If the angle of the forks is very acute, then removing one or both of the outside ones next spring might be indicated. If the angle is wider, then possibly shortening one or both might be good. If you can post photos, it might be an idea, so people can see what it looks like. Nurseries frequently, for a number of reasons, some good (or better than others) and some bad, snip off the central leader of trees when they are small. This differs, as Bboy says, from taking off the top of a mature, or nearly mature tree - commonly defined as "topping" a tree - which is almost never a good idea in the long run.

It has been a really strange year here in Texas. Late freeze and snow, unprecedented rains, flooding etc. Now the rains have let up some and there are droves of mosquitoes, probably the worst that I have ever seen. Other than that, I have found one tomato horn worm and had one bunch of tomatoes in half barrel containers in a group that has been plagued with the brown stink bugs, not a bunch all at once but a few persistent ones. None of the leaf footed stink bugs that usually arrive with the hot, dry weather here. They may come when the weather gets hot and dry, as usual. I see lots of little grass hoppers in the grass in the yard, but no problems with them in the garden thus far. Some things have done well, I got lots of green beans, black eyed peas and tomatoes and the fig tree is really loaded down. I did see friends of mime from my little ol home town on t.v. about a month ago that were really plagued with grass hoppers, they had stripped their sweet corn and most of their garden, but that is about 60 miles east of me. Hopefully, things will return more to normal around here and I can have some kind of a fall garden. Bill P.

I see nothing wrong with your tree that would require any treatment. There are some blemishes on the leaves but that looks more physiological than any sort of disease or insect problem. There might have been some early aphid activity but don't see any sign of them now - aphids often attract ants. Regardless of the cause, the tree will be fine. FYI, the Bonide sulphur spray is intended to be used as a fungicide. It will have no affect on any insect problems, should they arise. Any apples the tree produces should be fine. You do have a pollination partner for it?

Heruga, please do not take offense!! And we are not calling you a liar. What we are trying to convey to you is a need to step back a bit and not to panic or overreact. Plant pests are a fact of gardening life. You will never eliminate them all..........nor should you necessarily, as that will upset the natural balance. But they can be managed and often they are best managed by doing very little. Or as little as you can get away with. Sometimes it is just a matter of providing the best growing conditions. Aphids are often attracted to plants that develop a lot of lush new growth from overly rich soils or unnecessary fertilization. Sometimes just growing the plants under leaner or somewhat harsher conditions will significantly reduce the risk of infestation. I will say that in all my many years of gardening, I have never seen aphids actually kill a plant, even very heavy infestations. Spraying down the plants routinely or cutting off the most affected parts (generally the newest growth) does help a lot and will keep populations at manageable levels. And encouraging beneficials or other wildlife to the garden will also make a big difference.........IME, birds are nature's most efficient "insecticide" and the more birds you can attract to the garden, the less pest issues you will you have to deal with. The point we are trying to make is that all gardeners deal with the various issues you have encountered and yet their gardens survive and even thrive. Drought, heavy or persistent rainfall, cold winters, very hot or dry summers, insect problems......we have ALL encountered them and our gardens have lived to tell the tale. What more years of experience gardening will provide is the knowledge of what is a serious problem that needs intervention (or plant replacement or substitution) and what you can safely ignore or treat as innocuously as possible. And the vast majority of us tend to steer away from heavy pesticide usage as we have learned that it upsets the natural order and very often can cause more problems than it solves. And added years of experience will often influence what sort of gardening choices you make. Some plants are just a lot harder to keep happy or are more prone to problems (like indoor citrus) so you need to weigh whether or not the plant justifies the effort. But please take the advice provided by very experienced gardeners not as a criticism but with the good intentions with which it is given. Yes, 50 years of gardening does bring one knowledge, experience and wisdom that just a couple of years doing so does not provide. It is obvious from your posts that you still have much to learn - we are just trying to help you get there :-) And even very experienced gardeners learn something new on almost a daily basis!!