Last Fall I planted 7 apple trees, thinking that with the recent mild winters they would make it. We then had the coldest winter in 80 years. The good news is they all survived, but four of them died down to close to the graft. I am guessing that everything above snow died. They have one to several shoots coming from anywhere 1 to 4 inches above the graft. The other 3 have shoots, but are also somewhat slow at growing.

I have done nothing to them yet. I am thinking of leaving the two with a single shoot alone this year, and start rubbing off excess shoots (plus branch pulling) in the other trees in a few weeks. Advice will be appreciated.