A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Help with my apple trees.

After 3 years two of my semi-dwarf apple trees suddenly died!! Both trees were about 5 feet tall and have blossomed the last two years, (these are supposed to be fruit bearing trees). Now both have died. The odd this is that they "rotted" at the dase of the tree. My wife was able to break both off easily. There were ants living in one but I didn't find any in the other. Any suggestions? There are two other apple trees in the same area that seem to be doing fine. Thanks. David

I'm just guessing, but could the graft have failed? I'm not sure what would have caused it though. Did you plant so that the grafts were above ground? Have you had any rodent damage to the bark at the base of the tree or bark peeling due to sunscald?

Do you mulch your trees? Mulch piled around the base of the trees could possibly have caused it.

If you weedwack to close to the base and damage the bark that can do it too. BF killed a couple of fruit trees that way. Insists it wasnt him.(As I watch him do it) My neighbor uses weed killer around the base of his trees so no wacking is neccesary. You can also cut a coffee can open at both ends and down one side to put a sleeve around the trunk so the can gets wacked and not the bark.

Did you bury the graft union? Burying the graft will either make the tree lose its dwarfing property (the tree above the rootstock takes root, and becomes a standard size) or it rots, and dies.