I have never heard this about an Anna. My Annas don't bloom continuously, nor do any of the Annas in my area (N. San Diego County, California). In fact, I am not aware of any apple tree variety that will bloom almost continuously. Lemon trees will do this, but not apple trees. I'd love to know where you read that, I have never come across any info that describes Annas this way. Annas are very early, though (in full bloom at my house right now). And, in very low chill areas like where I live, I have found out that they can often have a second, smaller bloom break in the late Fall/eary Winter. This happened to me with my Anna which had 3 tiny little apples ready to pick in December (and were really, really sweet). For me, my Annas are a wee bit earlier than the Dorsett Golden I have, but hopefully as they both mature, they'll bloom closer together. Anna is self-fruitful, but it will bear more heavily and the apples will be rounder and fuller with a cross-pollinator. So, don't really need a cross-pollinator, I was just hoping my existing Anna that is in a really bad location (way too much shade) would have a larger crop with a cross-pollinator. I'm going to move it this December - I waited too long to move it as it is now in bloom - so it will eventually provide more fruit once it gets more sun. Patty S.

Wooly Apple Aphids are pretty much in every old orchard I manage and present no important problems after about 20 years of managing trees that harbor them. I would be inclined to investigate what makes your tree so susceptible to that kind of damage. It may be the growth on that tree is excessively soft and tender because of a nutritional imbalance including the possibility of excess nitrogen. Of course all the excess rain you probably got would contribute to rank growth. Nitrogen is the ingredient sucking insects are primarily after in the form of protein. Removing the branches was entirely unnecessary- why didn't you just wipe off the bugs if this is such a small tree? There are a few over-the-counter insecticides that would kill the bugs on the spot and even hort-oil will smother them, I believe (as I said I've never actually had to target this pest even as they thrive in my trees). The only time I would ever remove tissue as a treatment would be for an an infectious pathogen, usually fungus ocassionally bacteria (fireblight) or virus (on blackberries). I guess the one exception is aphid infestation in cherry leaves when they curl up. If it is a very young tree I might remove the leaves because I can't reach the aphids.

Wooly apple aphid attacks both above and below ground, worst damage below. The roots become large and rough with limited water uptake. Goldrush is a low vigor variety. It would be better on M7, MM-106, or maybe MM-111. There is enough difference in scion vigor to change rootstock and this one is at the bottom. If you have a vigorous site M9 will work. Just don't over-crop the tree before it has reached the size you want. Over-cropping and a low vigor rootstock/scion is what causes a tree to runt out. I've seen 6-8 inch trunks in 10 years but they could live much longer than that. With M9 the rootstock is often twice the diameter of the scion right above.

I know this is an old thread but thought something I read may help. I have had a massive aphid problem lost a cucumber 3 watermelons 5 cantelopes and had them on a bunch of pepper plants they were on 2 apple trees loquat etc. It was making me crazy, In my search for a solution I ran across an article about someone that had 3 identical plants in 3 identical pots that were placed as close to each other as possible. The differance was the soil, one pot had kmart soil and that plant was covered with aphids while the other 2 had no aphids at all even though they were touching each other. One pot had some custom soil mix in it but did not say what it was. The third pot had a mixture of soil and Green sand. I looked up green sand and found that it is basically an organic fertilizer with a lot of minors in it the npk is 0 0 3. I did not have any green sand but will get some soon. What I did have is an organic fertilizer that I bought by mistake which is a 4 1 1 but has a lot of minors in it plus some beneficial bacterias in it. I got it at Ace and it looks like tan mouse turds. I have been using it on the blueberries since I almost killed one with 26 0 0 last year. I tried it on all of the effected plants and now I cannot find an aphid on any of those I used it on. I had not used it on the loquat but did today so I will watch it for results. The name on the bag is Whitney farms I think. I also have made sure to spray around the base of the trees for ants. hope this helps someone. I will get some green sand soon and try it next.