Brandon, thanks for the info on planting. This is new to me, and I just couldn't imagine anything young taking root in the dense soil I had to hack through to dig the hole so amending it seemed to make sense at the time. I can see how it would create an artificial tub now. I guess time will tell if the tree fully takes. I'll try to gauge the soil dampness better. With the sun around here, the surface dries out very quickly. It may well be that I'm not watering enough, though I'm not sure how to judge what's happening down at the bottom of the roots. jqpublic, I'm zone 9 by zip code but San Jose can be in the 8s too. In any case, the apple trees in the neighborhood seem to do very well. (and Ken - don't worry, I'm tickled pink that it set fruit so quickly. I just don't want to kill it!) Thanks for the help, everyone.

Thanks, Willy. I'm pretty much hearing that about the Dorsetts - they really aren't that tart. I think this is what my sister has, and if so, my gosh. Her tree must have had over 100 apples on it every year, and it is a well established dwarf. More than you could possibly eat as a family of 5! And the leaves not dropped are kind of a trait with both Anna and Golden Dorsetts. Just strip off the leaves at the end of the season. That way, they don't hang around and harbor fungii or scab. And my Anna did the same very, very weird thing this year (several folks have said this has happened to them as well in S. Calif) - Flowered in November, and I had 3 apples mature about a month ago! I had late blooms and 3 little apples ended up being ripe in January. They were very small but very sweet. Very weird. Must be due to the odd weather we had last year, and not a very hot summer. So right now, think I'll pick up a Dorsett Golden, a Pink Lady, some cross pollinator for the Pink Lady, and maybe a 3,4 or 5-in-1 that Bonita Creek has just for fun. And my two cherry trees. I'll let everyone know how these Minnie Royal and Royal Lee do. I'm about 7 miles from the ocean, and we just don't get too many nights under 45 degrees (although this last week has been really cold). I have heard nothing but good about them, so I'm expecting great things! Now, if I can just keep the animals and birds away, I'll have some fruit for myself :-) Patty S.

Sorry, but the two issues are not at all the same!! Rick, your apple blossoms are just showing some weather damage......nothing to worry about and nothing to treat. Fwiw, a great many early blooming trees and shrubs will produce flowers that show this sort of damage....typically just the result of a heavy rainfall. We see this all the time in our wet PNW springs......and we grow a heck of a lot of apples here in WA state!!

Oh, what fun! Sorry for the delay, the last couple days have been busy (for many of us, I'm sure!) Dry out the soil a bit now that you're past the initial sprouting phase. It looks like you have the beginnings of a fungal problem there, and I don't like the way the base of that sprout looks. I'd separate it from the healthy one for now as well until the issue resolves itself...or not. Damp-off is a common issue with younger "trees" until there's more development. Very young apple trees are difficult and you're now heading into the most difficult season (source: my cousins own an apple orchard) and you started those seeds at the wrong time. That's OK, we can work with it. I'm going to agree and disagree with some of the above. If you're growing these just for fun, great. Carry on. Or if you purchased seeds that will produce edible apples, also great. Although please note that "edible apples" is a comparatively relative statement. Without a lot of comparatively nasty chemistry, apples usually won't be very attractive or nice, or particularly good. And a great deal of careful cultivation (such as trimming branches manually back to usually 2 apples) goes into it, although it depends on the cultivar. Plus having trees of the appropriate age. And so on. You can do the research on that. There's the warnings on what to grow and why. Apples are not for the timid, but they're not as bad as peaches (the cousins raise those as well). Your window light levels won't be enough for those this winter. But putting a good LED light on them for an additional 10 hours a day or so will be. And you don't dare let those go dormant this winter. They're far too young, they haven't developed enough, and they're unlikely to survive the situation. It's also completely untrue that many deciduous trees require dormancy; they do not, although those who are not native to deciduous trees' areas and don't know apple trees or the like may not know that just due to ignorance. I've kept everything from deciduous hibiscus to crepe myrtle to an oak tree up over the winter. No harm, no foul. Just keep light levels and warmth up. They'll go partially dormant on their own, then drop leaf shortly before spring hits and rapidly re-grown new ones. "Dormancy" lasts about fifteen minutes. Some may require it, hence the "many" above, but I have yet to find it, and yet to find the sapling or sprout that demands dormancy at that age. Don't try it. Secondary source: turning my head and looking at the extended season ageratum, 3 deciduous hibiscus, desert rose (which really does prefer dormancy and I'm disallowing it on this one--but it is not a temperate-zone plant), a random mustard plant, and the 9 other things in 4 rooms. We can go into why it's not a wonderful idea to store dormant trees in sharply reduced light or complete darkness all winter (as my garage has no windows and many of the ones I'm familiar with don't), but that's a story for another day. Feed very, very gently during the winter, by which I mean quarter rate or less. They won't want much. When spring arrives--and I mean post-frost as the leaves won't tolerate a frost--adjust them slowly to sunlight as the window is screening out most ultraviolet. Start at an hour a day for 3 days, then 2-3 hours a day, then leave them out all morning, then after a week, they should be good for all day long. When ready to plant outside, place them in full sun, with well-draining soil, and feed well until maturity. Once mature, the tree will not want to be overfed, and follow instructions for proper feeding to produce fruit (soil test; keep good levels of potassium in the soil, and don't mindlessly toss potassium on the plant).