Q: I planted couple of apple trees and this year I have a number of fruits. But I see black spots on them. I am wondering if this is some kind of disease and how I can prevent it. Are these apples safe to eat? 

A: It’s a common summer apple disease: sooty blotch. It disfigures the apple skin but the apple is perfectly fine to eat. Growing up, I thought apples normally looked like this.

There are fungicides that will control it but unless you are selling the apples to the public, I wouldn’t spend any effort on it.

Apple Diseases