[ellied]

I seem to have a lot of black spots on the skins of my cookers this year - is it something I should be treating the tree for and if so how and when?  Or is it just a result of the heavy rainfalls we have had?

[Fleecewife]

Do the black spots continue inside as brown soft spots?  I think that is bitter pit which is something to do with a calcium deficiency in the soil, which could well be caused or made worse by the heavy rain.  Or I might be right off the track.

[doganjo]

The apples I got from my cousin were like that - some of the black spots went under the skin too, and some of them rotted off very quickly - I couldn't cook them for a couple of days so they sat in a big tub till then and I had to throw some out.  We have very clay soil in this area, although Morag has cultivated her garden with lots of manure etc over the years, so that may be a factor.

[Blonde]

I seem to have a lot of black spots on the skins of my cookers this year - is it something I should be treating the tree for and if so how and when?  Or is it just a result of the heavy rainfalls we have had?

This is called "Bitter Pit" in apples and is generally a calcium deficieny.  Feed the tree some calcium during the growing season and you find your problem will go away.   Calcium can be found in the form of lime.   Lime allows the soil to become a little alkaline after it has become acidic from the fertiizer you have added to your tree.