The apple blossoms are gone and the fruits have just started to form. The little apples are perhaps half an inch in diameter. The amazing thing is that even at that size they look like themselves. That is, you can tell from the shape which tree is the Delicious.
Arlene phoned some garden centers to find spraying equipment and materials. Everyone recommended that we go to the Paris Farmers’ Union. I looked for them on the web and found that they had a store in Bridgton, which we’d rather drive to than Paris (especially after the long drive on Saturday, and having to drive home later Sunday). Kitty, the woman in the picture on the web page for the Bridgton store (and she looks just like the picture) helped us pick out a sprayer, paper mouth and nose mask, and goggles.
We also got a whiskey-barrel planter and a few bags of potting soil to fill it. Arlene put some gourd and pumpkin seeds in it.
I got rotenone-pyrethrum spray. It disqualifies us from saying the apples are organically grown, but is a lot less toxic to people and birds (read: less scary to me) than the spray that says “for fruit trees” on the label. It got pretty late by the time I figured out the sprayer, sprayed, cleaned out the sprayer, and gave myself a good shower. I hope spraying is quicker next time, because I’m going to have to do it every couple of weeks over the summer.