mynxr...I took my family to the outer banks this past summer and as always I look at and mentally study the vegetation / trees etc everywhere I go. While there and being in awe of the amount of salt in the air I got to thinking about fruit trees. I stayed in Hatteras and no way could I see a fruit tree surviving that environment. Farther up (north) past Buxton a bit where some trees with some size start to show up I began looking for fruit trees...anything. even an old apple. I saw nothing. When leaving I searched in every yard etc all the way until I deviated west on 64...again...nothing. After just a few miles on 64 though fruit trees started showing up in yards everywhere..the air was now clear too. Didn't have that foggy haze of salt laden air. I just don't think most fruit trees and especially pommes would survive that salt air. Plus. it seems that coastal soil is pretty devoid of what is necessary to grow a fruit tree. I could be wrong though and am interested in hearing other answers as it had me curious while there. On a different note, I bet you guys go through automobiles in a hurry. Every piece of ferrous metal I seen was terribly rusted, even the A/C unit on my rental was nearly eaten away and it was a model designed for coastal enviroments. I couldn't wait to get that crap washed off my car when I got home. Love it down there though.

Just thought I'd tell a funny story..... Years ago I planted some fruit trees for homeowners in Utah....I told them to take the BLOSSOMS off (if any showed up) so as to allow the tree to have more vigor to go into the vegetative growth the first year or so.... In the Fall, I called back these homeowners to see how their trees were doing that I had planted. I was shocked to hear one man say his tree had died. "What happened?" I asked, feeling rather anxious, and wondering if I had done something wrong. "Well, sir, I took off all the LEAVES like you told me" (Geesh! true story)

Fruitnut, I have 2 methods and I'm sharing my trade secrets here (what the hell- I'm 6 months from 60 and hope to retire in 25 years anyway). I start some plants straight in the ground, planting them way too close in a fenced off area. Planting them close makes maintenance per plant much less expensive given that it's all done by hand (don't ask). For apples in my climate it takes about 3 years to size them up to about 1.5" diameter- at least when planted this close. I carefully dig up these BR and put them in short 20 gallon pots (wide and shallow) in a mix of 1 part peat, 1 composted wood chips or stable waste ( almost pure humus with some carbo lumps) and 1 sand, plus a little wood ash. They limp the first season but I sell them the next for around $180 per. At this point they are bearing, 12' tall and well branched and the foliage is back to mormal. Other trees I transfer to Carl Whitcomb grow bags in real soil and let them grow about another 3 years and sell them for $250 per, or less to contractors. The grow bags I use are his last edition because they allow more root out of the bag and I can grow them without any irrigation at all- even through drought. Irrigation would reduce production by about a year, I'm sure, but in my operation only my potted plants get any and they are set in the soil as well. I always take some trees in the grow bags, remove the bags and put them into 25 Gallon pots with the soil intact but surrounded by my potting mix which allows me to sell some larger trees during the growing season. Surprisingly the soil surrounded by potting mix works very well and you might want to try that method for your trees as the soil gives you much more bang per square inch and costs less. Repotting would require only replacing the artificial soil on the edge of the soil ball. It makes things real heavy though, and my soil is not too fine so I don't know how it would work with a more clay soil but I bet it would work just fine. I'm sure my prices seem outrageous by your regional standards but I'm less than an hour from NYC and here it's more than competitive- it's the best deal around- because I have scores of varieties and they're actually properly shaped for fruit production. They also plug in better than the competitions BB'd trees, especially the ones I have in pots.

Frank, there are a few of us doing just what you are doing. However I do not have much snow here on the coast of Maine. I try to plant in a protected area and paint the trunk up high. Someone was going to try painting way up into the branches and I would think that would help in preventing winter killing or the dessication of the buds. I had hoped they would report their results. In growing wild blueberries we often get winter kill(dessication) of the buds that are above the snow. Often this is out away from the edges and any trees that might give wind protection. With fruit trees I have heard that the snow can dish out in the spring and can reflect the sun onto the bark and buds causing problems. Again the whitewash may prevent problems from that. I am having good luck with a Santa Rosa plum on the north side of a barn so I think that the shade provided during the spring retards the "waking up" and keeps the frost from hitting the open blossoms. What do the Hmong do to get peaches? I have a cable over a row of other plums and slide a big plastic tarp over them at night in the spring when frost is threatening. Works well.