I have a three year old jonathan on M111. When I ordered it, the
vendor (maybe Hilltop?) apologized for not having any big ones left.
When it arrived, I marveled at the paucity of roots - one or two
threads trailing out of a stick below the graft. It also had some
damage to the top from shipping, but I might have headed the tree
anyway.
It sprouted well enough, and seems healthy. I had a bit of deer
pruning the first winter, and some caterpillar damage the second
summer. It is now about 3/4" thick and perhaps 5' tall, of which about
a foot is last year's growth. I have some promisingly arranged twigs
that I hope will become a low scaffold. I hope to get a second set of
scaffold branches going a little higher this year.
My problem is that the leader is flopping to the side, and I'd like to
to grow more straight. The tree is staked, but the cloth ties I've
used tend to slide down, leaving the top to wave in the wind. any
suggestions? Should I tape the tree to the pole? Remove a foot or
more from the top and hope it grows back thicker? Apply more nitrogen?
Plant a new tree to distract me from this one? (Actually, I do have
an Ashmead's kernal on order from Fedco for the spring.)