of the developing buds and new leaves to discolor, die and eventually fall (see photos). Does anyone have any idea what in the world this could be?? This is the 3rd or 4th year in a row this seems to happen. Once it's over, the trees seems to grow well for the rest of the summer and fall. I get zero apples. I prune in late fall or winter and don't have much leaf litter at any point. One other hint - in prior years, I noticed the falling fruit would usually have a single dark spot or scab - which is why I thought I had insect issues. Not sure if I solved the insect issues but caused a physical disorder due to my spraying... ??
-Mitch