North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Mark_Bugaieski@rlicorp.com]

Hi all,

I'm new to the list (although a long-time subscriber to nafex) and just an
"amateur" developing several acres of former cropland into
wildlife/orchard/nut plantings here in central Illinois.  I look forward to
accessing all the expertise I know is here.  Since there's currently a
crabapple thread, a comment:  Given my goals, I pamper my plants the first
year and then they're pretty much on their own.  I'd planted 4 crabapples
for pollen/birds 5 years ago and they were doing spectacularly.  Well, last
year, they started dying.  They still had the expandable plastic tree
protectors around them (circumference hadn't yet reached diameter of
protector, at which time I remove), but they'd been bothered by the deer,
so I put up a 5 foot high wire mesh fence around each one -about 2 feet in
diameter.  Although I'd mulched around the fence, weeds had grown up inside
the fence.  Upon removing the fence and protector from one of the dead
trees, I discovered the bark was half-rotten and disfigured - diagnosis
made/problem solved.  Remember, good air circulation around the trunk is
critical!

Mark