Dave:

You are correct that apple pollination is a natural process that needs no direct human intervention, and certainly not any specific chemical spray (leaving aside products like bee scent, intended to attract pollinating honeybees). But if your neighbor's apples are reaching at least golf-ball size, pollination may not be her issue, but insects like the plum curculio and codling moth. Incompletely pollinated apples seldom get beyond the small marble stage before they fall off, but even well-pollinated apples, when attacked by insects, will eventually cease to grow and become small, scabby looking, and useless.

I will be interested to see how your organic plan works out in a few years when your trees begin to set fruit. There are quite a few people, some of whom post here, who would dearly love to raise their apples "organically", but in the eastern half of the U.S. (and some say the western half too), raising apples with no chemical sprays at all is going to be a very tough row to hoe. Some highly dedicated organically inclined growers go to a great deal of trouble to cover their trees with a kaolin product called Surround, which can be somewhat effective against apple insects, but is not magic by any means. Others, like myself, conduct an intensive early chemical spray program, then bag their apples in ziplock sandwich bags, which makes further spraying of those particular apples uneccessary. However, the insects are always around, especially when there are unspsrayed or uncared for apples in the neighborhood with lots of dropped, damaged fruit. They represent the next generation of insects.

You may even find that during the first years your apples are in the ground, and well before they fruit, they are attacked by leaf insects such as aphids, mites, beetles, and a host of others. I am all for organics in theory, but organics will not put apples on the table in New Jersey.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

You picked a good apple in William's Pride. It is a very early apple and in my completely organic orchard is rarely damaged by codling moths because of being early- my theory is the moths are not laying yet at the critical time in the apples' formation. Other apples that don't get much damage are Liberty, Freedom, and even my Spitzenberg, and also since it is also early, Lodi. I get loads of apples. Codling moth damage is usually limited to the core and can be easily cut out. Damage is only a small percentage of the fruit. Not spraying and also planting a wide diversity of flowers and fruits helps provide habitat for beneficial and predatory insects, not the least of which are wasps. This is my experience as an organic gardener.

{{gwi:59626}}

I keep Mason bees to aid in pollination. They will work even in bad weather. One year my farmer neighbor had no apples because it was raining the entire bloom time of the apples but my Liberty and Freedom trees had a normal crop. I have done some hand-pollination with a small brush when I didn't feel insects were going to do the job. It works.:-)
I've been pollinating my 2 pawpaw trees and they appear to be setting fruit for the first time.

{{gwi:97243}}

If you want shade in your yard, fruit trees are not the thing to plant. If you want your own fruit, buy a sprayer. My personal feeling is that the word organic should be taken out of the dictionary. Organic foods in our stores is not a garentee that it is pesticide or fungicide free. Were you there 24/7 to watch it grow and cared for?

There are people who grow beautiful apples organically. Read "The Apple Grower: A guide for the organic orchardist" by Michael Phillips.
I have visited 3 growers (one commercial and two backyard growers) who have organic apples that are great.
You can also google ATTRA and they have many fine publications (free) on organic growing.
Don't give up. It is possible.
Ann