By Gooseygander
Essex,
United Kingdom 
Wilting Apple Tree
I planted a flagstaff type apple tree last year and it seemed to survive winter fine and had plenty of blossom on this spring. its git lots of small apples on but suddenly the top 10cm of leaves have wilted. I thought it may be water so gave it a good soaking but it has made no difference. I cannot see any bugs on anything on the leaves. On a couple of leaves there is a brown spot but nit particularly wide spread & the bottom part of the plant looks quite healthy. Has anyone got any ideas what could be wrong with it?
Thanks!
24 May, 2014
Answers
I'd take the apples off and give it a light balanced feed unles you have fed it this year.
its roots may be struggling to cope with the growth spurt and flowers/fruit too, its still very young and really need to develop its root system, the dieback may be its way of coping
Don't feed plants much later thsn now though as the soft growth produced may be damaged by the coming winter.
25 May, 2014
Thanks for your suggestions.
We put some slow release feed down when we planted it last autumn but not since. Should I cut back the wilted leaves or will that just stress it more?
25 May, 2014
Been reading various websites which mention blossom wilt. Could this be my problem?
25 May, 2014
Possibly, but only if the top 10cm carried blossom - if there were no flowers on that part, then its not blossom wilt. The other notable feature with blossom wilt is that the blossom withers and dies not long after appearing, yet remains attached to the tree, so again, if that didn't happen, it won't be that.
Check the stem where the wilting has occurred to see if there's any damage to it below the wilted point that may explain what's happened.
29 May, 2014
It could be still getting used to its new environment. The fact that you have apples growing indicates to me that it's not too stressed though and it should be ok.
24 May, 2014