Spray as close to harvest as the label on the fungicide allows you. Yes, spray the summer sprays starting in July and spray through August, maybe even into September depending on the weather. I try to spray every 21 days or so. One inch of rain, cut the time in half, two inches of rain, respray. I usually do my last PC spray by the middle of July and then summer sprays from then on, as many as needed based on the weather. Commercial instructions will probably tell you to spray every 10-14 days, we don't need every fruit perfect for home use. I store my best keeping apples for winter use and the ones least perfect or not good keepers I use first. Keep in mind many sources on the internet are advising commerical production of fruit. I managed to have home grown apples year round. My winesap, granny smiths, stayman, and Arkansas Black from last year lasted until my McIntosh came in this year. I just started eating the Macs a few days ago. My goldrush hasn't started producing yet but I look forward to adding that one to my winter collection. As a side note, I was at our local farmer's market over the weekend just looking around when I saw the appleman. He had Granny Smiths that he "just picked", here in zone 7 (Virginia)I usually pick mine very late October or early November. I try to pick them just before a killing frost, which seems to get later every year. From experience I expect it would take a rather heavy frost to damage the Granny Smith apple. I have missed ones on the tree and found them in late November and they were good.

"If your suffer from the heart break of SCS (Soggy Cereal Syndrome), you can spoon the flakes/circles/no-longer-crunchys out of the milk, lay them out on a dish towel, and use a portable hair dryer on them." LOLOLOLOL Too funny David! "Sog" doesn't bother me altho I don't eat cereal but I adore a nicely made bread pudding. Especially with a tasty rum sauce on it. Gotta make one soon. Yummm... I *have* to put bread crusts in my compost as they are from really good homemade wholewheat bread but I don't like crusts all that much and the dog can only eat a few. She's only a little dog. And I'm old enough to refuse to eat crusts if I don't want to. ;-) I just cover the crusts with shavings/horse manure and they are aaalllll gone. This thread is hilarious except for dorisl's yucky pic. Not looking at that again. AND those horrid links of planaria pics - you can only suck me into looking at those once, Annpat, I'm not opening those again! Let the newbies gag at your awful pics! Altho, truth be known I'm pretty close to loving you as well! haha

I think your best bet is to take as many good and close up photos as you can, and send them to your local ag agent for a diagnosis and treatment recommendation. Make sure the water is pooling out at the outer ring of the water well, and not collecting around the trunk (which should be the case if you've planted on a mound). And, I've already chatted with you about the philosophy regarding amending your soil, and John has mentioned this as well. Since you're in TX, I would check Texas A&M's web site to see if they have any information on growing citrus. You can also check with your local Master Gardener's chapter as well, to see if they have any publications on growing dooryard citrus. All these places will have local suggestions that are appropriate for your climate, soil, cultivars, fertilizing timing, etc. Since I've not dealt with scab, or really any fungal issues besides phytophthora, I am not sure what's happening with the leaves, but your ag agent will certainly know. Patty S.

I searched GW back pages for our discussion about 2 years ago regarding spraying young tomato fruit with calcium solutions while the skins are still permeable and apparently that discussion has fallen off into never neverland. Sorry. Maybe someone with knowledge of accessing the wayback machine can find it. Doesn't make a hill of beans to me, really. Again, with regard to blossom end rot (BER), I think cultural practices are preferred and more effective than spraying (or otherwise topical applications of) calcium. Keep the soil pH at 5.8 or 6.5 which is a bit on the acid side of 7.0 neutral pH. Perform a soil test to determine the pH of your tomato bed. If a base material is needed to raise the alkalinity of soil up to 5.8 to 6.5, apply the recommended rate of lime using dolomitic or high-calcium natural limestone. Be sure to apply lime two to four months before planting tomatoes to give the calcium time to marry into the soil. Also apply the required (recommended for tomatoes) amount of fertilizer, when necessary, based on soil test results. Healthy tomato plants depend on the correct balance of nutrients and ample supply of micronutrients. But applying too much fertilizer at one time can induce BER, especially too much nitrogen. By following soil test recommendations you ensure proper soil fertility. Mulch heavy with high organic content mulch to conserve moisture and help bind nutrients for root health. Good mulching practices will dramatically reduce incidences of BER. Some varieties of tomato tend to be more sensitive to conditions that cause BER. Some varieties are known to be susceptible to BER while some varieties are known to be resistant. If you are growing heirlooms or paste tomatoes, try growing several varieties and keep notes regarding incidents of BER, etc. Depending on "mono-culture" (growing one variety for one purpose) with tomatoes is a sure route to disappointment for the hobby gardener or home canner. Mix it up a bit. Keep plants adequately irrigated. Tomato plants need the equivelent of 1.5 inches rainfall weekly during the fruiting cycle. Too dry soil can exacerbate BER and chronic wetness can drown roots, shut them down and cause BER. Also, radical fluctuations in soil moisture can result in a greater incidence of BER ... like letting your containers or beds go dry and then soaking them down. Even watering is the key. Be very careful not to roto-till, hoe or otherwise cultivate the soil within the major root zone of a tomato plant. Root pruning during fruit development will cause BER! Again, mulch heavy and maybe lay down walking path boards to protect against soil compaction or root damage especially when your rows are close together and the root zone extends into the space between the plant rows. If you still intend to experiment with or apply calcium directly to the plants (topical applications whether foliar or to the fruit itself), spray them with a calcium solution at the rate of 4 tablespoons (level, not heaping) calcium chloride or calcium nitrate per one gallon of water. Always be careful with calcium chloride because at daytime temperatures above 85* F, calcium chloride can burn tomato plants. If you have to spray calcium during high temp. conditions, calcium nitrate is a better choice. Problem, again, with spraying calcium is that you need to spray two or three times a week beginning when the second flower blossoms begin blooming, assuming you're getting fruit set, to do any good delivering the calcium to its target destination inside the developing young fruit walls. And I think that may risk altering soil pH. But you can test for that at the end of the season and, if needed, add sulfur to rebalance your soil toward acidity. Remember, spraying calcium will not substitute for proper cultural practices such as cultivar selection, soil fertility management, mulching, or proper irrigation. Also, if you get BER, immediately remove and discard the damaged fruit because the rot will continue to degrade the tomato and provide bacteria and fungi a route into the plant.