RAPID DECLINE OF APPLE TREES IS A SERIOUS CONCERN FOR APPLE GROWERS IN THE UNITED STATES. DURING THE PAST 2-3 YEARS, WE USED A SYSTEMS APPROACH TO DOCUMENT A COMPLEX SYNDROME POTENTIALLY CAUSED BY PATHOGENS, INSECTS, COLD INJURY, ROOTSTOCK GENOTYPE, AND/OR SCION-ROOTSTOCK COMPATIBILITY. TO BUILD ON THESE FINDINGS, WE BELIEVE A TARGETED APPROACH HONING IN ON A SINGLE POTENTIAL CAUSE WILL PROVIDE MORE DETAILED INSIGHTS INTO THE ORIGIN OF RAPID DECLINE. ROOTS ARE THE FOUNDATION OF AN APPLE ORCHARD BUT KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR GROWTH AND ARCHITECTURE, ESPECIALLY UNDER HIGH DENSITY PLANTING SYSTEMS, WHERE THE CLOSELY PLANTED TREES COMPETE FOR NUTRIENTS AND WATER, IS SCARCE. WE PROPOSE A FOCUSED ANALYSIS OF THE ROOT SYSTEM OF TWO MAJOR ROOTSTOCKS IN HIGH DENSITY ORCHARD SYSTEMS IN THREE REGIONS OF NEW YORK STATE. WE WILL MEASURE ROOT TRAITS AND ASSESS ROOT SYSTEMS OF HEALTHY AND DECLINING TREES GROWN IN ORCHARDS USING COMPUTERIZED DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY. WE WILL ALSO ASSESS WHETHER VIRUSES INFLUENCEROOT TRAITS. SIMILAR ROOT STUDY EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED IN THE GREENHOUSE TO DETERMINE OPTIMAL SPACING AND RESOURCE UPTAKE SUITABLE FOR HIGH DENSITY ORCHARDS. RESULTS WILL BE CRITICALLY ANALYZED TO CIRCUMSCRIBE THE ROLE OF ROOTS IN THE RAPID DECLINE AND IDENTIFY MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS IN THE SHORT, MEDIUM, AND LONG TERM. AN INTEGRATED PLAN TO DISSEMINATE MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS TO NURSERIES AND GROWERS WILL ENABLE AN IMMEDIATE IMPLEMENTATION AT THE PROJECT'S END.