We don't water it, as we get a mild amount of rain here. Not too much, but just enough to keep the soil a little moist. Our soil pH is 6.5. We have horrible clay soil that, when it gets dry, is like a rock. We don't have any soil imbalances that I know about. We tried some miracle-gro fruit tree fertilizer stakes that we got from our local nursery. The leaves don't have any mottling or spots or other imperfections. They are a light green color, as most plum tree leaves are. They look like these leaves http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRg2VR-rKLwEAAPVEqooo6rV1YWFDcYIQdquzJJWePLH4-x5OkZ Except without the plums, obviously. Now about the apple trees. The bigger one (GD) got the same fruit tree stakes but to no avail. Its leaves have cedar rust, but it is because our neighbors have juniper and cedar trees. It never affected the 6 huge and beautiful McIntosh and GD-Mutsu Hybrid trees we had at our old house, which is about 2 miles away from our current house with the same weather and soil conditions, and the trees were in the exact same amount of sun. There are no visible signs of pest or disease on any of the trees. the only things that have ever bothered them are japanese beetles, which we have only had twice, so that doesn't seem to be the problem. Our average temperature throughout the year is around 79. We get around 40 inches of rain per year and all the trees are in full-partial sun, leaning more towards full. What I am wondering is, do nurseries that supply local nurseries and garden stores with fruit trees, put some substance on/in the trees to force them to produce fruit? It seems like every tree i have ever had, produces fruit the very first year I plant it, then it starts up again 2-3 years later. Do you know the answer to this? Thanks again. Lydia

kristie: Granny Smith on a semi-dwarf rootstock would normally begin to bloom in year 3 to year 5. If you are super-lucky, less, if you are not so lucky, could be more. There is no rule controlling onset of bloom. I had a Granny here that took 7 years to begin blooming, and never did bloom very well before I gave up and took it out. Now I know that summer pruning and shaping might have helped, but I did not know that then. Whether or not a tree blooms is not controlled by the presence or absence of other trees, insect pollinators etc., but by the readiness of the tree itself. Once you begin to see blooms, cross-pollination can become very important. Granny is not an easy apple to pollinate, and there will have to be a pollinating tree within insect striking distance, but it does not have to be in your yard. It could be 100 yards down the street, and it could be a decorative flowering crab or any other type of apple tree. But yes, it does have to be some kind of apple. Be patient with your little apple tree. Fruit trees take time to grow up and produce. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Now I don't buy that argument. You can take almost any apple and pick it when it's green and it's ok to cook with, provided the flesh is dense enough not to fall apart once cooked. But that doesn't mean you're getting the best cooker. And on the other end of the spectrum, there are many green apples that are supposed to remain green, for example, Rhode Island greening, and they deteriorate in flavor if not picked on time. But this is absolutely not the case with Granny Smith which continues to improve in flavor and texture. The Granny wasn't always known to be a green cooker. My fellow Australian friends inform me that there, it's known to be a sweet apple, and it's many children's favorite apple. And I've spoken to countless apple farmers who grow it and remarked the same oddity - how wonderful of a table apple it is, yet people buy it when it's green and one dimensional. And the, it's not what I would call a good cooking apple, it becomes rather bland. By the way, a ripe Granny Smith isn't just sweet, it's a very rich blend of sweet and sour and so multi-dimensional that it makes you wonder why anyone would pick it green. Now I don't think apples should all be sweet. I grow Allington Pippin for example, it stays tart, and it's a great cooker. And so is Belle de Boscop. Now I also happen to like tart apples and I eat my Allingtons and boscoops right off the trees. BTW, none of these sweeten up, they hold their tartness until they finally drop from the trees and go mushy or who knows what. This is not the case with Granny Smith, which continues to improve in flavor. Granny Smith is categorically not a cooker by default, it's only a cooker because it's picked way before it's ripe.

Yes, it is still safe to eat the apples; the fruit may or may not actually develop blemishes but if so they can be safely cut out like any other blemish. Cedar Apple Rust will decrease the vigor of your trees and may eventually kill them, generally reducing and possibly disfiguring the crop along the way. As you are finding out though, different apple trees have different degrees of susceptibility. You may very well already have resistant trees, if they never develop the symptoms.