In message , Rusty Hinge
writes
Mike Buckley wrote:
Hi All
We moved into a house last July, and I was pleased to get a good
crop of (I think) Discovery apples from one tree. The second tree
also a Discovery I think was covered in aphids and only had a couple
of apples on it. I sprayed the aphids off with a hosepipe and looked
forward to two crops in 2010. It doesn't look like it though, the
healthy tree is still healthy and has masses of blossom on it, the
aphids tree doesn't appear to have aphids but does appear to have
powdery mildew. I've had a go at spraying it with some stuff from
the local garden centre but there's very little blossom and no sign of any coming.

I would expect Discovery to be in full bloom just now. If there's no
sign of flower buds, there's something wrong.

The mildew is only on bits of the tree, and it does look healthier
than last year now I've removed the affected parts. Ladybirds in
attendance hopefully dealing with aphids.

Is there anything I can do to help this tree along? I guess it's too
late for this year, but for next? Or is it doomed?

Um, if it were my tree and it turned out to be Discovery, it would
indeed be doomed - or at the very least the top-hamper replaced by
grafting on a decent apple or three.

I rate Discovery with French Golden Disgusting, and to compound its
lack of attraction, it doesn't keep.

Is it possible that the tree is suffering from woolly aphids rather
than mildew? The recent weather (here in the East anyway) doesn't seem
very conducive to mildew.


There were loads on it last year, but I can't see any at the moment.

This is what I'm seeing:

http://utahpests.usu.edu/admin/image...dscape-advisor
y/2009/04-23/powdery%20mildew%20on%20bradford%20pear.JPG

Even the unaffected parts of the tree aren't blossoming though and it
started budding around 2 weeks later than my healthy tree even though
it's in a very similar spot for sun.

Both trees can be seen here, this is the garden pre-tidy up:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3966580...-7215762155346
2651/

The trees are to the left and right of the larger (unknown) tree in the
far right corner. You can see even at a distance that the colour of the
right most tree is different and obviously the healthy tree has fruit on
already, this was taken when it had heavy aphid infestation.

I'll maybe buy a replacement tree of different variety this year but
plant it somewhere else and give this tree one year of pampering to see
if it fruits next year.

--
Mike Buckley
RD350LC2