Axel, the USDA may be working hard at eradicating viruses from commercial stock but the concern may have little to do with the concerns of non-commercial growers. The viruses are out there and pretty much beyond eradication when apple trees sprout up in so many different places and beyond the sphere of the USDA. The reason you are concerned is because it has been a problem for you- maybe because you have so many varieties in so little space from so many different sources. If and when it becomes a problem for me in even one of the scores of orchards I manage, I too will become concerned, but if the problem was as severe as you portray it I don't see how I've avoided it so far with such a wide range of sites where I'm planting new trees next to 100 year+ apple trees multiple times every season. In addition to this I'm often hired as a consultant on sites where I've been sought because of difficult problems others were unable to diagnose. I admit it could possibly be a problem that I'm overlooking where production is less than I'd like but I am unaware of the cause- not every orchard I manage does as well as I would like. Still, I haven't seen any obvious symptoms. Many of my sites have old trees nearby that aren't going to be removed unless they die so viruses are pretty much a fact of life here. We still get plenty of fine apples. Maybe in the climate here the viruses are less destructive.

Are you kidding? Did you really pay $129 for that tree? If so, WHY??? Is it too late to ask for your money back? If you're stuck with the tree, I think one of the leaders must go, but the situation should have been taken care of long ago. If you do have to keep the tree and decide to remove one of the leaders, cut just outside the branch bark ridge and branch collar (if you find that one exists in this situation). It's hard to tell whether your tree will have a branch collar with the picture you posted. Many times a branch collar won't exist with a split leader like the one on your tree. The tree should still eventually cover over the wound, but it may take longer. I would remove the leader (the one that you decide to remove) in late winter or very early spring which is the ideal time for the tree to quickly cover over pruning wounds. Personally, I'd remove it near the end of this winter weather it was planted this year or before.

yes it WILL need to be pruned... but wait a year ... without links to the websites... its hard to understand why they want immediate pruning... MAYBE ... its production pruning vs amateur pruning ... what we suggest involves making decisions to make success easy ... if you want to experiment.. and perhaps fail ... go for it ... an orchard guy may plant 100's of trees per year.. maybe a bit more practice than us... and doesnt really care if he has a 10% fail rate .... he will do things we may not... if its your one tree .. and you are basically a novice... err toward the safe side ... good luck ken PS: looks just like my bing cherry that g-pa bought 2 years ago .... we did the surgery this season ... now if i can just figure out how to keep the jap. beetles away ...

Greeting fellow lovers of the soil! My name is Megan and I'm currently a student. My husband and I moved to the Denver metro area in August of 2012 from central Oklahoma. We had a less than successful container garden going on our spacious porch for our first year gardening there. We now live technically in Denver, but a stone's throw from Cherry Creek Reservoir. I grew up in a very rural town with a population of around 1,000 people, so living in the city has been a major change for me especially. I am very much a country girl. My husband, on the other hand, has lived in smaller cities most of his life, and even lived in Honolulu for many years. We both long to escape the city life together one day, but that will have to wait for now. Growing up, my dad and his wife had a hog and horse farm and they also had a decent sized garden. I remember the joys of wandering the garden wide eyed and curious. My farm experience was short lived however, but was the sort of experience that stays with a person for life. It is where my connection with and love of nature began. I would love to work at a garden center eventually, but am not sure if I would be hired due to lack of experience. That said, I'd also love to take horticulture classes if there were any closer to me. For now I have just been doing my own horticulture research in my spare time until I can attend formal classes for it. As for my gardening space, it is minimal currently. We have moved into a nice apartment with a balcony, so that is what we got. Due to this fact, I am always looking for new ideas for vertical gardening. I'm mostly growing in plastic pots, 5 and 3 gallon buckets, crates, coffee cans, and basically whatever I can get my hands on that fits on the balcony lol. This is really only my second season growing anything, so yes, I'm a newb. But we all have to start somewhere.