HI J, I have 3 peach trees. All have fruited in 2-3 years. I did not really amend the soil except for adding some top soil to fill the holes because I did not have enough native soil to put back. In my areas, rocks grow best. Rocks and boulders are everywhere when you dig a hole. I've fertilized the tree a bit in the spring each of the following years. I don't want to fertilize too much. If I were you, I'd get rid of competing weed around each tree and mulch it. Your apple tree looks stunted. A 3 yrs old apple tree should not look like that even in your type of soil. Not sure why, but you may want to consider relocating it. The soil in my yard is also land fill. The trees still grow decently. As for apple fruiting, I have apple trees that have fruited in 2nd and 3rd year on semi-dwarf rootstocks. My Honey Crisp is on an unknown rootstock. It must be at least 6 years old now but still have not fruited. My guess is it's on a standard rootstock which will take much longer. Make sure you have another variety of apple that blooms about the same time to cross pollinate. If there are crab apple trees in your neighborhood, you'd be all set.

Your trees were pruned to be trees, not bushes. They appear to be at least 3 years old. Really hard to tell age because some trees are more vigorous than others. For instance, I had a Fig in a pot for two years, then planted it in ground. Suddenly that little thing trippled in size and it's trunk(s) became thick. Now it's huge, and I think nobody would guess it's only 4 years old. It's got about 15 figs per branch and there are a lot of branches. Every year, as your trees grow older, they will put out more figs. Really hard to know what a potted fig can produce. A lot depends on variety too. I don't have LSU Purple, but my Celeste is very productive. At 2 years old, it has about 20 figs, but it's still in it's pot and has worked it's way into the ground. This year when it's dormant, it will be planted in ground. You'll just have to be patient and wait. The figs will come. We get mild snow fluries here in winter maybe for a day or two, so planting in containers isn't important, but many who live where it snows have to bring their containers in for protection from freeze. I know you rent so want to take them with you. Good plan! :-)

I watered him only when the top inch felt dry and gave him lots of indirect sunlight. However, in the past couple of days, I've noticed brown spots/speckles on the lower leaves and the stems. I have also been reading similar posts from other members and Al's explanations, so I'm assuming the problem is mainly due to overwatering, root rot and/or insects. I also am seeing the fiddle's roots on top of the soil so the best bet seems to be repotting. Having come to this conclusion, I am planning to repot the guy by following Al's famous gritty mix recipe. The brown specks on the leaves are likely oedema, which occurs when the plant's internal water pressure becomes high enough to break through cell walls. The cell's contents then burst and leak into intercellular spaces in the surrounding tissue, which causes a saturated spot that eventually turns corky. The elongated spots on stem structures are openings in the stem's young periderm (bark) called lenticels. Their job is to provide openings through which internal gasses can escape and oxygen from surrounding air can enter the plant's tissue, which requires this gas exchange to remain viable. There is one question, however, that I have not been able to find an answer to anywhere in the forums (or perhaps I'm not researching hard enough). When repotting, am I supposed to remove/cut off the affected leaves? No. A plant's only source of food/energy is the sugar it makes during photosynthesis (glucose). Since every leaf is a food factory, removing them leaves the plant very vulnerable - especially so if it has been growing under stress or strain, leaving it w/o enough energy reserves to push a new flush of foliage. None of my leaves have crispy brown tips, mostly brown speckles on the back of the leaves as well as all over the stems (petiole?). I have seen some people cut away parts of the affected leaves, but that doesn't seem like the best option for me as the speckles are not necessarily concentrated in specific areas. The lower leaves are also starting to droop. If I am not supposed to cut the affected leaves, do they eventually go back to "normal" and lose the spots after repotting and following the correct procedures? Animals are regenerative organisms and can "heal" by regenerating new tissues in the same spacial position as damaged tissued. Plants are not capable of doing that, so damage cannot heal. A blemished leaf will always have the blemishes until the leaf is no more. I guess what I ultimately want to know is, "how do I get rid of the spots?" Some trees are prolific back-budders, IOW, they form new branches from dormant buds above old (leaf) bundle scars and from adventitious buds that arise from the plant's meristematic tissues. Meristematic tissues have cells (STEM cells, thus meriSTEMatic) that are capable of differentiating into any of the plant's organs. You can get rid of spots by getting rid of leaves - by defoliating the entire tree in the summer and when the plant is in a very high state of vitality (has lots of stored energy); or, you can cut the plant back hard and train a new branch to a vertical orientation as the new leader. All the new leaves on the new branches that occur will be pristine, as long as you're able to provide cultural conditions that favor the tree. Your job, as grower, is to identify and eliminate those conditions that are limiting or have the potential to inhibit the plant's ability to realize its genetic potential. That's how I look at growing, and it's served me very well. You can start by making sure you're maintaining a healthy ratio of air:water in the root zone and are fertilizing regularly and appropriately. That air:water thing is by far the most prevalent stumbling block, usually related to a less than ideal soil choice, for most growers ..... and not just the new ones. And YES, you can still repot w/o having to worry about timing. I'd say you're good up until the middle of Aug, or maybe even the first of SEP if it was really important that you repot this year. Still, sooner is better. Al

I buy mine for $30 a cubic yard. The farmer who makes it gets mountains of leaves from landscapers, and they are mostly shredded because they are picked up with mowers. He also uses some horse manure and bedding, and some grass clippings. There are some weed seeds, and I usually screen out some rocks and wood pieces, as well as some plastic. I think it does take at least 2 or 3 years to be finished and aged, the piles are only turned once a year in winter when the ground is frozen and he can get a bulldozer in there. I have made small quantities in garbage bags before, it also took 2 years. Check on craigslist, there might be someone close by and you can save a lot of time and effort for a very reasonable amount of money. If you can get a small sample first that would be good, test it for broadleaf herbicides by mixing 50-50 and planting some bean seeds, and compare those seedlings to ones planted in just potting mix.