Some varieties thrive in neglect- where you are some suffer anywhere from not at all to terribly from scab and or cedar apple rust, both of which are fungus that look like there name. Minimal spray to control these where you are is 2, one at petal fall and one 10 days to 2 weeks later with a mixture of Myclobutanil and Captan. If you are near heavy innoculum (red cedars) you may need an earlier spray as well or suffer a little CAR damage. Tent caterpillar may defoliate part or even all of a tree early in the season but a healthy tree quickly recovers. There are other less likely pests, especially unlikely in minimally pruned trees, such as mites and scale so if the trees deteriate be alert. The only way to find out what the minimum input for survival is is to stop spraying all together and find out what your pests are. Pruning is for better fruit production and ascetics primarily though some tout the advantage of better air circulation for reducing fungus. I've seen a lot of incredibly "overgrown" apple trees that were as healthy as they were overgrown. Don't fault the tree care guys- they are only making a living and providing one for insurance companies, mechanics, and your states bureacracy.

after removing more than 30% of the tree, at the wrong time of year, last summer I had a fruitless, sucker-producing machine...Now that I've created the overenergized state, what do I do? Ouch. OK, so you have a pruning reaction. Don't rush to correct it all at once, you will do more harm than good. It's hard to give advice on how to correct a shocked tree without actually being there; I'm an arborist and I usually tell folks not to do anything and I'll be over there to do it, and have them watch me. Now. Suckers arise from the roots - you almost certainly have a tree grafted onto different rootstock. If there are suckers coming out of the ground or below the graft, cut every one of these out. If this is the case, your tree is in severe shock. Water sprouts arise out of the trunk or large branches, from latent buds. These all need to be removed, but not all at once. If you have 3-4-5 branches arising around your pruning cuts, this is a sign you removed too much wood; many of these arose from latent buds too, and should be removed, but not all at once. Bottom line: you should correct this deficiency over two to three years. The strongest water sprouts (tallest) should be removed first, so the wind doesn't break them and expose the tissue to pathogens. Make proper cuts on these as well so callus can form. Good luck, be patient. Dan

I am far from an expert, so proceed with my advice at your own risk. Here goes: the tree is so young that you have plenty of room for correcting the error. If it were MY tree, I would loosely stake the tree trunk straight now. Then, when it's dormant, i would cut the central leader back to below the top bend, and shorten some side limbs. For the next threeyears, don't let the tree produce any fruit. The tree's energy needs to go to developing strong roots and trunk. In a couple years, when the trunk is much stronger, remove the stake.

Well, much to my surprise, some of the grafts that I put on last year grew fruit spurs, and flowered this spring. Some others grew longer, with no spurs. Maybe those were what the buds were intended for all along, and they just now came out. Anyways, a few flowers on last year's grafts is interesting. This year's grafts have started to really take off. I think I did a much better job of it this year than last. I have a few more scions on the way, so I hope to get those on this weekend, and harvest a few apples in a few years. This winter, I'll try to bring this tree back down to size. BTW - it must've overproduced year before last, then been stunted last year. This year, it is totally covered in flowers. If those turn to apples, I'll have to do a lot of thinning. Fun stuff - thanks for the help everyone.