[engineer]

Last autumn, i decided to plant 4 cordon apple trees, eveything has been fine so far ie the planting, mulching, framework and tying in. What really perplexes me is what do i do now in relation to spraying and general upkeep to keep all the little nasties at bay 
at what time of year would i have to do this.
I have tried searching the internet, but all i can find are articles on how to plant a tree, not how to look after it

[gobs]

Last autumn, i decided to plant 4 cordon apple trees, eveything has been fine so far ie the planting, mulching, framework and tying in. What really perplexes me is what do i do now in relation to spraying and general upkeep to keep all the little nasties at bay 
at what time of year would i have to do this.
I have tried searching the internet, but all i can find are articles on how to plant a tree, not how to look after it

Why this is, is because they do not need molesting that much. What works does not need fixing. You need to do something, when there is a problem. Relax, have tea and cake, it's cold.

[engineer]

Cheers gobs, perhaps you are right, however i will keep them under very close observation, and at the very first sign of any problem, NAIL IT!

[gobs]

Cheers gobs, perhaps you are right, however i will keep them under very close observation, and at the very first sign of any problem, NAIL IT!

Indeed. 

They need pruning though by the book. However, I inherited some orchard on this plot I took over. Noon ever pruned them for decades. 20-50 kg fruit on the most of them.

There is more damage to be done than any use, if one does not know what they are doing.

[engineer]

Good Gobs! that's a hell of a lot of fruit!  Not a problem at all with the pruning,  it's those little beasty things, unless of course one enjoys the taste of maggot 

[ilan]

tea cake ? no  You are a bit late but get a few pints of traditional cider and a couple of slices of good toast  heat  at least a pint and add spices to taste , take half of the mulled cider and soak the toast in it. hang this in the largest tree to encourage the birds , pour the remainder around the roots whilst singing the wassail song. It helps if you sampled a few before hand. then beat the ground with a stick to wake up the roots and drive off any nasties whilst drinking the rest of the mulled cider. then enjoy a pint of cider and slice of apple pie !  

[Ice]

One year my entire crop was maggoty.     Have a look at this advice from the RHS

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?PID=489

[engineer]

cheers Ice, did you get it sorted for future years?

Does Ilan come from Somerset?

[Ice]

I moved that year and I'm determined that my newly planted tree will not suffer the same fate.

[engineer]

Well that's one way to get rid of them by moving, but wouldn't it be easier to kill them

[Ice]

Well that's one way to get rid of them by moving, but wouldn't it be easier to kill them

The trauma was too great, I had to leave.

[leeks r us]

Just planted 2 dwarf maloni lilly apple trees last year, you guys are starting to make me worry. Thought it would be reasonably straight forward.