I’m here in the Pac NW too. I began buying/ pot planting fruit trees about 7 years ago, using the pot up method. I usually buy 2 new fruit trees each year. Switched over to Smart-pots / Air Pots 3 seasons ago for my new purchases. The air pots/smart pots have worked out 150% better than regular/old school potting. The rooting/root ball issue doesn’t occur in air pots. Also, it self prunes and keeps my tree sizes in check. I can’t be trying to bring in certain trees in the winter if they have grow to 8‘ , 10’ , plus. If you are ok with full size maturity than fine. But in my situation, I want to be able to harvest fruit easily (low hanging) and basic maintenance is easier done with a smaller dwarf tree that has been kept in check. Btw, my dwarf fuji & dwarf honeycrisp apple trees were switched over to air pots and they fit under the roof overhang. By keeping them in the air pots and by pruning the main stem during dormancy period, I keep them under 8’ and they can get protected from too much rain and frost through the winter. My dwarf meyer lemon tree is only in a 3 gallon smart pot. I can easily move it into my house in late fall. If I had gone the pot up method, I would’ve eventually had to move a pretty heavy pot into the house. I bought a Leprechaun Dwarf Nectarine tree 3 years ago that is frost tolerant so that sits outside all year, here in the Pac NW. It sits in a 20 liter air pot which I think is slightly larger than a Home Depot orange bucket. Since it self prunes/roots, I‘ve never had to do anything. I do basic branch pruning after harvest and I get boatloads of nectarines that I usually give away half of what I harvest away. When it comes to Dwarf Fruit trees, IMHO, air pots/smart pots are the only way to go. Now with my vegetables garden, other than my kratky portion of my plants, the rest I do use the root pouches too and they work great. IMHO, since veggies are seasonal and I grow a lot, the root pouches are a perfect way to go, but for fruit trees since most people aren’t buying a ton of trees, spend a few bucks for a few air pots / smart pots, i think is the better route to go. Best of luck

You have a choice to make -- do you want one single trunk, or do you want an open center / vase shaped tree? Either way is fine, but you're better off choosing one now before the tree grows too far out of control. If you want a single leader, then choose one to keep right now and prune off all other competitors (there will always be other branches thinking they are in charge -- when you see them, prune them off). If on the other hand you want an open center, then spread all the branches now and prune off anything growing towards the center of the "vase". Typically an open center tree will have 3 or 4 main "trunks" spread out far apart from each other. Anything else you see in this early time is kind of a waste of growth as it will need to be pruned off eventually anyway, so the sooner the better until you establish the main framework of your tree -- one trunk, or several trunks spread in a vase shape. Your choice. This post was edited by dmtaylor on Sun, Jul 14, 13 at 16:33

Now I'm confused. Everywhere I've been says AR Black doesn't pollinate other trees and Stark doesn't list it as a pollinator for any of their trees (mine is a Stark). And there they have a Granny Smith and AR Black 2in1 listed as self-pollinating. I wouldn't worry too much about Stark's claims about specific pollinators. I have a S-D AR Black and dwarf McIntosh and Cortland niether are listed for the Black yet it bears very heavily. I think as long as they bloom at the same time (mine do) you're fairly safe if they don't have sterile pollen. Stark used to use a bloom time chart. AR Black is OK but it's not that great fresh off the tree. It needs storage time to soften up and get some flavor. If you have damaged fruit it doesn't last long enough. But the good fruit last a long time and is very good looking. Also the hardness of the fruit on the tree seems to make them somewhat resistant to the bugs where you may get a couple pristine apples even if you have bug problems. I don't think I've ever tried it in a pie, but if I like it there must be some tartness to it (I hate Delicious). I can't help with whether those will work for you. The AR Black should but I've heard it's really pushing it to get a Granny Smith apple tree ripened around here. Being 2 zones lower should make it OK for you. Stark also has a 2in1 called Double Delicious if you're into those. They're who I use because they're close so I figure the trees will be used to the climate. Their trees seem to not grow out of bounds of what they claim and they do tend to bear early. Search "espalier". You could have quite a few trees if you did that. My McIntosh and Cortland take up a fence width about 15' long and about 5' high. The Cortland doesn't try to outgrow those bounds, but I have to prune the McIntosh quite a bit.

Thank you, so I guess that Honey Crisp is not a good pollinator for Pink Lady, or at least not good every other year. Time to walk the neighborhood and see if anyone close has an apple tree so the're maybe hope for the Pink Lady. Will do more research on the two varieties.