Disease in the Orchard?! - Cutting Down an Old Crabapple Tree

We discovered brown spots on the leaves of our young apple trees, and noticed them on our old apple trees as well. The worst of it seemed to be concentrated in trees nearest to a large, unhealthy crabapple tree. I believe the spots may be due to a fungal infection of black rot. The crabapple seems to be the source, as much of the tree is dead and there is plenty of space for spores to overwinter in the tree. Thus, this video captures the felling and removal of the old crabapple to hopefully eliminate the source of spores and disease from the orchard in the future.
Tools/Equipment used:
Stihl MS261c
Ford 1700 tractor
Clamp-on Pallet forks

[@dreileigh9210]

Well done, Craig. I have a question, will you treat the spot on your existing trees?

[@ProductiveRecreation]

No, if it is black rot the leaf infection does not produce spores that will reinfect the tree next year. So it’s a wait and see if this resolves it for next year.

[@jacobbuckley8232]

Man thats gotta be the dullest blade ever wow

[@ProductiveRecreation]

Thanks for watching. Not a new saw chain, but not dull. It might look slow, but I don’t waste my time with dull chains. Apple is very dense wood, denser than oak. That was very noticeable to me cutting and moving it. If I cut a piece of soft maple or a softwood like pine, you would have seen a noticeable difference in cutting speed. Same if it was smaller diameter. This is a 50cc saw with 18” bar cutting a 24” diameter tree.