Stanley plums are black knot magnets but they are super reliable if taken care of.

Apples have lots of disease and insect pressures with the prevalence of wild apple, orchards and crab a. trees. I have gotten excellent results with little spray bagging apples here on LI. Pollination is a not an issue I've had same year grafts bloom and had apples, even nectarine budding.

I like Johnathan(the apple) Oh Johnathan Oh Johnathan! Walks out to the tree now.

Thanks Ace. I had been thinking of bagging since it would only be one tree. What is the little spray that you use with bagging?

My plum definitely was not a Stanley. I'm not certain exactly what it was since it was planted by the prior owners of my house. Based on the small size, purple outside and red inside, my theory is that it is a Methley, but I don't really know. Unfortunately I knew nothing about fruit tree care until I noticed that it was totally infested last June. Oh well. Live and learn I guess.

I manage lots of orchards just a few miles above and east of you. You can probably control all your important pests with only 2 sprays if you add Once and Done with the Funginex and there should be no health issues with the kids.

Make first spray at petal fall and second 10 to 14 days.

If you choose to go non-toxic you can probably do well with 4 applications of Surround starting at petal fall with weekly applications. Funginex in the mix should handle scab and CAR.

Of course the squirrels will likely eat all your apples. They just love Honeycrisp.

rweissman,

Let me add my 2 cents...as in...plant 2 trees. You have 2 kids one tree for each. Just keep the trees small semi-dwarf or dwarf and trim,trim,trim.

That was my mistake I planted for landscaping not managing apple trees and the trees got to big.

Cost of sprays, equipment, tools, time and fungus...the bigger they are the harder they are to care for. You will get plenty of apples with a proper spaying program for your size family with small trees. If not and you need more apples then let them grow...
md

Thanks harvestman. That sounds fairly simple - except for the squirrels. I used to livetrap woodchucks and take them across the river to a county park in Rockland County, but we have a lot more squirrels than woodchucks. Oh well. I'll wait to worry about the squirrels until I actually have a tree that's producing fruit.

MD - Thanks for your two cents. Unfortunately I really only have space for one semi-dwarf tree. The only way I could put in two trees would be to make one of them espalier or columnar, or to plant two in one hole.

From what I've read, the two in one hole idea might work since the roots fighting each other for water and nutrients would naturally dwarf both trees. I gather that I would have to find two with the same level of vigor so one doesn't crowd out the other. I haven't seen very much written about how well this works though, or what additional pruning requirements there might be with this kind of an arrangement. Hmmm.... Something else to think about.

Don't plant 2 in a hole. It makes no sense for apples or pears which are so easy to graft.

Thanks again harvestman. That makes sense. I really appreciate your input.

If you find that you must spray, keep in mind, that if you follow the directions and only spray as needed, your fruit will still be much cleaner than what you would buy at the market. Much of that fruit comes from Chile and Mexico where there are absolutely no restrictions on spraying or upon what is used to spray, so who knows what or how much might be on that fruit.

I think it is a very good experience for children to have a fruit tree.

ok one other thought for that second tree for pollinating if you don't have the room. Buy a dwarf tree and plant it in a pot. I have seen some small dwart trees that are just a single stick and with trimming it may work for you. good luck.
md

Thanks Oregon, that is good to know, both from the perspective of knowing what we are getting at the supermarket and regarding the relative safety of doing it yourself. I agree about kids and growing things. We got a ton of black raspberries this summer, a bunch of blueberries and a single solitary tart cherry and the kids had a fantastic time picking and eating them all. And I had a great time watching them enjoy themselves. They would go absolutely crazy if they could pick their own apples too.

MD, thanks for the suggestion. Before I finally decided to take down my plum I had been thinking about an espalier apple as a sort of fence near the edge of my lawn, or maybe a columnar apple tree squeezed in somewhere. So I will probably go back to that in order to work a second one in once I replace the plum.

I planted a pre-started espalier pear this past spring and I really enjoyed working on it. Right now it's a living fence at the edge of my flower garden. Hopefully next year I'll get a pear or two.