Thread: Ooops
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Old 22-05-2008, 04:38 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Jim Jackson Jim Jackson is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 134
Default My poor apple tree!

Ang wrote:

Hi
I wonder if any kind person can help with this. I planted an apple tree
last autum..it was doing fine but then we got a rescue dog who had a bit
of a nibble of the trunk which now has a small split! This spring load
sof leaves started coming on the branches and looked really healthy but
they have now started to curl and turn yellow. Below the split from the
lawn up new shoots are growing with many leaves. Do I leave it as it is
in the hope it will recover..or chop of the top?


Any advise you can give would be much appreciated


Apples are nearly always grafted on a root stock. You should be able to
see a "join" just above ground level - either a swelling or a change in
texture of the bark.

If the new shoots are coming from below the join, then they are not the
named variety, but at the root stock and won't give you the apples you
expect. You should tear out suckers, new shoots, from below the join.
You could cut some of the top growth out to reduce the stress on the rest.