Drew, armchair theories may add color to this forum, but from a practical standpoint often seem like poor advice from my perspective. These are not theories in the scientific definition of the word and are not even backed by anecdote that you are sharing. I think the validity of your hypothesis depends on the disease being capable of establishing in the wood itself and then spreading throughout the tree through the vascular system. I really can't think of a single pest that once established on a site tends to become harder to control to the point where you want to keep trees protected throughout the growing season so they never suffer any infection from it. With brown rot, you do want to avoid having the fungus grow into the small wood if you can help it by removing infected fruit promptly but brown rot is universal so you can't keep it from establishing in your orchard- just in the small wood. Integrated pest management of plants involves using as little proactive spray as practical. Your fears of fighting pests by keeping compounds on the trees represents the old fashioned approach. Your comparison of lung cancer and smoking seems pretty pointless and is irrelevant to plant care, in my opinion. Aren't you really just talking about your experience with canker on your cherry trees? You may eventually find out the problem there had more to do with environmental problems than a failure of early enough treatment. Cherries in a humid climate need full sun, or at least full eastern exposure, good drainage and everything else required for vigorous growth. That isn't to say that there aren't sites where proactive protection of cherry trees from canker isn't necessary. I'm just guessing here because you provided no examples to illustrate your theory that actually involves fruit trees.

You probably live about 25 miles from me and closer to many of my clients in Greenwich and Stamford CT. There is a book by Bart Hall-Beyer and Jean Richard called "Ecological Fruit Production in the North. It has a fine chapter on renovating old apple trees with a pretty clear explanation and clearer photographs. Essentially it shows you how to prune a tree like yours to a weep. I don't agree with some of what's written such as that it is important to chose a central leader but if you follow the instructions on pruning to weaker weeping wood as you open up the tree it will be a great place to start. In Greenwich, off of Roundhill Rd, heading north of the Merritt on the left side there is a property owned by an old apple grower family who has sold all the surrounding property. They have held on to a small part of their orchard and it consists of very old large apple trees- maybe 60 trees. You can see them clearly from the road and use them as I guide for the shape your going for. Low Spray Schedule for Home Orchards in the Northeast Here's my spray schedule for the scores of orchards I manage around SE NY adapted for home owners managing a few fruit trees. It has functioned well for me for over 2 decades, although J. Beetles and brown rot of stone fruit increases the number of sprays and necessary pesticides some years some sites. Please note that pesticide labels must be read before their use and my recommendations do not override the rules on the label. The label is the law. This document only communicates what has worked for me and your results may vary depending on local pest pressure, which may require a different spray schedule. Dormant oil (this is optional if there were no mites or scale issues the previous season, which is usually the case in home orchards). Do oil spray somewhere between the point where emerging shoots are 1/2" and the flower clusters begin to show a lot of pink. Mix Immunox (myclobutinol) at highest legal rate (listed on label for controlling scab and cedar apple rust on apple trees) with 1 to 2% oil. If it's closer to pink use 1%. Don't spray again until petal fall when petals have mostly gone from latest flowering varieties and bees have lost interest. Then spray Triazide (Spectracide Once and Done) + Immunox mixed together at highest legal rates. Repeat once in 10 to 14 days. Where I manage orchards, the space between earliest flowering Japanese plums and latest flowering apples is only 2 weeks or so which usually allows me to wait until the latest flowering trees are ready to begin spraying anything. Plum curculio seems to time its appearance conveniently to the rhythm of the last flowering apple varieties. This may not be true where you are. If plums or peaches need oil they may need application before apples. I�ve only had mites on European plums here and never need oil for other stone fruit. All this is based on plum curculio being your primary insect problem which is the case most areas east of the Mis. River. These sprays will also absolutely control scab, CAR and Mildew as well as most of the crop fatal insects. Apple fly maggot is an exception, but I haven't had much of a problem with this pest in the orchards I manage. This pest can be controlled with a lot of fake apples smeared with tangle trap. If you don't want to use synthetic chemicals try 4 applications of Surround about a week apart starting at petal fall. You may need to start on earlier flowering varieties as soon as they drop petals because Surround is a repellent and can�t kill eggs after they�ve been inserted into the fruit.. Stone fruit may require the addition of an application or 2 of Indar (Monterey Fungus Fighter is closest available chemical for home owners) starting 4 weeks before first peaches ripen. Apricots must be sprayed sooner if they are scab susceptible with same compound. Because I manage so many orchards so far apart I have to resort to a spray schedule that is based on expectations rather than actual monitoring. You may be able to reduce insecticide sprays with monitoring but PC can enter an orchard over night and if your insecticide lacks kick-back (as is the case with Triazide), do a lot of damage in a couple of days.. Other problems may occur later in the season and you will in time learn to monitor and react to the pitfalls. Good luck, Alan Haigh- The Home Orchard Co. alandhaigh@gmail.com

I've had the same experience as Harvestman and Eric with Golden Russet. It's been a very sweet apple for me (from farmers market and Averill Farm). The sweetest were from Averill Farm over an hour North of me in Western CT. They had 18-21.8 brix and were possibly the best apples I've had (top 3 at least). I wonder if there is some confusion about English Golden Russet vs American? It's easy for such a distinction to get lost and the subsequent tree propagated. I've actually used two different sources for Golden Russet- Cummins for a tree and Maple Valley for some scionwood. Both were just added this spring, so it could be a while before I can compare. Thanks for the mention of Thompson's cider mill Harvestman. Even though I have a lot more apples coming in this year, I may still make one or two drives out. What made me think that there could be a relationship between "Old" and "Ross" Nonpareil is that they seem to share the same qualities, small, yellow/russeted, sugary. But, on closer inspection, I see that they have different sources (1802 in Ireland for Ross and 1600's Britian for Old). Since they appear to be different and you've given it high scores, I'll probably add one next spring. Though I may have enough apples, with 32 in-ground and another 20ish potted (many new rootstocks). This post was edited by bob_z6 on Sun, Aug 11, 13 at 15:16

Sailfish, something that you probably should take into consideration is the rootstock(s) that you plan to use. Not sure about Mass., but here in Maine, we have Crown Rot and Fireblight. When I first planted my first orchard, I made the mistake of planting several hundreds of dollars worth of crown rot susseptible rootstocks. Whithin 2 years, all of them died. Many apple cultivars are susseptible to crown rot also, so if planting full sized trees, they will probably need to be planted with the graft scar above the soil. The best standard rootstock that I have found for Maine zone 4 is Malling 4, which for some reason is quickly disappearing from the nurseries. I have found Antonovka to be useful for nursing stock only, due to its extreme variability in vigor and disease resistance. Nursing stock is rootstock that helps the tree get a start until the tree can make roots of its own. The graft is buried several inches. If the nursery can't tell you which rootstock they use, find another nursery. A couple years ago, I made a list of rootstocks that are resistant Crown Rot and grow well for me. Most are also resistant to Fire Blight. If you're interested, here's the list: ------------------------ I have indicated beside each cultivar the percentage of the height and width of a full sized tree. For example, a full sized 20-year-old McIntosh growing on its own roots may grow to be approx. 18 feet tall & 30 feet wide, but a McIntosh of the same age growing on Budagovski 9 may grow to be only 30-40% of that height and width, being approx 7 feet tall & 12 feet wide. The percentage is an indication of dwarfing in one dimension only, not in three dimensions as is used in computing volume. For some reason, it is an industry standard to list only one dimension (e.g. height) when comparing size, so I have listed it in this way. One can figure out the approximate volume of a tree or bush by using the formula (Percentage x Percentage x 11) / 7. Thus one can figure out the approximate size of a McIntosh growing on Bud 9. Bud 9 grows a tree approx. 30-40% in height, so well average it to 35%, which = 0.35. (0.35 x 0.35 x 11) / 7 = 1.3475 / 7 = 0.1925 = 19.25% Thus an apple tree growing on Bud 9 actually grows to be approx. 19.25% standard, or about 5 times smaller than a full sized tree, instead of only about 3 times smaller. 100% Novole - Grows well on most soil types and is resistant to Crown Rot, Fire Blight, and meadow voles. 100% Polish 18 (Poland 18, P.18) - Grows well on most soils and is resistant to Crown Rot, Scab, Powdery Mildew, and is tolerant to Fire Blight. 80-90% Malling 4 (M.4) - This early bearing, productive rootstock is resistant to Crown Rot and is tolerant to Fire Blight. Trees grafted onto it have a tendency to lean in the early years, so trees should be staked until roots are established. It grows well on most soil types. 60-70% EMLA 7 (7A) - Trees have good anchorage and should not need to be staked. It is resistant to Crown Rot, and is also tolerant to Fire Blight, but will not grow well in wet soils or heavy clay. Not very productive, however it is still one of the most common semi-dwarf rootstocks used in North America. That may change with some of the newer Geneva rootstocks being developed. 55-60% Geneva 30 (G.30) - Early bearing and very productive, trees should be staked as graft unions can sometimes be weak, depending upon the cultivar. Resistant to Crown Rot and Fire Blight, it grows well on most soil types. 50-60% Geneva 935 (G.935) - Very early bearing and very productive, trees may need to be staked in the early years until roots are fully established. Resistant to Crown Rot and Fire Blight. It grows well on most soil types. 40-50% Geneva 11 (G.11) - Very early bearing and very productive, trees will need to be staked in the early years. It grows well on most soil types and is resistant to Crown Rot and Fire Blight. 30-40% Geneva 41 (G.41) - Very early bearing and very productive, trees will need to be staked throughout their lives. It is resistant to Crown Rot and Fire Blight. It grows well on most soil types. 30-40% EMLA 9 (9A) - Very Early bearing and productive, trees will need to be staked throughout their lives. It is resistant to Crown Rot, but does not tolerate dry, light soils. 30-40% Budagovski 9 (Bud 9, B.9) - Very early bearing and very productive, trees will need to be staked throughout their lives. It is resistant to Crown Rot, Scab, and Powdery Mildew, but does not tolerate wet soils. 20-30% Polish 16 (Poland 16, P.16) - Very early bearing and very productive. It grows well on most soil types, but will need staking throughout its life. 10-20% Polish 22 (Poland 22, P.22) - This productive and very early bearing rootstock requires staking throughout its life. It grows well on most soil types, and is resistant to Crown Rot and European Canker.