Planting with water rationing: Deep-rooted trees may help. You don't need a dwarfing rootstock to keep deciduous fruit trees small. Choose rootstocks suited to your soil. Prune when the trees are not dormant to limit growth. Prune apricots when rain is not expected for several weeks, to limit disease spread. When trees are just getting started, you can haul water out in a bucket if you need to, using water which you would otherwise waste (keep a bucket in the shower, etc.) Watering deeply, not too frequently, is preferable. Or, you can use drip irrigation which lowers your total water usage. Multi-grafting: You can purchase multi-grafted trees to increase the number of varieties in your yard, or plant trees close together and keep them small. Either option is especially appropriate for early-blooming trees which need cross-pollination before bees are very active, like many of the Pluots. Multi-grafted trees need care to keep the most vigorous variety from over-taking the others. Prune when the tree is dormant where you want to encourage tip growth, when the tree is not dormant where you do not want to encourage new growth. If you want to try grafting your own varieties, you can get some valuable instructions on this forum. See link below. If you love to cook, there are several possibilities among the plums, in addition to Santa Rosa and the European plums. Laroda was named by Sunset several years ago as the best Japanese plum for cooking. It resembles Santa Rosa, but is sweeter and hangs on the tree in good condition longer. Santa Rosa is still a classic for flavor (some may come from a wild California plum), as a pollenizer and for ease of care. Laroda is not self-pollenizing like Santa Rosa. Other Japanese cultivars recommended for cooking are Mariposa or Satsuma (for jam), Wickson (for sauce), Nubiana (turns red). Queen Anne is said to keep its shape when cooked. Flavor King Pluot is also recommended for cooking. As in cobblers and sauce for ice cream. And of course apricots and cane berries are great for cooking. Here is a link that might be useful: Grafting tips

You are supposed to spray 3 times--Fall, midwinter and just before bud break. Dormant oil (for bugs) is not supposed to be done at the same time as sprays for diseases (copper or sulphur) You can't spray right before a rain. I find this impossible. My trees didn't even lose their leaves until Thanksgiving, and I had to hand-strip a lot of them. And as you may remember, we then had a MAJOR freeze (for us) and then it started raining and then fog and then rain, etc. I was going to do it after New Year's but got busy. And then SPROING! we had a little warm-up and my early peaches sprouted leaves, and my pluots have buds already. I sprayed last week-end for diseases, but it's too late for peach-leaf-curl on my early peaches. I haven't gotten around to the dormant oil yet. Do what you can, something is better than nothing, and don't beat yourself up (like I do) if you are late, or you don't follow the "schedule". Remember this is a hobby--it's supposed to be fun! (note to self...) And FYI, I use "Micro-Cop" for diseases (it's OK for organic) becuase I have apricots, and you should NEVER use anything with sulphur-lime on apricots, it can kill them. Carla in Sac

dittos for Dave Wilson. Great nursery. Find a nursery in your area that participates in they special order program (the Dave Wilson web site below can help you locate one) They take orders for as little as one of any variety about this time of year. Then they all come in during the winter as bare root. It's a great way to get some of they varieties that are hard to find and hard to get. You just need to plan ahead a bit and order early and wait for them to come in. http://www.davewilson.com/br40/retailers/SOFT_dealers.html

spraying after bloom drop is ok. I am with "vgkg" also "konrad" is right about the time. We have a small grove of fruit trees and spray when it is needed. These are your trees in your yard. I would spray when it is needed, regardless of what your neighbor wants. Just please be mindful of ALL bees not just his. If it was me I would just let them be mad. Some times there is just no pleasing others