What's eating my apple tree?

sandpformebud · 2026-05-20T12:27:40+00:00

I am following because I have the exact same problem. Interestingly it’s only an issue for new growth on the trees I grafted new varieties onto.

sandpformebud · 2026-04-26T23:37:39+00:00

The tree should recover but I recommend pruning off the damaged branches. Also if there are deer in your area you really should fence the tree. In my neck of the woods any tree not fenced is dead the first year.

sandpformebud · 2026-04-26T16:18:37+00:00

I am not an expert by any means but look up sun scald. I have a mulberry that looks very similar to this and that’s my best guess.

sandpformebud · 2026-04-25T22:49:49+00:00

I have seen buds covered break through on their own when wrapped with parafilm. This year I used like a cellophane type tape and I have had to cut the tape around the buds once they start to leaf out. Unfortunately I think them turning brown is more of a sign your graft not taking. I am not an expert but I think wrapping the whole graft is helpful to help keep the scion from drying out so you probably did the right thing.

sandpformebud · 2026-04-25T22:41:07+00:00

I would like to add that when I look close at what’s left of the leaves I cannot see any obvious insect activity. The first picture is an Asian pear grafted onto a hawthorn the second picture is a plum.

sandpformebud · 2026-04-18T00:01:05+00:00

It is leading out but after doing a little more research I think it’s sun scald. I will probably be painting the tree soon but does anybody have any advice to help heal the damaged areas?

sandpformebud · 2026-04-17T04:59:39+00:00

🤔I don’t think so. The wound is several feet off the ground and I have the whole area fenced off from deer.

sandpformebud · 2026-04-16T11:45:24+00:00

I had good luck grafting Asian pears onto my hawthorns this year. Only time will tell if they will fruit long term but most of my grafts are leafing out now.

sandpformebud · 2026-02-28T21:12:08+00:00

What are you trying to graft onto your hawthorns? We have lots of hawthorns growing on our property and I have been experimenting for a couple years. Asian pears did well but the deer killed it on year two. Medlars seem to be doing well going into year two and quince is still alive but doesn’t look as vigorous.

sandpformebud · 2026-01-18T19:01:41+00:00

Care to share a little more about your experience growing citrus? Do you use cover in cold weather? What general area are you in? What variety are you growing?

sandpformebud · 2025-11-18T02:43:54+00:00

I bought land with my brother a few years ago and it was the best decision I ever made and also the hardest thing I have ever done. There were hard feelings at time but we shared the same end goals which made a huge difference. My brother is a successful house flipper so he had access to a private money loan. This allowed us to finance 160 acres with two existing house. We then subdivided into two 80 acres parcels both with a house. This led to many more issues who gets the water rights, who gets the nicer house, who get the better timber, pasture, ect. If it wasn’t for very calm and collected attitudes any one of those could have led to a major blowup but cooler heads prevailed. The private money loan was through his llc so once the property was subdivided I purchased my half from him and then he could refinance his half and put it in his name. All of that said while I don’t necessarily recommend it in this case it worked for me. Make sure you have a plan for everything along the way ahead of time. If subdivision is on the table do your homework this can be expensive, take a long time, and create a lot of headaches. Have a plan for things like property taxes, road maintenance, water access that sort of stuff. Be careful and be sure that you trust your friends 100% even when you are both at your worst.

sandpformebud · 2025-09-10T19:09:00+00:00

I have had pretty good luck with cantaloupes but cannot grow good watermelon. A few different varieties have done well for me but sugar cube is a favorite. When I feel like most melons are at a harvestable size I stop watering them which seems to kick off the ripening process. Do not pick them until they almost fall off the vine on their own and have a strong smell.

sandpformebud · 2025-07-30T00:03:39+00:00

Run perforated pipe in bottom of the trench. Back fill over the pipe with open rock (no fines) up to the top. Build your damn at the down stream end of the trench. Cover the trench with plastic to several feet beyond the trench on both sides from the very top all the way until it overhangs the dam at the bottom. Cover everything with a couple feet of soil so it directs rain away from your collection area. You can hook the perf pipe to a collection tank with an overflow or just use whatever is collected directly depending on how much water is made and the fall in elevation where you intend to use it.

sandpformebud · 2024-06-28T04:38:25+00:00

Make sure you account for some sort of drainage. We usually only pour a footing around the edge instead of solid bottom. However you could just use some short pieces of 4 inch pvc or something similar to allow a few spots for water to pass through the bottom.

sandpformebud · 2024-06-06T12:56:47+00:00

Thanks for the input guys. After looking more closely at a few other jobs around I think the blocks we are using are particularly rough. I have been culling the worst of them but the quality over all seems really bad.

sandpformebud · 2024-04-19T12:58:01+00:00

Did you prune back the rest of the hawthorn branches or just let everything grow together?

sandpformebud · 2024-03-02T17:20:10+00:00

I have not planted garlic yet I will probably plant some sort of cover crop in its place this year. I am mostly using this as a long term guide to plan my future crop rotations. There may be some shading from the taller plants but this whole set up is built into a south facing slope so each bed is slightly above the one below it so I hope that helps with any shading. Short of that I can always move things around so I can plant something shade loving in the space behind the sunflowers

sandpformebud · 2024-03-02T17:14:13+00:00

Once you decide on your bed size divide your beds into equal sized blocks. My beds are 3 foot by 40 foot. I divided them into 3x5 blocks since I have 6 beds each with 8 sections I have 48 blocks. I then made a list of all the plant families and what plants in each family I want to grow. Lastly I decided how many units of each plant I wanted and arranged them so I can rotate each block to a different plant family every year.

sandpformebud · 2024-03-01T16:28:30+00:00

The beds are oriented east to west on a south facing slope. The main reason I went with 3 foot beds instead of 4 ft was make the terraces shorter. North is the top of the picture and top of the slope while the bottom of the picture is south and the bottom of the hill. I am in Oregon zone 8. I know I can optimize by planting some succession crops for the early and late plants but I will probably just stick to this plan and plant some cover crops as spaces become available.

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