Yes...if you're not willing for regular sprays.. or more work bagging then get rid of them and plant something else...I'm thinking of berries.

Thanks, that helps me with my decision. Out it comes! Maybe I'll put in flowering crabapples instead, or a flowering cherry. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for those.

Duh !

If all you wanted was flowers than why did you bother with fruiting trees?

LOL! Well, the whole point was to have fruiting trees, but after...hmm...I just checked, it's actually 6 years... and only two apples last year, I'm thinking that it is not worth it. It's not that I started out only wanting flowers. I wanted fruit! I wanted to make tart tatin, and apple pie, and have apples that you couldn't buy anywhere to make those things or eat fresh. Now, given the choice, I'd rather have flowers and easy care than a lot of work and neither flowers nor apples (it's not that the trees don't have flowers, but they certainly don't look like much, compared to the flowering versions). I was kind-of hoping someone would say "yeah, I had Ashmead's for 5 years and in the 6th year it was fabulous" or "Just do xxxx, and presto, the worms will be gone without much work!" Nope, those dreams are gone. Time for reality.

noseometer,

I have Ashmead's Kernel now going into its 5th year. I have had fruit the last three.

There is a minimal spray regimen that will give you fruit. The flavor of the Kernel will blow your socks off.

There are some old posts here by Aalan Haigh (Harvestman) that set out the minimalist spray that will give you fruit.

For Ashmead's Kernel it is well worth the effort.

See below - looks long but it is really not

Posted by harvestman 6
(My Page) on Fri, May 11, 12 at 18:27

Here's my spray schedule for the scores of
orchards I manage around SE NY. It has
functioned

well for me for over 2 decades, although J.
Beetles and brown rot of stone fruit increases the

number of sprays some years some sites.

I commonly mix those three chemicals with
the exception of triazide, but I've mixed other

pyrethroids with Cap and Immunox (myclobutanil).

The main issue you are likely to encounter
is captan anywhere near oil. You can't mix the two and

shouldn't even
spray them within about 14 days of each other.

If your problem with CAR requires control, myclobutanil
is your best option. One spray of myc. at petal fall and one more 10-14 days
later should control it. I use
myclobutanil with the brand name Immunox .

=======

Dormant oil (this is optional if there were no mites or
scale issues the previous season).

Do oil spray somewhere between the point where emerging
shoots are 1/2" and the flower

clusters begin to show a lot of pink. Mix Rally or
Immunox (myclobutinol) at highest legal rate

with 1 to 2% oil. If it's closer to pink use 1%.

Don't spray again until petal fall when petals have
mostly gone from latest flowering varieties and

bees have lost interest. Than spray Imidan (or triazide
or something equally affective) + Nova +

Captan mixed together at highest legal rates (you may
want to drop the Captan because of

increasing concerns about health risks). Repeat in 10
to 14 days.

Where I manage orchards, the space between earliest
flowering Japanese plums and latest

flowering apples is only 2 weeks or so (not this year)
which usually allows me to wait until the

latest flowering trees are ready to begin spraying
anything. Plum curculio seems to time its

appearance conveniently to the rhythm of the last
flowering apple varieties. This may not be true

where you are.

If plums or peaches need oil they may need application
before apples. I�ve only had mites on

European plums here and never need oil for other stone
fruit.

All this is based on plum curculio being the primary
insect problem which is the case most areas

east of the Mis. River. These sprays will also
absolutely control scab, CAR and Mildew as well

as most of the crop fatal insects. Apple fly maggot is
an exception, but I haven't had much of a

problem with this pest in the orchards I manage. This
pest can be controlled with a lot of fake

apples smeared with tangle trap.

If you don't want to use synthetic chemicals try 4
applications of Surround about a week apart

starting at petal fall. You may need to start on
earlier flowering varieties as soon as they drop

petals. When weather isn't too hot you can mix hort oil
at 1% once or twice.

Other problems may occur later in the season and you
will in time learn to monitor and react to

the pitfalls.

Mike