Should really plant one with some afternoon shade? I'll have to keep that in mind. I budded a bunch of them this summer, plus i have some seedlings that are good sized already.

One of the trees I grow has some shade and gets less of the rot than one that gets full sun in the middle of the day. Fruit quality is a bit better also.

The article mentions this method as a way to get better quality in the high sun environment of Washington State, however. The grower who does this is afraid that other growers in the area will not go to this much expense to keep the quality up and will instead market cheaper, poor quality Honeycrisps and destroy his investment by making it impossible for him to realize adequate profit for his product.