I have a fruitless crabapple. I think it was called Spring Snow. No doubt there are others on the market. As for bird droppings, they would only be a problem if you have few other trees or shelter for them. My fruiting trees that are bird magnets are planted in mulched beds, so any droppings go unseen. Pondy

Its just coming out of dormancy. This is a trees most vulnerable time to diseases. For most trees, the dormant season, late fall or winter, is the best time to prune although dead branches can and should be removed at any time. Pruning during the dormant period minimizes sap loss and subsequent stress to the tree. It also minimizes the risk of fungus infection or insect infestation as both fungi and insects are likely to be in dormancy at the same time as the tree. Finally, in the case of deciduous trees, pruning when the leaves are off will give you a better idea of how your pruning will affect the shape of the tree. Some fruiting and flowering trees should be pruned at other times of the year, depending on whether they flower on the previous year's growth or not. After pruning, it is always a good idea to give the tree a good fertilizing so that the tree can naturally close the pruning wounds and to reduce the stress placed on the tree. You should also never take off more than 1/3 of a tree in a year as doing so overstresses the plant. I would recommend that you pay a surveyor to come out and mark your property line... If you do not want to goo through that expense then go directly to your city or county property records department. Ask to see the plat map corresponding to your address. Request a copy, which usually costs only a few dollars or less... another option is that you could buy or rent a metal detector and run it around where you suspect the corners of your property are. With any luck you may find one or more of the original survey posts, the tops of which should be at ground level or just below this.... Who knows you may find out that the trees are totally on your property in which case you can cut them down completely and she can fly a kite. Be aware that she may have squatters rights though before you do something like ripping out fences or structures. I dont know your particulars but if its not a tree you care about I would not bother with the company and just take a chainsaw to it yourself. You can rent one really cheaply at most major hardware stores and they can be alot of fun. It is especially nice to do this if you have a fireplace since hackberry makes decent firewood.

Same problems with heat and flower drop up here in northern California. I had all my potted superhot peppers on the back deck so that I could keep an eye on them. But I noticed that the morning sun, reflecting off the windows and heating the deck, was causing the plants to wilt right at the prime time when the flowers would be pollinated. The plant that had the most shade - the Bhut Jolokia - did set a nice pod, so I decided to take my container peppers down to the garden, where they could enjoy dappled sun throughout the day. Within two days in the shadier location, all of my plants have begun to set pods. And, of course, they're all covered in flowers. I have a friend who recently moved from the foothills to the upper Sacramento valley into an apartment. He put his peppers on top of his balcony to get maximum sun, but all of his flowers and even his set pods began to fall off. So I told him to put his plants below the rail in some shade. I haven't checked back with him yet, but I think his plants will be doing better. Josh

I can only mention my own experience with CRW cages and I've made my own in the way past and never attributed anything to those cages damaging fruits and when I moved to this new area in 1999 I used some really rusty cages at one of the places I was using up here and again, never saw any damage from those cages. Sometimes fruits would be up against one of the wires and it would cause a physical dent in those fruits, but never any black spots from rubbing against the wires with fruits or stems. At some areas here where I am now I grew most of my tomatoes by sprawling and a lesser number by caging, the rusty ones, actually, that belonged to the person whose garden area I was using. Carolyn