" wrote in
oups.com:

A couple of years ago, I planted myself a nice little orchard on the
back portion of my yard. Recently, I've noticed that the apple trees (4
vairieties) are having leaves dry up and drop, basically whole branches
of leaves. I mentioned this to my dad who has had orchards all my life
and he says it is caused by the cedar trees we have here in South
Central Kentucky. Has anyone else found this problem and some means of
taking care of it. I can't hardly cut down all the cedars within the
area and I've already tried a fungicide to no avail.



First verify that the problem you are having is actually cedar apple rust.

Cedar Apple Rust (University of Kentucky Apple IPM web site)
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/IPM/appleipm/appleipm/rust.php

Fire Blight (University of Kentucky Apple IPM web site)
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/IPM/appleipm/appleipm/fblight.php

If it is rust, actually for most diseases, you need to start your spray
program *before* you see the problem. Once the leaves are showing they are
infected, the spray will only help slow down the spread, not cure it.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distrib...re/DG0675.html
A spray schedule for apple trees based on growth stage.