Last1Earth- Im going to let the experts chime in on whether or not you can keep an apple or two on that little tree (if it doesnt drop them). I believe the wise experts here will say that you need to remove the apples during their 2nd growing season so that the tree puts its energy into getting stronger. That said, I may try leaving 1 or two apples on my 2nd year bare root tree. (If anything, Ill simply learn from it). Good. Now we know about your varieties. Since Im growing both, below are my notes on the disease issues with both. The good news is that the Williams Pride is resistant to just about everything. Where as my other trees are hit by CAR really hard (even the Liberty gets a little), the Williams Pride shows no signs of CAR (zero, zilch, nada), with no spraying. Amazing. The bad news is that the HoneyCrisp is susceptible to just about everything, and this is the one youre going to need a spraying plan for. I would suspect (though I dont know for sure), that CAR, scab, Fire Blight, & Powdery Mildew would all be issues for you in NJ. Harvestman is closer, so perhaps he can chime in if Im wrong. For Scab, I would be investigate spraying Kocide 3000 after the trees go dormant (in November or so?), and then again just as the trees wake up at the bud break (green tip) stage at a rate of 1-2 tbsp/gallon. You can search for more info here by ScottFSmith and Jellyman. When you spray the Kocide, you also want to mix in a "sticker". Dormant oil works for this purpose and also smothers scaling insects. (The Williams Pride wouldnt mind getting some dormant oil as well). Hopefully this will ward off the fire blight too. For CAR, you want to want to look at spraying Immunox. Search for posts by Harvestman and Michael357. Harvestman needs to spray Immunox (also goes by Nova, Eagle, Rally, etc) just twice (once petal fall and 10-14 day later application) to get full control. Because Im new to it, Im spraying it 3 times this year. Unfortunately, unlike the scab spray above, has no chance of being considered organic. But, without it, many of my trees suffer badly. You really need to do you own research here to back up everything Im saying. I have not been doing this very long and would want you to make any mistakes. Make sure you read, understand, and obey the label! Again do your own research and read the label! Hopefully someone will speak up if Ive said anything incorrect here. I think you are best to keep all plants away from your fruit trees. Anything growing near the tree will force the tree to compete for nutrients, etc. Good luck! -Glenn Williams Pride - Highly rated for flavor. It ripens in early August and is the best of the early apples. The large red fruit has a sweet rich spicy flavor. The tree is very productive with strong well angled branches. Immune to apple scab and resistant to mildew, cedar rust and fireblight. It is an early season bloomer with unusually long lasting blossoms. Bloom: - Midseason USDA Zone: 4,5,6,7,8,9 Pollination: Self-fertile (still need to confirm) Fruit Storage: Doesnt store well Mature Size: Moderate to large Ripens: -9 weeks before RD (end of July or so?) another site says 7-8 weeks before RD Uses: - Best used for dessert CAR : Resistant, Very Resistant Scab : Very Resistant Powdery Mildew: Resistant Fire Blight : Resistant Honeycrisp - Rated superior to McIntosh and Delicious for fresh eating in taste tests. Skin is mottled red over yellow with very crisp flesh. Good keeper up to 5 months. Bloom: Midseason USDA Zone: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 Fruit Storage: Excellent Mature Size: Medium Ripens: -2.5 weeks before RD (beginning of Sept or so?) Uses: Fresh eating/ dessert CAR : Suseptible Scab : Suseptible, Moderately Resistant Powdery Mildew: Suseptible Fire Blight : Suseptible, Resistant Flavor Type: Sweet Note: The above info is compiled from multiple sources, which is why you see "Suseptible, Resistant". Also, approximate ripening times are for RI.

Wantonamara = Mara ? LOL...Yep. I am highly questionable. I am also very bad with remembering names in real life and not very organized like y'all with your list. Whoa , I am impressed . I usually callpeople by their handles because I never know who is sensitive about having their name displayed online. I have irritated a fiend by posting her by his name and he did not like it so I go by that rule usually unless it has been in common usage.

We survived just fine, Stacie. Thanks for asking. A tornado hit about 2 1/2 miles west of us. LOTS of old Cottonwoods are down all along the roads and section lines. Two bridges washed out due to flooding on the Keya Paha and nearby creeks. We flooded on the bottoms both east and west of the house. The water came all the way up to the dikes and went as far north as was possible. It was almost like we were on a little island for a while. I have to say it's a more than a little creepy to see water 30 feet from your house. That started going down late yesterday but the river is still at peak and flowing hard. You can really hear it rushing from the yard. Some cattle (fall heifers and bulls)and the horses were in the corrals and they busted the steel walls out to escape. I think the river spooked them pretty bad. They only went as far as dry land so we are just keeping an eye them for now as we have no place to move them to. All the fencing along the river is gone. All the corrals are damaged enough that they won't hold critters. One bull is missing but all else are accounted for. A couple neighbors got some damage to buildings and homes but not real serious. North of Bassett a B&B Ranch was hit real hard and they lost half of the house, all vehicles and much of their equipment and buildings. The Mr. of the house was sitting in his tractor trying to get back in from the field when it hit and it broke the windows out of his tractor. He got some cuts but they were both at their grand daughters graduation that night. They got hit by the first tornado. Our neighbors got hit by the second one. We were headed to town for graduation and driving right into it...not knowing. When the hail started we turned around and ran east from it then turned around again after it passed and headed back towards town again. Our power had gone out in the afternoon so we had no idea what was going on weather wise. That's usually the way it works out here so all we can do is watch the sky and guess. Overall everyone was real lucky. MeMo

"But those are some big cucumbers! What kind are they?" I just checked the plastic marker, and unfortunately all it says is "cucumber". They were from Kube Pak, if that helps at all. I'm guessing the latin name would be something like Cucactus Ouchus. ;-) "you might enjoy reading the $64 tomato - short memoir, funny as hell about a man's venture into "gentleman's farming" I especially enjoyed the chapter on "superchuck" " Thanks for the reminder! I stumbled across that title around the same time I bought Mel's SFG book. I read every one of the Amazon reviews - the book sounds hilarious. I'm going to have to order that soon. BTW, here's an interview NPR did with the author. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5360768