Knowledgebase
Decaying spots on apple tree leaves, with spoiled fruit #771209
Asked September 08, 2021, 2:28 PM EDT
Apple leaves have grayish-brown-blackish spots. This started about mid summer and maybe was on one tree last year. Trees look unhealthy. Premature leaf drop is occurring. Also, fruit is dropping prematurely. This fruit seems over-ripe too soon. Fruit also has various defects. I'm afraid fruit isn't healthy enough to store for winter consumption.
This is occurring on all my trees: three honeycrisp, one golden delicious, one orange cox pippen & one northern spy tree.
I sprayed during the year, at mostly 14 day intervals. I generally use Captan with Imidan. Topsin M after petal fall for control of fly speck & sooty blotch control. This year I also put on calcium chloride flakes because I think I had Bitter Pit in previous year's honeycrisp crop. (I did not put this calcium on my golden delicious tree).
Thank you for any diagnostic & treatment help you can give me.
Summit County Ohio
Expert Response
Apple Diseases - Rust (psu.edu)
Leaf spot diseases of trees and shrubs | UMN Extension
Apple scab of apples and crabapples | UMN Extension
Hi Steve! How frustrating!! I found info on Apple Rust & Apple Scab...neither sound good. Both have descriptions that match your picture. I've included some links with recommendation for prevention of the disease. (We can't control the rain but we can prune the trees to help w/the leaves drying quickly.) I hope this helps.