Scott has given you some good advice. My biggest concern with plums is bacterial spot and cracking. As Scott and Frank mention, they are subject to insect attack. However, I can control those with spray. I can't easily control cracking and bac. spot, so I like to have some resistance in the cultivar for those. One problem with some of these Japanese plums is that they bloom too early for our area. For that reason (plus I'm not that hip on the flavor of some of them) I eventually pulled out all my Japanese hybrid type plums. I'm south of KC and they would not crop regularly for me, due to Spring frosts. It is a widely accepted backyard practice to plant 2,3,4 trees per hole, and many have had success doing it. However, in Kansas we have more wind than most folks and multiple trees per hole can tend to blow over. The trees have unbalanced root anchorage and unbalanced weight distribution that causes them to blow over in a strong wind. However, if your trees are in a protected wind location, I would say go with the multiple trees per hole. We do have significant Oriental Fruit moth and Plum Curculio pressure in my area. However, if you are in KC itself, and there are not a lot of other fruit trees around, you may not have much of a problem with these pests. Lastly, you of course are the best judge of your neighbors, but remember some of your neighbors are probably already applying pesticides to their lawns. There shouldn't be any difference in spraying your trees. One neighbor has commented on how they like our orchard. It is pretty during bloom, and they seem to appreciate the fruit I give them. As of yet, no one has complained about my spraying, but I try to be careful to keep it on my own property. Below is my Website. Here is a link that might be useful: Tubby Fruits

Bob, I have Court Pendu Plat in about 6 hours of sun. I had it too crammed but thinned some trees around it so hopefully next year I will get a better crop. Its a decent apple, its of the yellow-fleshed school along with Pomme Cloche, Roxbury Russet, Reinette Clochard, De Jaune, Pitmaston Pineapple, and Orleans Reinette. All these guys have yellow flesh and lots of sweets and sours and not much aromatics. They are all fairly similar in taste; I have found Roxbury Russet the most reliable. My Margil had a big load this year but the squirrels got nearly all. It still has a few so hopefully I will get a harvest. Its a later apple, October if I recall. The tree is stunningly non-vigorous, I thought it was too crammed in so pruned away its neighbors but its still scrawny. I had good Swaar a long time ago but have only gotten mediocre ones recently. My original graft died and the new one is not yet fruiting so I don't have much in the way of results on it. So far this year Cherryville Black has been my favorite new apple, it is an early apple that has been hanging well on the tree without going mealy too fast. It is very sweet with a well-balanced flavor. Smallness and mild russet will keep it from ever being a mainstream apple. Akane was excellent-tasting but they rot too much. Scott

Some degree of resistance, allowing the plant to live longer, just means that plant is a more efficient reservoir and transmitter of the disease. So I don't think this finding should scare anyone away from Flower Carpet. There is no indication here as to whether the resistant species are carriers or not. But if many species are resistant, obviously there's a chance of breeding resistant garden roses. The history part of this article seems faulty. As I understand, RRD is probably indigenous to North America. The acute problem began when people in the ag school at Iowa State took it from the California mountains and spread it to the multiflora population on the Great Plains.

Well, we got some rain a week or so back and now the foliage on my tomato plants looks pathetic. I guess it is that time of year any way, but it had been so dry that we hadn't had much disease problem yet. Well, we've got it now. Spider mites are showing up, but....it is July and we're having a drought, so I'm not surprised. Here's the latest variety report: These tomatoes have done well this year and I'll plant them again next year. They all have had good to excellent flavor. LARGE-FRUITED: Black Krim--excellent flavor, high producer Black From Tula--very good flavor, medium producer Black Prince--very good favor, average producer Brandywine--excellent flavor, low producer Brandywine OTV--excellent flavor, low producer Mortgage Lifter--excellent flavor but low producer Mortgage Lifter VFN--excellent flavor but low producer Better Boy--very good flavor, high producer Big Boy--good flavor, high producer Beefmaster--good flavor, excellent producer Early Girl--good flavor, excellent producer Celebrity--good flavor, excellent producer Dr. Wyche's Yellow--very good flavor, fairly large number of fruit Jubilee--very good flavor, lots of fruit, also very early for its size Nebraska Wedding--excellent flavor, although milder than most, takes a long-time to ripen Cherokee Purple--excellent flavor, productivity varies Arkansas Traveler--very good flavor, good producer Boxcar Willie--very good flavor Aunt Ruby's German Green--very good flavor Azoychka (flavor was very good, but plant has sparse foliage and seems to struggle. Still I'd give it another year.) SMALL FRUITED: Super Snow White (cherry) excellent flavor Riesentraube (cherry) very good flavor and very reliable Sweet Chelsea (cluster) excellent flaor Sun Gold (cherry) absolutely the best cherry Rosalita (grape)) (similar to the 2005 AAS winner, Sugary, in appearance but has much better flavor) Sweet Million (cherry) monster plant with heavy production and flavor that is superior to Sweet 100 Ildi (grape) simply wonderful Black Cherry (plum-shaped grape) very yummy Porter (because it produces in the August heat when not much else does) Yellow Pear (next year might be its last year here, as Ildi tastes so much better and has better disease resistance) WHAT'S NOT COMING BACK: Green Grape--bland Green Zebra--OK, but nothing special Lime Green--OK, but nothing special Sugary--not nearly as good as the similar Rosalita Sweetie Red Cherry--flavor is good, but not very disease resistant Southern Night--no disease resistance Black From Tula--poor performance in comparison to other black tomatoes with lower production and less disease resistance Delicious (if size were the only goal, this would be a keeper, but I like tomatoes with flavor, and this one doesn't have much) SunSugar FT--not as tasty or as disease-resistant as SunGold Sioux--nothing special Super Sioux--also nothing special Zapotec Pleated--the only tomato I've ever grown that I know for sure had Tomato Mosaic Virus Oxacan Pink--bland flavor Super Boy--plants produce round, fairly bland fruit in huge abundance but it had foliar problems from the start. If the fruit had better flavor, I might be more inclined to put up with the sorry appearance of the plant. Mexico--only average flavor German Queen--slow to produce, no disease resistance Old German--slow to produce, no disease resistance UNDECIDED: These plants have been slow to produce ripe fruit, so the jury is still out on them. In some cases, it is not their fault the fruit is late--they were planted really late or in the worst soil in the garden. In some cases, they were planted later than the others AND the others got big quicker and sort of crowded them. All of these will PROBABLY get a second chance next year. Cherokee Chocolate Earl's Faux Aunt Ginny's Purple Marianna's Peace Galina's Yellow Paul Robeson Kellogg's Breakfast Ceylon Marglobe Mule Team Russian Persimmon Opalka You know, it doesn't matter how good the tomato plants look in mid- to late-June, they always start going downhill rapidly in July. Between the heat, the common foliar diseases, and the spider mites, it is a wonder any of them make it through July alive. That said, there are some that seem stronger and better able to handle the typical July challenges. I'm at the stage now in the garden where plants that are really struggling will get yanked out and replaced with something else for fall. Overall the tomato plants have produced well. We eat tomatoes literally every day and have given away tons and tons. I'm not preserving as many for the winter as I usually do--but that's partly because I already have so much other stuff put up in the freezer and pantry. Dawn