They both look like plums of some sort, they are not sweet or sour cherries. Lets go through some of the problems. The little black bugs and yellow eggs are ladybug larvae and eggs. Those are the "good guys" eating the aphids, don't pull them off. The dead looking branches are probably due to brown rot blossom blight. It will feel slippery when wet if its brbb. The holes in the leaves are some form of shot hole. The galls are probably from some kind of mite. Its hard to tell what the long-term chances of the trees are but they need to get on a spray program if you want to keep them. Read up on these diseases/pests and their treatment, ask more questions if you have them! Scott

The old saying "if it swims and looks like a duck, AND it quacks, it IS a duck" applies here. As one who lives in your part of the country, yes it is supposed to be dry. It looks like your tree is growing very close to a redwood tree, which will have roots close to the surface up to 100 feet from the tree. The redwood would not be growing there if the soil water was not close to the surface, thats the good part, the bad part is the redwood is also very good at extracting the water from the soil. The tree is where it is and if you want cherries, prune the tree when dormant to remove dead wood and open up the canopy to get what sun that gets through the redwood. For most of northern California cherries are a hit and miss crop and you may also have some pollinizer problems. Your propane tank is not a problem UNLESS you have a leak underground, which you would know about by the size of your bill. Enjoy your new property. Al

Frankieb: If that "organic" in your handle means you plan to try to grow Fuji or other apples in a zone 9 climate without the use of any chemical pesticides or fungicides, pollination will be the least of your worries. You don't give us your location, but I can't think of many places in zone 9 where organic culture of apples is a practical possibility. Here in N. Virginia zone 6/7, if I tried to grow apples without any chemical sprays at all I would be producing zero decent apples, and I might start losing trees. I bag my apples in ziploc bags to try to reduce spraying to a minimum, but that's not enough to keep both the fruit and trees healthy. Some of the newer disease resistant cultivars can be very helpful on disease issues, but they are not magic and are resistant, not immune to diseases. There are no insect resistant trees or apples, and Fuji has no resistance of any kind. You will discover all this yourself by about the second year of growing your little Fuji. I am just trying to save you some time. Safers Soap or other organic concoctions will not cut the mustard here. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

you dont want to take the time to rotate the pix.. but i should take the time ... blah.. blah.. blah ... 2nd pic.. why the giant staking procedure .. how big is that tree. and how long has it been there???? is this a fruit tree or an ornamental flowering cherry???? third pic.. any conifer that does not grow is dead ... but dead ones cna hold their needles for a year or so.. until hot weather browns them.. and makes them fall off ....is it supposed to be yellow??? or blue/green ... but dead ones.. eventually shed leaves ... i say.. rotate this pic.. and post it in the conifer forum ... [what the heck did you edit out of that pic.. lol.. the neighbor standing in your pic with a silly grin????] i know the first pic is a problem.. but i am blanking on it ... ken