Bart, CB is Coryneum Blight. It is not often a bad disease in the east but I got a very bad case of it from a tree I purchased out of a California nursery. It is nearly gone now, but not quite. I would ignore that line. Well, in general its not a bad idea to use dormant copper every now and then on stone fruit due to its good activity on both CB and bacterial spot. Copper can build up in the soil over many years so on the other hand L/S should be used most of the time. L/S is indeed lime sulphur and any good garden center should have it pre-mixed. It is possible to brew your own but for small amounts it is cheap enough to buy the pre-mixed version. Scott

Greenpixie, I don't have the experience of Jellyman or Harvestman, but I do live in the same general area as you (suburban Maryland). So here are my thoughts. First, are you expecting fruit next year? If next year is the second year in the ground I would not expect much fruit and I would probably remove most of it if you get any and let the trees grow a bit. This makes spraying for major insect pests like curculio unnecessary, at least next year, since it is the fruit they attack. So there would be no need for the Surround or the Spinosad. Cedar apple rust might be a problem on the Newton Pippin, but should not be on the Liberty, which is resistant to all major apple diseases. But I have young apples -- Grimes Golden, Black Twig, Pommes Gris -- that have not yet fruited and that have only suffered a very little cedar apple rust damage, despite lots of red cedars nearby, so I am not sure how big a concern this is with young trees (Jellyman might help here). I believe Immunox is effective against this disease. Stone fruit do not get cedar apple rust, only pome fruit like apples and pears. I do a dormant spray on my trees in early spring with a mixture of lime sulphur and oil, which I think helps against overwintering aphids and the like and some fungal diseases, but I am not sure how useful this spraying really is. I doubt you will have problems with the Montmorency cherry -- if anything, it is birds you will have to worry about; I will leave others to comment on the plums. The idea of leaving the peach as a bait might well work once you start to get some fruit. It would attract curculio and later, the Oriental Fruit Moth -- the latter is a particularly bad pest and is active all summer. Just make sure you clean up any dropped fruit and removed fruit that is hit. I doubt however that this will stop all attacks on the other stone fruit (i.e. your plums). I am coming to the conclusion that it requires a fairly heavy duty insecticide to control the fruit moth. Spinosad works on it in my experience, but is not registered for enough sprays to last the whole summer. I think permethrin on the stone fruit might work better. It is conceivable you could get fire blight on your apples. Antiobiotics can be applied in advance against fire blight, but my inclination is not to treat for a disease unless a need is demonstrated (would you pop antibiotics just in case you might get sick?). So this summer I would keep an eye out for fire blight on the apples and pears and cut it out if it appears, if it does appear perhaps spray for it the year after. So in my view there is not a great need for spraying this coming year. Pest pressures build over time and in the first year or so are usually not heavy.

Tom, "John, are you using the white bags? I'd be concerned about the dyes and chemicals in the other colors.... " Good point. Heres what they (Greenbag Inc) say... "Is made from non-toxic, non-corrosive materials and safe color-fast dyes". I'm interested in these for several reasons, drainage, cooling and cost. I know they drain well, I don't think you could ever fill one with a garden hose. The upside down tomato bag I tried last spring stayed cool and it was black. The ones from Publix are a buck and I hear W mart's are cheaper. So I'll give it a try. john

rhome, that sure is true. We all have our desire to share and help others get the most out of their new kitchens . It doesn't matter at all what the skill level, we can all learn and grow and enjoy. I see tons of talent everywhere I look and I keep looking even though I know I can't begin to make or don't want to make what others are able to do. I still love to look. I hope that everyone realizes that it is out of a sense of community spirit that we all post here long after our kitchens are "done", also I am not sure we are EVER done :) Here is part of what we did this afternoon. DH's fingers were still sore but he wanted cookies ! He has perfected his Italian Seed Cookies and wanted to make them. So here are some of the steps and the finished product. shaping the dough: place in water/toasted sesame seeds /parchment finished : These are almost exactly like the cookies from Brocato's bakery in NOLA. We just had 4 bags of them from SIL's visit and it sure was hard to tell the difference. The Brocato cookies are a tad sweeter but I like DH's best :) It has taken him years to get them perfect. He purchased ammonium carbonate as the rising agent and also twice bakes them. It makes all the difference. I wanted to show you Alto and Sax ! They are my starters. They are now about 2 yrs old. WOW do they love me LOL. Here are pics of them before and after feeding and then of the 2 breads I am in the process of making. It is a couple day thing to make bread with wild yeast starter so stay tuned to tomorrow . before feeding - fresh from fridge: after just 3 hrs: San Joaquin Sourdough auto lyse ( I let it set about 30 min) Polish Country Bread ( a light rye) auto lyse - Polish Dough is beaten in the KA mixer for 4 min on speed 2 and then let to rest 40 min. Then you do 2 stretch and folds. Rest 40 min and again. Then rise 2 hrs or so and bake. in KA: First way to do stretch and fold - pat flat : fold like a letter: Here is another way to do S and F. In the bowl with a spatula. Do 30 turns with the spatula around and around quickly bringing the dough up and over a little each turn. Do this every 30 min X 3 times. You will be amazed at the strength the dough acquires with a small amount of work. Here are pics DH took :) Tomorrow I will show the finishing touches and the final product. Hope everyone has a lovely Summer Friday night. c