Hi James,

First, be sure this is Apple Cedar Rust. Your symptoms don't exactly
match up. With the Rust, your leaves would first develop spots of black/brown
with a yellow circle around them. I would check for any Juniper trees, of
which the red cedar is a member (juniperus), in your vicinity. There would
be corresponding galls or orange horns on the junipers. I had to pull out
two of my red cedars near my apple trees, when spraying would not do
the job. I'm not sure what kind of fungicide you tried, but I used Zineb.
The Ortho Book says you can't control it this season, but next season
when the buds turn pink, spray with Zineb or Ferbam. Spray when
75% of the blossoms have fallen, and again 10 days later. Ortho gives
a range of contact with junipers at several hundred yards.

I'm still suspicious that it may not be Apple Cedar Rust based on your
description of the apple leaves. Take another look for the tell tale spotting.

Sherwin D.


" wrote:

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.