northwoodswis - I could be wrong, but I don't think frosts matter after the apples are already formed, which is when the bags are on. Obviously frost can cause severe damage before the apple is formed. If frost does matter, I would imagine the bags could help. Same would apply to frosts at the end of the growing season I'd imagine. marti8a - how old are your trees and what size are they? 50 feet apart seems pretty far to get good cross pollination, but I'm not sure that is the problem. Since you don't know the variety of trees, its impossible to say if yours are compatible or not. Did you see lots of blooms that did not become apples? Or were there just not a lot of flowers at all? Did you notice flowers on both trees at the same time?

Glenn: You seem particularly concerned about cedar apple rust on your apples, which I can well understand since this disease has also been a serious problem for me. First, the Ferbam. I was able to find it at a chemical company that services the commercial grower trade, and I am quite sure that if you searched the net you could also find it by internet or mailorder. I do not personally believe that ferbam is highly toxic to humans, but whether it is or not, I place myself in no danger and I do not dress up like an astronaut when I apply it. I do have a long, stand-back wand for my backpack sprayer, and spray only when wind conditions are calm. If there is even a slight breeze, I keep myself upwind. I apply ferbam wearing a t-shirt and shorts (and sunglasses), and wait until the spray has fallen on the leaves before moving around to a different angle so that none of the spray material falls on me. It also helps to keep your trees pruned down to a reasonable height so that you seldom find yourself spraying upward. That's one of the reasons I have converted all my central leader trees to a lower vase shape. A series of consistently windy/rainy days can effectively shut my spraying operations down, but that's just the way it is. I don't spray on days like that. Commercial orchardists use highly powered motorized sprayers that fill the entire orchard with spray mist. They have to suit up before doing this, but my spraying techniques are much more careful and targeted, and I don't believe I have to. CAR strikes very early, and if you are going to have it, it will be there before you thin and bag the apples. It is visible on the calyx end of the apple, and the little developing apples are often distorted because of it. If you see a perfect apple, without any sign of the yellow/orange stain, you can bag it with confidence because the CAR spores are effectively cut off from the apple by the bag. I do think that dormant copper sprays are effective at controlling overwintering spores of CAR, scab, and other fungal diseases, but new CAR infections can blow in with the rain from elsewhere in any given spring. Ferbam may not be the only fungicide effective against CAR, but it is the one I found and was able to buy. To be effective, the first Ferbam spray should be applied as soon as apples begin blooming. The fungicide component of Bonide Fruit Tree Spray, which is Captan, is not effective against CAR even if you applied it in pure form and at full strength. My only complaint about Ferbam is its granular composition, which never fully dissolves. As a result, I have to clean out the in-line filter in my sprayer wand with a toothbrush each time I refill it when using this chemical. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I would if I were you. You have two things going against you. First, mastic shouldn't be used in a wet area. The reason is that even after it's been dry for years, it can still reimulsify (become soft) from contact with moisture. Secondly, even in dry areas where mastic CAN be used, it's not supposed to be used for anything bigger than 8x8 tile. The reason for that is that if you apply mastic too heavily (as you would need to with the larger tiles-- anything bigger than 1/4x1/4 is too big for mastic) then it won't dry, and if you use a 1/4x1/4 notch then you're not getting the coverage you need to have. So now, either you don't have enough adhesive behind the tile, or it's going to stay soft, which means it'll wash out from behind the tiles all that much quicker. Take the tiles down.

Usually the owner of the money gives a pot of money now, or makes regular payments over a period of time, to usually an insurance company, in exchange for a benefit that the insurance company offers. The insurance company agrees to begin paying a specified amount to that person, beginning at a certain date and, often, continuing for the rest of the person's life. Or, at a lower rate of regular payout, to include a surviving spouse. However ... some people found that the original owner of the money often died within a few months of beginning to receive the annuity ... and that was the end of the contract: the full amount paid was kept by the insurance company (except for the small amounts paid out). One financial advisor that I knew had a client over 80, with no dependents, that considered buying an annuity (i.e. was in the process of being sold an annuity by an agent). He, cancelling another appointment, travelled some distance to meet with the two, and when he asked how much of a benefit there would be if the lady died in a couple of months, was told that there was no such provision in the proposed agreement. Many people who were much younger than that lady, when considering a proposed contract, didn't like that idea, so there's an option available for the original purchaser to have a provision in the contract where the payout period will be for his/her life but, should s/he not live long after the payout begins, the annuity will continue (at a reduced rate) for a 10, or 15 year, or other length, period. The rates that insurance companies offer regarding annuity payout lebvels usually bear some connection with current interest rates. When rates are high, often the rates of payout offered by annuities are higher than average, but usually not comparable. When rates are low, as they have been lately, payout rates offered are usually low. The reason being that the insurance company has guaranteed to make payouts at predetermined levels, but don't have certainty as to how much they can earn on the invested assets in the meantime. The insurance company doesn't give a guarantee to make a level of payout that is going to hurt them in the end. In the case of life insurance, the owner of the policy bets that s/he's going to die prematurely, when some non-employable dependents require an income for them to live on for a number of years, but leaving no one to provide it. The insurance company bets that the buyer of the life insurance is going to live to an advanced age, paying premiums throughout. The insurance companies are the ones with the actuaries. In the case of an annuity, the buyer is betting that s/he is going to live for a long time ... collecting that annuity payment regularly through to, say, 104. And the insurance company bet that s/he's going to die before they've paid out a bucket of money in total to that person. And if they're covering a spouse, as well, or have given a guarantee that they'll continue paying for, say 10 years, even if the owner dies a month after payout begins ... the amounts of the regular payout the the company is willing to offer is lower. As their risk is greater. I confess to a bias against insurance companies' practices, largely because they marketed whole life insurance policies for ages, telling ofthe great value in having some value build up in the policy over the years. But, in order to collect that "extra value" ... ... the owner of the policy pretty well had to arrange to be alive and dead at the same time. For many, who want to spend some time learning how money works, and are not going to get all bent out of shape if the value of theri assets drops for a while when there are corrections in the equity markets, I think that they can likely do better investing on their own, if they do it skilfully. For quite a long time, I said that no one cares as much about your money as you, so it's wise to learn how to manage it well. But in recent years I've changed the tune somewhat, to ... no one cares as much about your money as you ... except some folks that would like to shift some (most? all?) of it from your pocket ... ... into theirs. Your job is to keep that from happening ... unless you get good value in return. Enough for now. Good wishes for making themost effective coices, given your circumstances. ole joyful