Eastern apple growers report a rise in sudden collapse of seemingly healthy young dwarf trees, but is it a new problem or just highly stressed orchards felled by regular foes such as winter injury and drought?Plenty of things can kill young apple trees, but growers across Eastern North America are increasingly reporting a sudden tree collapse that seems unusual, not appearing to align with any of the usual culprits such as fire blight, winter injury, drought stress or crown rot."What we're getting is death right at the rootstock, just before harvest," said Ontario grower Tom Ferri. The rootstock itself remains healthy, ruling out rootstock blight, and "if it was winter injury, we'd see it in the spring," he said.
展开▼
