Apple Trees

I studied up on my apple tree care so that I can get some apples next year. I like trees, and I could see our trees becoming a hobby for me. We've done a decent amount of maintenance on the trees, working hard at getting them into respectable shape. I spray our crabapple tree this year and it wasn't affected by blight. i think that's what it had.

My timeline to applesauce is:

February - Prune 5-10 feet off the top of the tree. Anyone want to do this? In FEBRUARY? Ugh. But it is way overgrown up there.

April - Spray with dormant oil to prevent/kill codling moths, which is what we had this year.

April - 10-10-10 fertilizer, 1.5 pounds.

Then I'm supposed to spray about once a week through the summer. I don't know if I'll get that far, I don't expect great apples next year, just to get the tree on the road to healthy.

And it's a good thing we didn't cut down the crab apple tree or other small apple tree we have, because they cross pollinate.

Now you know a little more about caring for apple trees! Aren't you happy?