Thanks for your responses. Jellyman - I don't know why you had a problem with the photos; must be some incompatibility in our software. Glenn - Have you regularly seen this condition as a normal winter covering? We had a few days around freezing in late December/early January, but have had a mild winter since then (mid-40s at night). I'm not sure when the fuzzy covering took over, but it is only on the upper half of the branches, not the trunk or lower half of branches. Carla - Well, it was just one leaf, and that has since fallen (photos taken 1/21). The tree is dormant, and the last leaf was mostly covered with the white fuzz. I have looked at the link you provided, and my tree's condition does not look like wooly apple aphids. In fact, I cannot detect any pests. I found one tiny spider this morning, but the fuzzy stuff is not like spider web. The tree generally appears healthy, if small, with many budding joints. I have reviewed photos at http://www.caf.wvu.edu/Kearneysville/disease_descriptions/disease_images/viskeyatbt.html, and I'm now reasonably certain that the condition is powdery mildew. I had not seen it on branches before - only leaves. Does anyone else have information contrary to my diagnosis? Here is a link that might be useful: Apple Tree Diseases

Megamav: just a few thoughts about CAR.... scout in the Spring time for sporulating galls, they are very easy to spot. If the galls aren't sporulating, your trees can't get infected. If you spray with myclobutanil (Immunox) to control CAR you can even have a 1-2 day period after the leaves get infected to spray and still have the spray be effective. I suppose it is possible that areas with very low cedar densities can get away with no controls at all but who knows. It may also be possible that in some parts of the country, extended rains come in the Spring that combine with warm enough temperatures to cause the CAR gall sporulation period to be rather brief, say, a week to 3. If one only had to protect against CAR spores for a few weeks +- with Immunox, it makes sense to me that one could get by with 2 well timed apps.. I don't typically get suitable conditions (wet gals + warm temps.) to get all of the galls here to finish sporulating until about 8 weeks +- of the first sporulating galls. So, I watch the weather and scout until the galls are all done and spray only when needed, doing so makes it possible to spray fewer times. This year, we had far more Spring rain events, closer than usual, as a result I only needed 3 spray apps.. The point of all this rambling is, learn about the CAR organisms in your area and control them only when they are a threat to your trees, who knows, maybe you'll be able to get by with one spray.

I'm going to hijack your thread for just a bit, Glenn, and provide some Yacon information. Yacon is a tender perennial related closely to dahlias and sunflowers. It's native to middle elevations in the Andes from Chile to Equador. I grew it for the first time this year. Plants look sort of like a Jerusalem Artichoke with wide, spade-shaped hairy leaves. They get small, yellowish sunflower-like blooms in the autumn, according to the catalogs, but mine did not bloom. The plants grow these amazingly large, sweet potato like tuberous roots underneath the crown. Mine ranged in size from about 4 ounces to well over a pound, and most were probably in the 10 to 16 ounce range. From six plants, I got probably about 2/3rds to 3/4ths of a bushel (didn't measure them exactly, just threw into a box). The tuber has a dark brown skin, which peels easily but which can also be eaten. Texture of the flesh is similar to waterchestnut or jicama, but is more "delicate." Flavor is a very sweet, mild carrot flavor with fruity overtones. I've found it really good in both salads and stirfried dishes. The plant also grows round, inedible, vegetative tubers that look like small Jerusalem artichokes. These are carried over (hopefully it will work for me) to replant the next season. I ordered my three plants from Nichols Garden Nursery in Oregon last spring. They came as nice potted plants about 4 inches tall. Each one had two distinct sprouts, so I separated them at planting and made 6 total. I grew them in large barrels in good soilless mix, kept them well watered and fertilized. The plants got about 4 to 6 feet tall. I dug them in mid-October. So far, the tubers appear to be storing well -- catalogs and internet sources claim that they will store for 6 to 8 months in cool, semi-humid locations. Seeds of Change, I believe, was also offering these plants in their catalog last year. Over at Idigmygarden.com, in either the Heirloom Gardening or General Digging messageboards, there are a couple of yacon threads, and I posted some photos of my plants and crop taken on the day of harvest back in October. I don't have an exact link searched up, but you can find it pretty easily by doing a search for "yacon" if anyone is interested. OK, now that I've put in my plug for Yacon ... back to your regularly scheduled program. Dennis SE Michigan

Bob, I have many zig-zag plantings, you and I are thinking alike! In fact the majority of my trees are in this form. The idea has also been around for some time, I found some Italian researchers exploring this idea in the 1970's, they called it a "double row". My double rows I did more narrowly than yours; I have apples with only 1.5' diagonal, and my pears and Euro plums have a ~2.75' diagonal. These double row spacings have not been a big success, and its one reason why I was above complaining about problems with Euro plums and pears (the apples actually worked out OK, they fruited well, but they are still too much hassle to prune). I didn't mention the fact that they were double rows above, but I think that made the close spacing problem even worse for my problematic Euro plums and pears. Your double-rows are a lot wider than I made mine, with 4' between the zig and the zag. That may make things work for you, not sure. The one case where I feel a double row has so far worked well is in a peach/plum planting I did a few years ago, I did them at about 5' horizontal spacing and about 4' vertical. So, given how peaches are a bit more vigorous than a dwarf apple I could see 4' working for you. Your pears are only two and have more space on all the other sides so 4' would not be as big a deal for those two; if you had a long row of pears I would make the zig/zag width be 5' or 6' minimum. Overall I'm not sure how much help if any the zig/zag is over just putting the trees in a straight line at the same net spacing (i.e. putting your apples in a line at 3'), but its worth experimenting with. Scott