I counted the apples on the tree twice, and came up with 16 the first time and 18 the second, including one apple never before seen which has grown up un-socked.

I decided it was time to sock the apple tree.  This is a non-chemical way of preventing apple tree maggots.  They bore into the fruit and ruin it.  It’s like ped socks for food.

The fruit is a good size to do it right now, not too small and it seems strongly attached to the stems, and hopefully I’m ahead of infestation.  I’ve had several bad years in a row with this columnar apple where it dropped all its fruit during the peak of summer heat, and after the new fence was built, I did a huge pruning, where I took off a whole second trunk it had grown.  I think that helped.  The remaining trunk shot up enough in height I’m going to top it next winter when it’s dormant so that I can reach everything from a small step stool.

I cleared out any spots with lots of dead leaves or remains of apple blossoms still clinging, as they just harbor bugs over the summer.  And it helps to find all the fruit.  I socked all the fruit I could find, making four passes around the tree before I stopped finding more apples.  Then I counted.  A couple times.  I can’t quite tell if it’s 17 or 18.