Eldery Apple Tree

Good morning USA! I've just noticed that the leaves on my James Grieve apple tree are wilting badly at the ends of the branches mainly. The blossom, which has just finished, has been fantastic and it always fruits well, but now the leaves look really sad. I think the tree is really quite old - we've been here18 years, but I feel the tree was here before the house was built around 1970 as people had smallholdings here prior to that. Is my lovely tree at the end of it's life, or is there a cure? I know very little about apples so any help would be appreciated. Oh yes, some of the branches have lichen on them and are a bit old and knobbly looking - is this a problem?

Lichen is not a problem. Lichens are epiphytes which attach themselves to a host structure strictly for support. They do not use the host for any other reason meaning they do not draw any nutrition from your tree so that is not a concern. You mentioned your tree is quite old and you made no mention of any type of pruning that has been performed. A structurally sound tree with no splits and rot in the lower portion will still produce. If you inspect the trunk and main branch areas and find no problems I am willing to wager that a good heavy pruning will be very beneficial. There are many web sites that can show you how to prune correctly or you can hire a good arborist. There are many leaf diseases that attack apples (scab,rust mildew, alternaria ect ect.) If you have the equivalent to what we call a Co-operative Extension Service either Government run or affiliated with a college with a good horticultural program they can be very helpful in diagnosing diseases.

Thanks for your help. I've never known how to prune correctly, despite looking in some of the gardening books I have. It's all been a bit hit and miss, just to try and restrict the spread of the branches! I'm wondering if the heavy pruning should be undertaken now or to wait until the winter, but I guess I will find that out from other websites or by taking your advice and asking our fairly local horticultural college for a diagnosis and pruning advice. I've never heard of a Co-operative Extension Service - I'm intrigued to know what this is (getting off the point a bit!) It may be that they're known by a different name in the UK.
Thanks again for your help.

I just moved to a place with a number of old, neglected apple trees, and found the following series of YouTube videos by Stephen Hayes to be a great help in figuring out a plan to bring them back. So far, so good. We had great blossoms this spring, and the apples are thick, which we now need to thin. Best of luck, and click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObAjCBTgOoY

The Cooperative Extension Service in the US is a service that is funded by the Federal Government and is affiliated with each State's land grant college. They also have satellite offices around each state to make it more convenient for people to access. The offices are manned by experts and volunteers who answer phones and and are a wealth of knowledge. In the State of Rhode Island where I live the University offers a Master Gardeners course and part of the program and in order to obtain your MGs certificate you had to man the phones in an Co-op office for a certain number of hours. The offices deal with every aspect of horticulture from insects to diseases in food crops, trees, shrubs, ornamentals, turf grass ect ect

Thanks for the explanation - I don't think we have anything like this in the UK - at least, I don't know of it! Sounds like a great idea.