Hark! I've been summoned! (How did I miss this one?! I try to come here every day like a junkie needs... well, never mind.) I'm happy to report that my footie-festooned Cox's Orange is still loaded with fat little apples with the biggest being about the size of a racquet ball. It's been very dry up here in Blue Ridge GA with a significant rain deficit and I've resorted to rigging up my old spring pump to pump water up into 275 gallon storage tanks and then letting gravity feed the wet stuff down to each of my fruit trees. I've put about 800 gallons on the Cox in two months with a circular dripper hose I made from plastic irrigation pipe. I let it drip all night but it actually only takes about three hours to completely empty the tank. The Spitz and Cox are doing fine but after reading about the cracking I'm starting to quietly panic as I write this as the rain and humidity have finally showed up in the last few days. I must go down and pull off some footies and have a look and will post any changes. My mind is already racing ahead with visions of a plastic tent and dehumidifier with maybe an air conditioner to ensure that I will get at least one frickin' apple this year! Herbert

Several of mine are developing unsplit so far, at the base of the tree. The first apple fell off last Monday, but still is really green, so is probably just a premature drop for a young tree. All the ones at the top of the tree, in full sun, split like Jellyman's, so I pulled them off. The tree has kept a thick growth of leaves at the base, which is shading and seems to be protecting the few developing apples there from splitting so far. The tree gets afternoon shade, and is just north of a brick wall, which has a cooling effect as well. I've bagged two unsplit medium sized apples in the middle of the tree, with good luck so far. What surprised me was that the tree was in continuous bloom from mid-March through mid-June. There are apples on it in all stages of development.

The FB that I had 2 years ago effected all three of these varieties and I had to do some severe pruining on all 3, but no fb this year. I also moved DRD, so it spent this year acclimating itself to it's new location. I expect the first fruit from it next year. This year was the first year that Cauley and Summer Banana produced fruit. I'm a firm believer that you can't tell a whole lot from the first years' fruit. I don't let my apples carry fruit, until they are at least 5 years old. I learned that from David Vernon, who sold me the trees. All of that aside, both varieties produced a fair amount of fruit. Cauley is very hard, which I like, has a slightly yellow meat and a pleasant spritely taste, which I think will get better over time. It's prococious and I had to support many of the branches. I understand that it can produce fruit that can weigh up to a pound. Summer Banana is a totally diferent apple. It's mainly a tip bearer. The skin is yellow with white flesh that is somewhat bland to my taste. I didn't smell or taste any hint of banana, so i think the name is somewhat deceiving. I wonder, if Winter banana is the same. As I said before, I don't place a whole of value on first year fruits. I chose this tree because of the name and the fact it came from Marion County, here is SC, plus both of these apples have a historical significance. it's interesting to know what people ate here 200+ years ago. If you'll allow me to reminisce, I bought Bevan's Favorite because my grandfather used to have this tree in his backyard. I can remember climbing the tree, when I was a little boy, fighting my cousin for the apples. THEY SURE WERE GOOD.

there is a very active fruit forum ... they will probably need better pix ... ken