On Jul 10, 10:18 am, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article ,UHAP...@alpha1. rhbnc.ac.uk writes:

| Dear All,
| I have a sick apple tree which is *covered* in mistletoe. The
| variety is Howgate Wonder. It is about 30 years old and it had more
| mistletoe than apple leaves and stems and the apple leaves are scruffy and
| yellowed. The really strange thing is mistletoe shoots are emerging all
| over its branches. As I understood it, mistletoe propagation requires
| seeds to be inserted into the bark (eg. by birds) -- I'm sure this cannot
| be the case here. It is as though the mistletoe has 'invaded' the apple
| tree's tissues and taken over. Does this make an botanical sense and has
| anyone seen anything like this before?

No, and no, but it sounds very odd.

I think it can throw out new shoots from the internal parasitic
structures - particularly if you crop off the existing exterior
growth. In the UK mistletoe has never been aggressive enough to see
off a tree - although on the continent either a more aggressive form
or the warmer summers seem to make it more of a problem. I suspect
global warming may tip things over the edge for some of the weaker UK
trees with a large parasitic load.

The other possibility is that the bark on old branches is full of
cracks and there really are that huge number of mistletoe seedlings
growing on the tree. Worth looking to see that there isn't some other
sap sucking parasite like woolly aphid making matters worse for the
tree. Most trees I have seen in the UK co-exist happily with their
mistletoe.

| A few months ago I cut off most of the mistletoe but the tree still looks
| pretty sick. Is there any hope for it?

Unlikely. And the cause won't have been the mistletoe. 30 years is
about the life of many apple trees.

Could be old age, but I'd look for some other cause first. And maybe
try an anti-fungal spray too.

Regards,
Martin Brown