The common "rule of thumb" is "when the forsythia blooms" in the late winter/early spring. Forsythia is that shrub that has yellow blooms and then foliage. It does usually bloom in late March, but it was early March this year, and has been mid April. Keep to late March - early April, you will be OK.

Well, the tree will not prune itself. Have not seen that happen, yet. Photos will help us to determine what might need to be done. I doubt it will be pruning, unless you have a tall, lanky single leader tree form. Most likely, to promote new growth, good potting medium, regular fertilizing and lots of sunshine, outdoors if possible, will be the solution. But, we cannot really tell you without seeing your tree. Patty S.

What you have is a whip - a very young tree with not yet any lateral branches developed. The suggestion you received is pretty standard for newly planted whips and is worth following as it encourages the development of a strong branch system. And that's were the fruit will grow. What you want to do is make a heading cut where you want the branching to begin and just above one of the buds. You do not need to take it down as far as they said - that is normally the practice for semi-dwarf or larger growing trees. And you don't want this tree to start to set any fruit until it develops a proper habit with some branches and a basic structure. So remove any flowers for at the least the first few years. And you should continue pruning in subsequent years but not in this same manner. This is pretty much a one time shot. You might want to research apple pruning or maybe a local nursery or your extension service has classes you can attend. Apples need routine, preferably annual, pruning to stimulate and encourage the development of fruiting spurs or those little nubby protuberances that the fruit grows on. 6-8' is really short for a dwarf apple. I'm thinking this is a mini dwarf, which only get around 6' tall - dwarfs typically get about 8-10'. Do you have another apple for cross pollination?

I also live in MD, and have potted meyer lemon trees that were on the deck all summer long and that I'm about to transition to a winter inside, and asked very similar questions in another thread, and here is the advice I was given: Bring them in when the temps outside at night are lower than what the temps are at night in my house (to minimize the temps differences when you bring them in). So, basically, starting now, I have to bring them in at night-.- since my house is at about 69° at night. Once the daily temps get consistently lower than 73 (which us what my house is at during the day in the winter), I'll bring them in permanently. Also, start putting them gradually in the shade more during the day, since they won't get much sunshine or that much light once they are in for the winter. I'm far from being an expert, but that was the advice I was given. Hope that helps :) . Atheen