IMO, I never, EVER remove blossoms. If its going to fall off, then it can fall off. I never help it along, and I get tomatos all summer long (early on) and my tomatos are happy, healthy and happy to not have me taking its buds off. If they dont pollinate they dont, but what if they did and you pinched off some potentially good fruit? I dunno, im sure theres reasons why to everything, but I cant bring myself to do it because ive never had any problem...-cassie

mawmaw, Some people routinely "top" their plants. It will keep them shorter, and cause the plants to bush out. There isn't much point in a 9 foot plant that requires a step-ladder to pick the fruit at the top, especially if you are a short person. lelia, Tomato plants can be prone to fungus, particularly if your weather is both hot and humid. If you plant them close fungus can be a difficult problem, and pruning will decrease the density of foliage and improve the air circulation, thus lessening the chance of fungal growth. You can also spray with an anti-fungal of your choice. What you choose to do should depend on your weather conditions and your garden. Having faith in mother nature is a philosophy, and not the only one. At the very least, species go extinct, all by themselves. Not all species thrive in the natural environment. So much for the perfection of Mother Nature. Caging and staking, just like vegetable gardening, are constructs. They are not necessarily easier (catering to the human), in fact they can be a lot of work. They allow the gardener to plant tomatoes closer together, when space is an issue. More importantly these techniques keep the fruit off the ground, where it can rot more easily and may be vulnerable to pests like slugs. Mulching can help with the rotting problem, but will provide a wonderful habitat for slugs. Caging and staking will fix that, but may make your 'maters more vulnerable to birds. Once again it depends on your garden conditions. Petro

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

How many plants do you have? If just 1 or 2 your plants they would be much happier using rain water. I would get a rain barrel from one of the box stores and put it under a gutter. There are many articles about water quaility and blueberries. City water is not good at all for blues. From what Ive read, chlorine and chloramine(some cities are using instead of chlorine now) damages the roots and kills the fungi in the soil that the roots depend on for water absorbtion. The roots can not function properly afterwards and even if the soil is wet the roots just dont meet the water demand of the plants. Its a shame that water quality isnt even mentioned on the tags of blueberry plants as its probably one of the major causes for failure growing these plants. Soil ph is another issue that will cause problems but if your leafs werent turning yellow the ph was probably good enough. City water will also raise your soil ph over time and you run into other problems. I would repot the poor thing in a little bigger pot with 70% pine bark mulch, 20% peat moss,10% perilite and a pinch of soil sulfer. If you can find some mycorrhizal fungi use it. Blueberry roots depend on the fungi and will be much happier. I know Berries Unlimited has it on there web site under the blueberry varieties they carry. All that plus rain water equals happy blueberries.