Thanks Scott, your response is reassuring... I'll try the Bonide Liquid Copper Fungicide Concentrate now so I can have some form of defense for the time being prior to the fall arriving. If this is a good approach. I'm guessing this is a mild solution of the copper as the website mentions about applying this stuff in 7 to 10 day intervals for as long as needed. Although when I looked at the label it says to apply as a dormant spray in late fall during a period of dry weather... Leaves me wondering if this can be used right now during the beginning of summer as a proactive measure. Maybe if I dilute the dosage some it wouldn't be so harsh right now? The plant won't be fruiting this year so I'm not concerned about damaging any fruits right now. The few flowers that it had seemed to dry up and die before they even bloomed.. :( This is the pdf file for the label on the copper fungacide... http://www.bonide.com/lbonide/backlabels/l811.pdf In late fall I could do the Bordeaux fungicide. I believe the Bordeaux be considered a dormant copper spray.. I'm new to all this and really appreciate all the help and suggestions. Thanks for the information blaze... I really think that I was over watering these plants when I first picked them up here from my nursery. I was watering them almost every day and I think twice I sprayed the entire leaves thinking this would help the plant, until I learned that this can invite diseases... :\ I'm hesitant now and wondering if I should wait on any type of mild copper treatments until fall. Maybe this might clear up and get better....? I still have all my fruit trees in pots. I'm planning on growing the nectarine and cherry tree in pots for now. I picked up two huge 24 in pots. These pots are giant. I want to transplant these into them pots real soon here using mels mix. I'm planning on putting these all on a drip irrigation system which I'm currently working on. I actually purchased a whole house filter in which I'll be using for the irrigation to help filter or minimize any chlorine, etc.. Initially I thought this may have been brought on by some sort of deficiency or over watering as I was watering allot on every session... I read that sometimes this can cause nutrients to be washed away from what little soil is in the existing buckets. Doing the finger test wasn't working well for me as the top inch of the soil would feel dry almost daily and I would water about that often not realizing a few more inches below the soil was still moist. I finally purchased a moisture meter which made me realize my trees were not as dry as I was thinking. As a newbie to the outdoor garden I have lots to learn. It's sad to have purchased some fruit trees just to have them go sick in just a few weeks time... Hope I can recover them and learn from this lesson... Question.. When you water a plant, does it matter how long you water the plant at that given moment? Is it possible to water too much if the plants are draining well? The buckets do have their holes on the bottoms and seem to be draining well. Does it make a difference if I watered them for 5 minutes with the hose or 30 minutes with the hose besides my pocket book? As long as I don't water them again until they need watering again? And do these type of stone trees, when using a moisture meter (if anybody in here does) should the readings always be on moist, wet or allowed to go dry prior to watering again?.. If you or anybody else may be familiar with those moister meter levels. Richard S.

Neat pictures, Sherry! That's one kind of butterfly cat that I've never raised. I have willow trees, but they're not very big, about 8 feet. My cherry trees are even smaller, but I never go into the woods where we planted them. That kind of tree gets huge, and I didn't want to put it in our yard, but now if they get cats, I'll never know it. You're so lucky to be able to see the RSP cats. We get the butterflies here, although I don't see them very often. Cathy

"subgenus" may be more appropriate (or maybe not, taxonomists have put both sweet and sour cherries into the subgenus Cerasus). All these different cherry species are very closely related, if one wants to consider them different species. This is one example where the line separating different species is not a clear one. It could even be possible to consider the different cherry families as subspecies. After all, if they can freely interbreed and hybridize with each other, can they not be considered members within the same species? (by this definition we could divide all cherries into only 2 groups: those with 16 chromosomes and those with 32) Or one could attempt to divide cherries into different families: Sweet cherries (P. avium), sour cherries, Black cherries plus Capulin native to the American continent (put into same group), and Asian flowering cherries. Perhaps better classification could be provided if taxonomists utilized multiple degrees of species relatedness/separation, because it is ambiguous whether some of the different cherries should be classified as entirely separate species or subspecies within a singular species, neither of which would be wholly accurate.

Thanks for all of the constructive comments. I have them scheduled for removal in about a week, but I am liking the idea of keeping #2 and am considering that option. If I keep this tree, I would would like to have some branches removed (those that are directly above where the maples will fill in in the next 10 years or so. I am not looking for perfect specimen trees and like the them to look more natural (forest like) with higher branches, and without perfect symmetry. I have marked up the branches that I would have removed (see those marked in red). The yellow represents the locations where the pruning cuts would be. My question is...... would this be too heavy of a removal all at once, and should I have these branches taken out over time? I would like to avoid sprouting, but I know that is a normal reaction (see tree #3 on far right from sever storm damage). Thanks for the great suggestions!