In article ,
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Hi all,

This is my first post here, so please bear with me.

I?ve recently moved into a property and inherited a horrendously
overgrown garden, I?ve spent much of the past 4 months clearing out
rubble and removing a lot of overgrowth. The apple tree in the garden
doesn?t look to well and I don?t think it?s been looked after for a
number of years. I?ve included some pics:

http://www.conita.co.uk/Apple1.JPG
http://www.conita.co.uk/Apple2.JPG
http://www.conita.co.uk/Apple3.JPG
http://www.conita.co.uk/Apple4.JPG
http://www.conita.co.uk/Apple5.JPG
http://www.conita.co.uk/Apple6.JPG


?Apple1.jpg? is an overall shot of the tree and as you can see it?s not
been pruned in sometime, there are so many branches that are crossing,
touching and growing into the centre of the tree. Also, to the right
of the tree was a massive buddleia, which I?ve subsequently taken out
as it was forcing the tree to grow crocked to get sunlight and also
resulted in a number of branches on the right hand side growing
inwards. ?Apple2.jpg? is a shot from the other direction.

?Apple 4.jpg? and ?Apple5.jpg? show a number of brown growths and they
look to be growing where the tree has been previously pruned. Any idea
what these are?

?Apple5.jpg? and ?Apple6.jpg? show the state of the bark on the tree,
which seems to be pretty poor.

I?ve no idea how old the tree is, what type of apples it produces or if
it will grow any larger? Although it?s growing a bit lopsided, it would
be quite nice to try and save the tree and give it a decent chance. My
concern is that it may be so bad that it?s a goner and I should look at
replacing it.

Any thoughts/ help would be much appreciated


Thanks
Nick

P.S. I?m a complete beginner in the garden (apart from the basics I?ve
picked up in the past few months)


As Bob has said it may have a bit of canker, but all my trees have that
and still produce more apples than I can cope with! try inspecting one of
the brown lumpy growths as its possible that the may have colenys of
wolly aphid hiding in them. these and the canker can be treated while you
get the tree back to a better shape, do a bit each year, its not a big
tree and will not take forever. Bobs advice is sound if you want maximum
crops or have the space to try again somewhere else, but if it was mine I
would keep the tree.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea