Older apple trees in particular sometimes become susceptible to various diseases or large-scale fungal infestation. If your apple tree is losing its bark on the branches or trunk, there can be various reasons.
Why does an apple tree lose its bark and what can you do about it?
An apple tree loses its bark for various reasons, such as aging, insect or fungal infestation, and strong temperature fluctuations. Preventive measures such as tree pruning, wound closure products and a white trunk coating can help prevent damage and disease.
Sometimes there is no serious problem with bark shedding
There can be very different reasons for the bark falling off the trunk of an apple tree. With some apple varieties, the trees tend to shed some of their bark as they get older. However, this is harmless as long as the apple tree shows no other signs of disease such as brown leaves or damage to the sap-bearing layer between the trunk wood and the bark. Small cracks in the trunk bark can be closed with a wound closure agent (€10.00 on Amazon) from a specialist retailer in order to avoid a possible attack by fungal infestation.
Contain fungal infestation and pests by pruning a tree
The many reasons why the bark detaches from the trunk wood can also include various insects or fungal species. Sometimes ants further hollow out existing cracks in tree trunks. This also opens the door to other pests, which cannot really be effectively combated in private gardens due to the lack of approved sprays. The fungus Diploida Mutila causes the bark and the water-conducting layer to flake off the tree trunk, thereby opening up additional areas for infestation with the dangerous fungus. As a private gardener, you can only contain the spread through preventative measures and burning affected branches.
Differences in temperature can cause bark on apple trees to crack
Sometimes, strong temperature fluctuations can cause the bark on the trunk of the apple tree to crack. The trade has ready-mixed preparations for a white base coat, which helps prevent frost damage in winter by reflecting the light. The paste for the base coat can also be mixed yourself using the following ingredients:
- Lime
- clay
- Herbs such as horsetail
- fresh cow patties
Together with regular tree pruning, such trunk painting also protects against pests and fungal diseases.
Tips & Tricks
If the first cracks and bare spots appear on the trunk of an apple tree, you should react quickly. Since the tree's supply of water and nutrients is routed beneath the bark, bark damage can jeopardize the tree's overall survival.
