Thanks Scott, your response is reassuring... I'll try the Bonide Liquid Copper Fungicide Concentrate now so I can have some form of defense for the time being prior to the fall arriving. If this is a good approach. I'm guessing this is a mild solution of the copper as the website mentions about applying this stuff in 7 to 10 day intervals for as long as needed. Although when I looked at the label it says to apply as a dormant spray in late fall during a period of dry weather... Leaves me wondering if this can be used right now during the beginning of summer as a proactive measure. Maybe if I dilute the dosage some it wouldn't be so harsh right now? The plant won't be fruiting this year so I'm not concerned about damaging any fruits right now. The few flowers that it had seemed to dry up and die before they even bloomed.. :( This is the pdf file for the label on the copper fungacide... http://www.bonide.com/lbonide/backlabels/l811.pdf In late fall I could do the Bordeaux fungicide. I believe the Bordeaux be considered a dormant copper spray.. I'm new to all this and really appreciate all the help and suggestions. Thanks for the information blaze... I really think that I was over watering these plants when I first picked them up here from my nursery. I was watering them almost every day and I think twice I sprayed the entire leaves thinking this would help the plant, until I learned that this can invite diseases... :\ I'm hesitant now and wondering if I should wait on any type of mild copper treatments until fall. Maybe this might clear up and get better....? I still have all my fruit trees in pots. I'm planning on growing the nectarine and cherry tree in pots for now. I picked up two huge 24 in pots. These pots are giant. I want to transplant these into them pots real soon here using mels mix. I'm planning on putting these all on a drip irrigation system which I'm currently working on. I actually purchased a whole house filter in which I'll be using for the irrigation to help filter or minimize any chlorine, etc.. Initially I thought this may have been brought on by some sort of deficiency or over watering as I was watering allot on every session... I read that sometimes this can cause nutrients to be washed away from what little soil is in the existing buckets. Doing the finger test wasn't working well for me as the top inch of the soil would feel dry almost daily and I would water about that often not realizing a few more inches below the soil was still moist. I finally purchased a moisture meter which made me realize my trees were not as dry as I was thinking. As a newbie to the outdoor garden I have lots to learn. It's sad to have purchased some fruit trees just to have them go sick in just a few weeks time... Hope I can recover them and learn from this lesson... Question.. When you water a plant, does it matter how long you water the plant at that given moment? Is it possible to water too much if the plants are draining well? The buckets do have their holes on the bottoms and seem to be draining well. Does it make a difference if I watered them for 5 minutes with the hose or 30 minutes with the hose besides my pocket book? As long as I don't water them again until they need watering again? And do these type of stone trees, when using a moisture meter (if anybody in here does) should the readings always be on moist, wet or allowed to go dry prior to watering again?.. If you or anybody else may be familiar with those moister meter levels. Richard S.

FWIW, I got one apricot tree from Stark Bros. and it was healthy but half the size/caliper of those from Raintree, Dave Wilson Nursery or One Green World but comparable price. I am no expert but I would cut the leader back by half to relieve the burden on the (insufficient) root system (as above so below). It will grow back once the roots get established. I cut all my new trees down to 24" above the graft union. The one I did not, because I want it to provide shade, had a skimpy root system and did not show signs of life for many weeks after all the others were fully leafed out - I should have cut that one back too.

John. If your growing using compost and organic fertilizers that "weakly weekly" method does more harm than good to the beneficial bacteria in the soil. I would suggest a slow release organic fertilizer and, if you need to, an organic liquid micro formula. Also if your soil Ph is too high OM and elemental sulfur will eventually bring your Ph under control. Its the use of chemical fertilizers (ie Miracle Grow and the like) that over time depletes your soil of anything organic (including earthworms, mychorrizae and beneficial bacteria) eventually the only thing that helps your plants is the "weakly weekly" method because your plants become so dependent on the chemical fertilizer due to having nothing of substance in the soil. I used to use chelated fertilizer in my soil until I began reading the soil forum. The good thing about organic gardening is once you get your soil established you rarely have to feed your trees as most of the nutrients your trees need is in the soil. The only time I use liquid soluble non organic fertilizer is in my containers and pots. For my in ground trees I have begun a schedule of using compost with %10 worm castings twice a year, tree specific organic fertilizer with chicken or steer manure and beneficial bacteria with mycorrizae 3 times a year covered with pine chips once a year. I also purchased some earth juice micro blast just in case I see micro deficiency. And to help bring down the Ph of my soil I have been using an elemental sulfur blend combined with compost and OM. I figured my soil had been depleted so bad from my grandfather using nothing but chemicals over the last 40 years that I would bring the soil back to its natural best. So far things are looking good and more earthworms are returning. I had ZERO before so any is a plus:-) To answer the OPs question...If your tree is small enough you can just squeeze the CLM (youll find it on one side of the leaf kind of wrapped in it) with your fingers and they will pop and die. No need for chemicals. Here is a link that might be useful:

Most plants will grow new roots once their pots can drain. That will use a lot of energy, so although it should stop declining, don't be surprised if it takes a while before the the plant starts to look a lot better. My guess is that you weren't checking the soil at the bottom of the pot, which stayed wet enough to kill roots that tried to grow. In the future, break a 3/8" (or thereabouts) dowel in half and sharpen all four ends in a pencil sharpener or with a utility knife. Push the dowel through the soil all the way to the bottom of the pot, wait a few seconds, and don't water until it is completely dry and unstained by soil, at which point there's still plenty of moisture inside the soil particles available to the roots even though it feels dry. Watering without drainage can leave harmful mineral deposits in the soil. Get rid of them by flushing the pot with 10 times its capacity of room temperature R/O water (sold cheaply from supermarket machines). Then fertilize with a solution of something like like Miracle Grow 3:1:2 General Purpose granules until 10-15% of the solution drains from the pot. When I did this to my mineral-strangled ficuses I could almost hear them sign with relief.