Squash borers will come. I always take part of the vine further down the plant and root it. Giving it more rooting points along the vine seems to keep production away from die back. I sometimes just cut the infected part away once I know the plant has additional roots. Literally, just mound up a little dirt over any part of the vine and it will take care of itself. It wants to live, too. I've got borers--but more squash than we can eat, so I just get over the appearance of the vines. (We also perpetually have white mildew from our humidity). Last year I had considerable cucumber die back, but not until I canned three batches of cucumbers. For me---the earlier you get the squash in the ground, the better off you are to beat the bug attack. Then, when it comes, it is too hot, I've gotten all the harvest I can handle and my friends are sick of my food, too, and I'm ready for the break the die back gives me.

Woody lives! You should prune off any damaged or obviously dead branches back to a growing point, such as another branch. It's a little hard to tell, but I think you've planted Woody a bit too deep. Some of his root flair, where the trunk widens and starts to become root material, should be above the soil.

OK, I'm game to start... Your soil test results show that there has been way too much unnecessary fertilising going on in your gardens. You say "Mom used to spend a lot of money on miracle grow garden soil and some kind of rose fertilizer. She would just give that to (every) thing growing in the yard." And " I figured the bottle brush was needing some too, so i poured about 2 or 3 pounds of epsom salt around the tree and waited." There's really no reason for you to throw around fertilisers willy-nilly, without knowing the reason for it. For your bottle-brush (Callistemon) specifically, they hate pretty much ANY fertiliser, but especially phosphorous, which will kill them dead. And your soil test indicates very high levels of phosphorous. Personally, I'd cut that plant down to about 6" high and see if it re-sprouts. They survive this treatment very well and grow back big and fast. (Unless it's already past the point of saving.) In the meantime, I'd stop using any bought chemical fertilisers and continue with what you're doing now, just adding leaf mulch, compost and maybe a light dusting of blood/bone meal. Then, in a year or so, get another soil test done for comparison with this one.

Thanks for asking. It doesn't seem any better, but it doesn't seem any worse, either. I gave it a good soak and looked for signs of insects or mold. But I haven't called the county extension office. Treebarb, its two types of apple trees that are twisted around each other. gjcore, thanks for the book recommendation. I've lived in homes with mature fruit trees before, but I've never grown them from saplings before.