LaurieDutch: I think you will be happy with the results of your apple bagging. Don't fail to prepare the bags before installation by cutting off a nice wide piece of each lower corner, then, after opening the bag, the plastic strip above the zipper. Makes installation easier. Begin closing the zipper around the apple at the ends, simultaneously applying a slight pulling tension to keep the zipper lined up. Then close that zipper up tight against the stem on both sides. I have read some advice on the net to leave the bag "loose" around the stem. That is very bad advice, and will lead to the bag blowing off and the entry of earwigs through the top. Never trust an earwig. If there are any small leaves or stems from your previous thinning in the path of the zipper, pull them off prior to bag installation. Check the seal for the absence of "snaps" at least once before moving on to the next bag. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Are you kidding? Did you really pay $129 for that tree? If so, WHY??? Is it too late to ask for your money back? If you're stuck with the tree, I think one of the leaders must go, but the situation should have been taken care of long ago. If you do have to keep the tree and decide to remove one of the leaders, cut just outside the branch bark ridge and branch collar (if you find that one exists in this situation). It's hard to tell whether your tree will have a branch collar with the picture you posted. Many times a branch collar won't exist with a split leader like the one on your tree. The tree should still eventually cover over the wound, but it may take longer. I would remove the leader (the one that you decide to remove) in late winter or very early spring which is the ideal time for the tree to quickly cover over pruning wounds. Personally, I'd remove it near the end of this winter weather it was planted this year or before.

What you have is a whip - a very young tree with not yet any lateral branches developed. The suggestion you received is pretty standard for newly planted whips and is worth following as it encourages the development of a strong branch system. And that's were the fruit will grow. What you want to do is make a heading cut where you want the branching to begin and just above one of the buds. You do not need to take it down as far as they said - that is normally the practice for semi-dwarf or larger growing trees. And you don't want this tree to start to set any fruit until it develops a proper habit with some branches and a basic structure. So remove any flowers for at the least the first few years. And you should continue pruning in subsequent years but not in this same manner. This is pretty much a one time shot. You might want to research apple pruning or maybe a local nursery or your extension service has classes you can attend. Apples need routine, preferably annual, pruning to stimulate and encourage the development of fruiting spurs or those little nubby protuberances that the fruit grows on. 6-8' is really short for a dwarf apple. I'm thinking this is a mini dwarf, which only get around 6' tall - dwarfs typically get about 8-10'. Do you have another apple for cross pollination?

three newly-planted ==>>> i would not have pruned a new transplant.. for at least a year.. and maybe two .. so the tree had food making machines .. leaves.. to grow a root mass to support the newly planted tree ... you need to start thinking in tree time.. which is years if not decades ... not out current world of instant gratification ... i am sure orchard peeps do things much differently than i would ... in tree time.. a bad pruning cut means little ... presuming the trees live ... they will outgrow it .... ken