David: Apple blossoms grow in clusters. Healthy apple trees in their 2nd year in the ground are capable of ripening out a couple or three apples without any harm. But if and when those blossoms set fruit, thin the clusters to the one best fruit each. If they don't set fruit, then it's out of your hands, but they will probably do so next season. I thin apples to one per cluster even on mature trees to maximize fruit size and quality. Not trying to maximize numbers here. I wouldn't bother about the cherry tree, which will probably not set and hold fruit. But if it does, all the better. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

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

Yeah, that's pretty much a mess. Aside from the extensive animal damage, is it also a dwarf or mini-dwarf? Or, did the animal damage just set it back so much it hardly grew? If it were mine, I'd say Adios and replace it.

Cedar apple rust is a very common apple problem. The spray I use has an ingredient of myclobutanil in it. It looks like Fertilome Fstop has it, too. It really depends on how serious is your CAR issue. If it's not serious, you can get away with 2-3 sprays in a growing season. If it's bad, your first spray should be done before apple flowers bloom. Don't spray during blooming period. Then, one spray after petal fall and then 10-14 days after that. Read the label and follow the instruction.