Happy to say that Spinosad did a pretty good job controlling codling moth, so I must have gotten the timing fairly close this year. I got away with four sprays (including one insurance spray to hedge my timing a little bit) on three generations.

Also picked a few Prairie Spy a little early to beat predators; have a few Winesap wrapped in netting still on the tree, and a couple of Haralsons. Prairie Spy and Haralson rank very high in my mind- both have lots of flavor, good crunch and juiciness. Not as tart as some, complex flavors.

Gold Spice pears- delightful as soon as they ripen enough on the tree to munch, but ripening off the tree to a spicy, sweet, very juicy tidbit. My one Dana's Hovey was if anything a little better, but that's just one pear.

Next year I hope to sample Karmijn d'Sonneville and Rubinette apples, and the following year I might get a few Jonagold; I have Sweet Sixteen stored on the frankentree but need to get it spliced to a better location. And I hope to get White Doyenne pears next year for the first time. But all in all if I have to stick just with what I have I won't whine about it.

I also got my first taste of a Snow (Fameuse) and I think they are wonderful, too.

I know that not everybody feels the same about what I'll call the "Mac Family", for want of a better term, but to my taste when they are good they equal or surpass any other apple I've ever had.

Don't know the others you mentioned, but there's a lot of apples I'll never get to know!

Something stripped all three trees to the very top. Nothing on the ground anywhere. (Often deer will pull them off the tree and drop them with only teeth marks in the apple. But there wasn't a piece of an apple anywhere)

I later put up a trail cam and the only thing I saw in droves under the apple trees were Turkey. Don't know if they like apples or not, but it's the first time I've had anything take my apples.

The Haralson tree is right next to the three trees that got raided, and at the time it had deep red apples on it, yet it went untouched. (Even though they were deep red, they were far from ready to harvest. Whatever critter got my other apples must have know Haralson looks are deceiving!)

And Haralson hang on the tree tight. They're not the easiest apple to pick when they're dead ripe. I don't get any drops from this tree.

But once I did harvest them they didn't disappoint. We usually keep them around for eating because they store so well, but with the lean year from the other circumstances we didn't have a lot to freeze from the Mac, and none from the others, so I froze up the Haralson.

Got 5 apples off my Empire, they were pretty apples but I clearly picked them too soon - just worried something else would get them before me I guess, and this is the first year this tree has made an apple, and it's been in since '08.

The Honeycrisp that went in in'08 still hasn't made an apple.

I put in a couple Gold Rush, and a Sweet Sixteen last year, and a Macoun and a StarkSpur UltraMac this year.

I can't hardly wait to taste Gold Rush, Sweet Sixteen and Macoun. But that's a ways off.

My big McIntosh had a sparse crop but they are my favorite still.

Iowajer: I'm dumfounded by the lack of production from your Honeycrisp. Is it healthy? What rootstock is it on? Does it's late foliage exhibit the HC chlorotic leaves? Where was it purchased from? Is it possible it's grown up from the rootstock? 6 years? I'm puzzled.

Horrors! The Northern Spy are not even close to being ripe. I normally pick them around Oct. 10th-15th. Some years even later.

I suppose I need to put signs on the trees so family members pick the right variety. I always think everyone knows their apples but this case proves that is not always so.

Too bad as the Northern Spy were huge and I was looking forward to them. I guess this now gives me an excuse to
check out a new orchard in my area growing apples on tall spindle. I didn't have a reason to buy apples but I do now.

I know HMan always said Honeycrisp were relatively easy to grow, and he even wondered one time if it was located in a bad spot. It's over by the other trees that usually produce pretty well, but it may well get a bit more shade from a mature stand of timber to the East.

Last year it showed some of the dreaded "Yellows", and as kind of a stop-gap I drove from fruit tree spikes in at the drip line mainly because I had some, not because they would necessarily do any good... And I thought they were only good for making the grass where I drove them in grow out of control..., but this year there have been no signs of odd colors on the leaves. It looks really healthy, and the shape is nice and the graft union is above ground. So I don't know what gives. I do know that I had some apples that took 8 years to produce when I first planted them years ago. And because I have others this hasn't been too sore a spot with me, except that I really do want to eat a Honeycrisp apple from my own tree.

One things sure, I won't have to worry about stressing the tree by letting it fruit too early!!

Speaking of Sweet Sixteen, this year after my first cover spray I was over messing around by my trees and noticed some black aphids were defoliating my Sweet Sixteen. I'd not sprayed the few trees that were leaf only young trees, only the fruit bearing age trees. Well, I promptly got after them and the tree was fine going forward.

But..., I was reading an article someplace that indicated that if these black aphids are only on one tree in your orchard, they'll generally be on the sweetest variety.

I cannot attest to that of course, but it was the only tree they were on.

I don't hear a lot about Sweet Sixteen, but sounds like the aphids have!