Something New - Rapid Apple Decline; 80% Of North Carolina Orchards Already Infected [View all]

[hatrack]

It’s the time of year when people who love apples celebrate. But there’s a new threat to the U.S.’s $4 billion annual apple industry. Young apple trees have been suddenly dying.

In North Carolina, up to 80% of orchards have been affected. Pennsylvania’s apple industry, valued at $107 million last year and fourth in the nation, is also at risk. Researchers call the problem Rapid Apple Decline or RAD, and they’re trying to figure out what’s causing it.

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One grower who’s worried about his apple trees is Noah Petronic. He’s the orchard manager at Soergel Orchards in Wexford, north of Pittsburgh. As he walks down a row of Braeburns, most of the trees look healthy, with green leaves and bountiful pink fruit. But a couple trees have taken on a strange rusty hue and are clearly struggling.

“You can just see the first two trees you hit right here have shut down just over the past few weeks,” he said. “And I can point out about another five or six that are shutting down.” Petronic started noticing the problem around 2013. “You have a beautiful crop on, especially August-September,” he said, looking toward a withering tree. “And then, all of a sudden, you’d come back a week later, and it would be dead.”

EDIT

https://www.alleghenyfront.org/its-just-baffling-apple-growers-face-an-unknown-threat-thats-killing-trees/