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Pretty old apple tree in the garden which produces hundreds of not-great-tasting apples every year looks like it’s in a bit of a state. I had to cut back a weird branch that had been cut before, presumably because it shot out horizontally, and there’s a ton of rot.
It’s not in danger of hitting any buildings if it ever does fall, although could maybe take out a distracted child or two if I’m lucky.
Is there anything I can do to save it?
Certified arborist here. Fruit trees are often precious, if I'm being generous. They are short lived, prone to disease, and take a lot more work than almost any other tree to keep healthy. It's not really a bad thing, just part of what they are. If there are no target and the tree isn't too big I would just let it do its thing. Yes the tree is going to fail. Yes it is dying. Enjoy it while it lasts. Now is a good time to think about replanting. Get another tree lined up and planted, by knowledgeable people please. No buried root flares or mulch volcanos. If you play your cards right you could have another tree producing by the time this one is gone.
My (dwarf) apple tree had mast years every year and I just gave it a bit of potash and water every now and then. It wasn't difficult in any shape or form. Still sad I had to leave it when I moved.
Sometimes we get really lucky and a new tree really loves where it's planted. Love to see it.
Yikes. I'm no tree expert, but it will probably continue to rot all the way through. I would have it taken down.
But! If you want to continue having a lousy tree produce crappy apples, you can take cuttings or do air layering and start one or more whole new yucky apple trees!
I'd say the rot at the base makes it not worth the effort of trying to save it. Anything around the base of the tree like that is a bad sign.
Talk to an arborist to be 100% sure.
Some species of tree can lose up to 70% of their interior and still be structurally stable, but in almost all cases, rot has to be caught a lot earlier than that to have a chance of recovering. The tree probably isn't on its last legs, but it will most likely die of this eventually.
A certified arborist would be able to advise on treatment options, if any, and give you an estimate of how long you're looking at before it needs to be removed.
If you do save the tree, hard apple cider turns out great if you use a good grade champagne yeast.
Every year I think about doing it, and never do.
Yes to the Champaign yeast. It's also good to mix about 10% crab apple in too. It gives it that just bitter tang to offset the sweetness
This 100%, and a cider press is pretty easy to DIY.
Not the question you’re asking, but if it’s going to stick around for a while you can graft material from any tasty apple tree onto any other apple tree and that branch will give you tasty apples.
There are companies that go through and change over entire grown orchards to a new kind of apple, lopping off all branches and shoving in a few inches of scion material from the desired variety into each branch stump. They grow to full sized branches shockingly quickly and produce the next year.
You could try grafting or air layering propagation. There are plenty of tutorials available.
🌳->🌱->🌳
Sounds like the perfect excuse to plant a great tasting apple tree instead!
You could try pollarding or coppicing it in the late winter.
During the winter all the sap drops to the roots for storage. If you cut it all off a few inches from the ground you’ll get rid of the rotten bits and in the spring the tree will just start over, but with a bunch of root.
There’s some resources you can google if you use coppicing as a keyword.
This is a layperson’s advice, so grain of salt and all that. An arborist would probably know better.
If the little bit of greenery at the bottom is saved, it'll probably stand a better chance in the spring, but it'll be tough to cut out all the rot and leave just that.
I own about ten apple trees. From experience: just leave it as it is.