Leaf drop on Cox apple toward middle/end of summer

dappledshade

My Cox apple tree is very healthy at the moment covered in blossom and stands at about 7 foot tall.

I planted it in autumn 2019 and have watered it really well since then.

The bed it is planted in was newly redone at the time and faces south, plus is draining well.it’s always look so glorious at this time of year and whilst last year it gave a good yield, by about mid summer the leaves are looking quite manky.

I haven’t got a photo from last year to show you, but they just tend to go a bit brown and crinkly, then fall off.

There are no insect pests I can see, so could this be some sort of fungal problem perhaps?

I’ve seen many apple trees looking less than great around the same time, but is there something I could do to stop this from happening? 

I have read up about Silverleaf, but that doesn’t seem to be this.

Last winter I completely sprayed the trees in my garden with winter wash in an attempt to clean everything up as much as possible, plus I cleared up all fallen leaves that I could find and mulched around the base really well.
The tree isn’t competing with any large or invasive plant whatsoever and has quite a bit of space around it, by the way.

Thanks for any advice in advance.

dappledshade

…

Dovefromabove

I think what you’re seeing is perfectly normal for apples … they do seem to start dropping leaves earlier than many other trees. 

dappledshade

Thank you Dove.
I suppose I also planted the sapling the autumn before one of the hottest years on record (despite thinking I’d watered it enough). My neighbour has a very mature Cox apple tree and it is never dropping leaves early, so perhaps it is an age thing?