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

Ravenh that is positively decadent, even by the standards of some of my wealthiest clients. I've seen 100 year old trees that might be worth it if you think of the trees as a living sculpture but I've never seen a 50 year old that was so extraordinarily beautiful to be worth that investment. In the neighborhoods of Greenwich, CT and parts of Westchester, NY (my main work domain) rich folks often purchase 10-20 year old trees from distant commercial orchards. I was called onto an estate owned by a leading fashion-designer- clothing manufacturer where a 50 tree orchard like this had been installed at about 3 grand a tree and after 3 years the trees were completely stunted. The high end nursery responsible for the installation failed to solve the problem even though it was quite obvious when I poked around. The holes had been dug by the same tree spade that dug up the trees so they were the same size as the root ball. The soil was a silt that compacted from pressure from the tree spade and roots could not cross the glazed walls of the planting holes. I proscribed breaking up the soil with shovels from the edge to a few feet beyond the original root ball and didn't hear back from the contractor who subcontracted me for the consultation. A few years later a friend on mine got the contract for the property and subcontracted me to tend the apples and they were in great shape, having completely recovered. I'm taking full credit, of course, although none of the trees were left untreated as a control. In this business when things go well you better take credit because when they don't you will certainly be blamed.

Parker,I have been thinking of the same thing too--about the cold, particularly about the damage that was caused to it in 2010. I think the fertility of the tree might have been greatly compromised because otherwise the foliage growth seems to be prolific. In fact, I have had to trim off the branches every year up to 3 ft from their tips. Trying to keep it from growing taller and broader was a chore .. lol. Right now, it stands at least at 16 ft if not 18 ft. This all happened after the tree died down to 1/3 of its original size. Before the freeze, it was about 6-7 ft tall. I think something weird must have happened that made this tree to behave in a way that is most unpredictable. My other lychee trees although are slow in catching up, they do eventually put up a show of a full crown blooms. This year, I'm so happy to see my Hap Ip and Sweet Heart in full blooms. I'm thankful that my Brewster regularly fruits, although it seems to be showing a year of heavy alternate with a year of light bloom. This year, it's going on a light bloom mode. Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all will go well as I also have to keep down the web worm infestation. So far, the BT we're spraying seems to be working. It's not a chemical, but a kind of a bacterium culture that the larvae from the web worm feed on. It makes them sick so they'll stop eating the young floral parts. They have been eating my Sweetheart every year until we found this wonderful spray. We're also spraying it on our mangoes as they also attack them. If you keep some lychees in your yard, it would be nice if you share pix of some of your plants.

Actually, my dad grafted on, either a different plum tree branch or one from the same tree, and it did grow and produce little fruit. I actually, pruned this branch off the other day. The prune tree is over-shadowing a lemon tree we have and since the lemon tree actually produces fruit we use, I thought it was best to just prune the plum tree back. I still want to prune it back some more, and if possible, somehow get a pollinator companion tree to go along with it. The problem is, there's no space.