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

I use this for my Golden Raintree. It works perfectly, and what's great is it doesn't touch the trunk at all, unless the wind blows pretty hard. The particular one I use has just has one ring at the top, instead of the rings going all the way down the support, but apparently they're sold out for the season. They're extremely popular.. Here is a link that might be useful: Gardeners Supply Plant Support This post was edited by ilovemytrees on Wed, Jul 17, 13 at 12:33

Apples should be forming by now, just ask daddylonglegs. The bugs are eating his. If there is no fruit forming do you have a)two different varieties of apples that bloomed at the same time or b) crabapples around? Apples are not self fruitful and need pollen from another type of apple to set fruit. tj

Malcolm, The tree doesn't need to be dormant. I've staked trees that were full of fruit and leaning because of the fruit load. I take a 4ft piece of rebar and drive it into the ground around halfway. Then I take galvanized wire and run it through a section of unused garden hose. Then wrap it around the bottom of the tree, until it straightens up, and secure it to the rebar. The garden hose keeps the wire from cutting into the tree. I've used this method for years, and it seems to be a permanent fix. Make sure you use galvanized wire, or else it will rust. There is no need to stress the tree by digging it up. The tree usually will not produce viable fruit the next year, if you do