thomis, good work on that Apple orchard. But, in the photos the sun does appear on the other side from the N direction on the layout. One year tree growth seems fair not great. Fertilizer may double the growth. Cutting the tree down to 30". In the last photo your holding a tree that looks like a 48" whip that grew one season. It won't hurt the tree to cut it to 30". I'd leave it that high so not have to duck when mowing. You can spread the vertical tree branches now and in a month or two they will hold that angle. Clip the branch tips off to an outward facing bud.

Good question. I recently bought a place with a good hobby orchard (24 trees, mostly apples). The previous owner had sprayed with Bonide. I was reluctant to spray, and didn't do any until one day I noticed some big ugly bugs devouring the leaves of three of the most recently planted (about 5 or 6 feet tall) trees. I freaked. I got out the Bonide and blasted 'em. Bill

Hi Jiver! I live north of Detroit and also have a HoneyCrisp. This is its fourth year of life. The first year that it fruited we had about five gorgeous and tasty apples (that is all it gave us). Last year it was full of apples, but it was also full of every pest and fungus known to Michigan apples (Cedar Apple Rust, flyspeck, Plum Leaf Curculio, apple maggot, web worms, leaf roller, and more)! I was a newbie and had no clue how to prepare for it or what to do about it. This year I have read up and am hoping for better success. I want to avoid chemicals so am climbing uphill. I would love to keep up with you as we both attempt to keep our apples healthy to harvest so maybe we can learn from each other. I cleaned up every leaf and dropped apple, threw away all the bad apples from the tree, and carefully inspected the tree (often) for signs of bad leaves or bugs (which I pinched off upon discovery). I semi-thinned (left two or three on each bunch) my apples out a few weeks ago but hadn't yet learned about bagging. I sprayed it with copper soap and a soap spray distributed by Gardens Alive to control fungus. This method requires reapplication every 7 days AND after every rain. This is high-maintenance but not a big deal when you only have one tree. I just bagged my tree this week and noticed as I was out there that several of the baby apples had bug bites already. I am afraid this means they've been parasitized, so I clipped them off and threw them away. I thinned to only one or two apples on a bunch and bagged all that looked healthy. I hated to clip off all those with bug bites, but I should still have over 100 large apples to harvest. I think next year I will be sure to bag it the week BEFORE Memorial Day since this week (the week following Memorial Day) there was a fairly high incidence of insect activity. I look forward to hearing of your success.

Larry: Anna and Dorsett Golden both regularly bear twice a year; the second crop will be much smaller than the first. These are both very vigorous varieties and it has made no difference in the early spring main crop if I remove the blossoms from the late fall crop. They will bloom again heavily in late January and reliably bear a heavy crop every year for the rest of their lives. I wish every apple variety did this... Applenut