At has been known for a long time that cutting back the tops reduces growth of new roots after planting. Growth of new roots is triggered by hormones sent down from opening winter buds at stem ends. Cutting off the ends of the stems takes away these buds. Arbitrary top pruning also has the disadvantage of deforming the top, is liable to result in hedge-like congested sprouting of small side branches. Root pruning before transplanting has not really been shown to be worthwhile as a routine practice. Multiple variables all have to line up perfectly for it to confer an advantage.

A bitter winter could kill the roots and the tree if they are all in potting soil but this can be averted by several inches of insulating mulch (or snow). Just make sure you trap out or poison all field mice (voles) in the area during fall so they don't girdle your trees in winter. If you have pine voles in your area they seem to like eating roots of trees in potting soil, maybe because its a great medium for them to get around in- soft easy digging and relatively dry. It's a good idea to protect the trunks with some kind of barrier- even foil works well. You can remove it when trees begin to grow in spring. If you have rabbits, protection must stay well above the snow line.

Bob, I have many zig-zag plantings, you and I are thinking alike! In fact the majority of my trees are in this form. The idea has also been around for some time, I found some Italian researchers exploring this idea in the 1970's, they called it a "double row". My double rows I did more narrowly than yours; I have apples with only 1.5' diagonal, and my pears and Euro plums have a ~2.75' diagonal. These double row spacings have not been a big success, and its one reason why I was above complaining about problems with Euro plums and pears (the apples actually worked out OK, they fruited well, but they are still too much hassle to prune). I didn't mention the fact that they were double rows above, but I think that made the close spacing problem even worse for my problematic Euro plums and pears. Your double-rows are a lot wider than I made mine, with 4' between the zig and the zag. That may make things work for you, not sure. The one case where I feel a double row has so far worked well is in a peach/plum planting I did a few years ago, I did them at about 5' horizontal spacing and about 4' vertical. So, given how peaches are a bit more vigorous than a dwarf apple I could see 4' working for you. Your pears are only two and have more space on all the other sides so 4' would not be as big a deal for those two; if you had a long row of pears I would make the zig/zag width be 5' or 6' minimum. Overall I'm not sure how much help if any the zig/zag is over just putting the trees in a straight line at the same net spacing (i.e. putting your apples in a line at 3'), but its worth experimenting with. Scott

Cookie, you will probably get several different answers to your questions, but.....The lard will make a more tender, flakier pie crust. I freeze fruit pies unbaked.