What are these weird things on my apple trees?

[TheAttachedMama]

Why, oh why are apples so hard to grow organically?   Every year we have some type of problem.

 

This year, we had one tree that didn't blossom at all.   Upon closer examination, I see that it has these tiny red bumps with black dots on them.  (They are the exact size of lady bugs.  In fact, I thought that is what they were at first!)   I honestly can't tell if they are bug, fungus, or what.   Now those red bumps are spreading.   What are they?  Any treatment advice?

 

 

 

[Bluegoat]

How odd looking!  I have no idea, but I would send the picture to your local agricultural extention service.

[hornblower]

coral spot? 

[TheAttachedMama]

That's about the closest thing I've seen!   But not exact.   Maybe I should spray it with some sort of anti fungus stuff and just see if it helps?   

 

[Miss Tick]

Have you asked your county extension office? The office near me gets really excited about questions like that.

[Tap]

They look like galls to me.

 

Here is a link explaining them,

 

You may try to google that term with you geographic area to see if you can find any similar images online.

 

ETA Here is a similar looking gall (but not the exact type)

Edited May 4, 2016 by Tap

[fairfarmhand]

Organic fruit is really hard in many places because of humidity. Much of the organic fruit comes from drier climates like out West. Also, buying the right tree (one that is fungus resistant) helps a lot.

 

I gave up and sprayed. Year after year of no fruit, and I decided that I would use the least chemicals that I could. Sad, but there are few alternatives. I am hopeful that the Arkansas black tree that  I planted last year will do a little better in my humid climate.

[Bluegoat]

If you have a lot of issues and want to remain organic, you could try using a dormant oil spray.  You have to do it before bud break.  There are also things like being very careful to pick up leaves and take them away in the fall.

 

If you didn't get flowers though it may be a different kind of problem.  Last year our peach tree didn't flower much, we only had about 10 peaches, and it was like that all over the province.  The problem was that winter was so late there were issues with pollinators, so what flowers there were didn't make fruit.

[TammyS]

Looks like scale bugs.  If you don't look closely, they look like little growths instead of bugs.  You can scrape them off by hand (being careful not to let them fall to the ground, burn them when you're done) and spray the tree with dormant oil and kaolin clay.

 

You might want to get the book "The Apple Grower". 

 

ETA: I like to let the grass grow really high around my fruit trees to encourage spiders to make webs and keep the bug population down.

Edited May 4, 2016 by TammyS