I agree with most of the good advice preceding and would add not to pay much attention to a random forester. The only nutrient that consistently creates a vigor response for trees in most soils is N and additional P is often not needed at all, at least in the soils in the northeast. K becomes an issue when it is being carried out of a site in the form of crop. Presumably animals feeding on the fruit would tend to leave in excrement about what they consumed. Soil tests don't really tell you what's needed like a map can direct you where to drive and they aren't in my opinion always essential. In commercial orchards where you need to tweek things to max efficiency, soil tests are used in conjunction with leaf analysis. Soil tests probably represent about a third of the total info provided by both tests and this info is only part of the evidence a grower acts on when determining nutritional needs. Observation of apples, foliage and soil take an equal role. Cornell does offer a maintanence nutrient management program in their "Pest Management Guidelines for Commercial Tree-Fruit Production" which last I checked can be found on-line. I assume this info is for commercial growers getting satisfactory production and aren't doing test based management. I do consider pH adjustment an essential part of fruit tree care and this has to be done in conjunction with analysis.

They would have if the bar of bees wax wasn't soap. When he tried to melt it, it never melted. I told him we needed bees wax and he said he had some. The whole thing got botched. It started to rain and in panic I put basement tar sealer on them. That melted latter on a hot sunny day and seeped into the scion cuts causing them to die. I ordered northern spy for him this year. I am also bringing my grafting sealant and we are going to put nine pieces of wood on maybe 12 grafts. He will get some takes on these. We will put some on the water shoots that came out around the trunk below the cuts made last year. He is moving anyway, but he wants to do this before he leaves. He has Lou Garrets disease and has to get into a condo. This like one of his things on his bucket list. I learned from that. Now I know if I am going to graft to bring everything myself. Last year nothing was planed when we grafted his tree. It was at the spur of the moment. He found out what I was going to do to my trees and all the sudden he wanted to do his with nothing bought. I told him I had some scion I could give him but he would need to get the sealant. He said he had bees wax so we went for it only to find out he didn't have the proper sealant. I will do a follow up after grafting this year. A lot of this was my fault because I never had grafted before, and I was a rooky! If I was in that situation again I would have pulled the scions out and never used the tar!

Here is the last top I grafted. You can kind of see the green tips coming out on the right side. This growth might all get pruned out as the tree fills in, but I will get lots of scion wood latter from it. I just grafted it nine days ago! Its been raining a lot here. Things are really starting to green up. My plan was to make this tree all Granny Smith. Then I was having a hard time getting the scion wood. Big Horse Orchard said They had the next best thing called Rhode Island Greening so I thought I would get a couple of those. I finally found some Granny Smith in Ohio. He was kind enough to send a surprise of an extra scion of Antonecova, so I put that on two branches. It makes it a three in one now, but mostly Granny Smith. I think it will really go nuts with growth this year. I can't wait to see. I noticed the Granny Smith is last to break dormancy as you can see the lower buds on last years grafts in the background are still dormant.

woodencloud: Plant a Yellow Transparent tree. This is an antique variety that has very sour apples, right up to the time they begin to turn yellow. Unless you have a very sour tooth, they will be sufficiently sour for you. We use Yellow Transparent as our #1 applesauce variety, although it requires a little sugar, and it is also great for pies. Like many of the tart apples, it ripens very early -- around July 15 here in Northern Virginia -- and we pick them just before they begin to turn yellow, at which point they can begin to turn mushy. I also have a much later-ripening sour apple of English origin called Foxwhelp, which is a real mouth-puckering experience. Foxwhelp is not so good for sauce, but it is great for blending in cider. You would probably like it right off the tree. Older apple varieties like these are available at specialized nurseries around the country. You would have to do a little searching with your Google mechanism to find them. I think Cummins Nursery in NY State carries the Perrine type of Yellow Transparent, which is reported to be better than the original. You would be better off with a known grafted variety on a size-controlling rootstock like M-7 than trying to start a tree from seed, which is a real crapshoot. You would get fruit much sooner, and would know what you have. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA