My wife is in bed and I’m on a no TV kick, so here are some pictures from my yard. Hosui pear tree. No fruit yet but growing well.
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My two older apple trees, Jonafree and Enterprise.
They were planted in the spring of 2015. The Enterprise has one apple on it and the Jonafree has around 15.
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My combo Bartlett and Red Sensation pear tree, planted spring 2014. I had to move it after its first year because it was not getting enough sun.
The central leader broke about two weeks ago from what I think are borers. It now looks like a pear bush.
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The Shiro and Redheart plum tree combo planted spring 2014. The tree has flowered the past two years but it seems frost has killed all the plums.
There are Nanking cherries in the background.
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Where did you get those branch spreaders? Clothespins don’t work for me and the plastic ones from Stark Bros caused my tree to leak sap so I removed them… and tying with anchors and string led to girdling.
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I made them. I used pieces of scrap wood and finishing nails. Basically I measured where I wanted to put them and where I wanted the branch to be and cut to length. I then cut inward Vs using a jigsaw. I hammered the nail into the V and used snippers to cut the head off, which left a sharp edge. They worked okay, not great as some gouged the tree up pretty good and some kept falling off. Some worked very well. I think it is all about the angle you put them in at.
The best way I have found to spread the limbs is to cut a section of old hose and run a clothesline string through that, then anchor with a cinder block. The hose acts as a padding. I’ll try and get a picture up ASAP.
By the way, DO NOT google “limb spreaders”. It is too raunchy to described on this nice forum, but one can use their imagination. I actually had to explain to my wife what I was searching for incase Google started trying to advertise that product to me in the future. Quite embarrassing.
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That’s hilarious lol For awhile my boyfriend thought I was up late every night on my phone talking to other men, he was surprised to always find me looking at pictures of apples lol 
Hose idea, genius. Thank you!
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It won’t girdle if you make a loop when you tie string to a branch. I use rocks (plenty in my yard) as weight.
Jim - your trees look healthy and beautiful.
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What I do, I actually use some Petoskey stone I found on the shores of Lake Huron when I was young. Giant pieces of it.I also use paracord, great stuff!. I like it as it is easy to untie, last a long time as long as you seal cut ends.
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What kind of string you use does not matter much. It is how you tie a loop on a branch is the key. I am not good at describing it but someone who knows how to describe it or post a pic, could chime it.
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I use a taut line hitch for bending branches as it holds really well, allows for adjustments, and you can make the loop as big as you like. Actually I use a taut line hitch for just about everything. It is a great knot. https://www.netknots.com/rope_knots/tautline-hitch
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Sorry for the glut of pictures, but I had my camera out today while doing some chores.
Sprayed three rounds of Surround on my plum tree. I used half a gallon of water and one and a half cups of surround.
!
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This one is New Century.
This is a Hosui.
New Century flowers.
Bartlett and Red Sensation.
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Nice, and what a great day for pics. Keep the pics coming, as @speedster1 said, we’re tree nerds anyways. I was tempted, though, to take some more pics today, but need to rein it in a bit…
What kind of apples and peaches do you have?
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I have Enterprise, Jonafree, Gold Rush, Golden Delicious, and William’s Pride apple trees. This year I grafted Hudson’s Golden Gem, Arkansas Black, Liberty, Freedom and Macoun.
The smaller peach is a July Elberta and the larger one is my Home Depot $1 tree.
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Superb, Jim!
Love the shape of that last apple.
Dax
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Thanks Dax.
My apple trees are taking shape nicely, as are most of my trees. Thanks to everyone here I am having my best season so far. My plum tree has its first set of plums, three pear trees have set fruit, all the trees survived the winter, and it seems most or all of my grafts have taken! Exciting times.
Jim
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These aren’t trees, but I’m not really sure where to put my pictures at, so I’ll add them here.
Those are six blueberries against the fence, raspberries to the left, strawberries in front of the blueberries, zucchini and patty pan squash in the hoop house, and Provider beans to the left of the hoop house. I need to cage the blueberries soon after my makeshift cage, which worked great, crumbled in the winter.
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Bartlett pear. The tallest leader is a Seckle graft. This tree has turned into a bush. If anyone has advice on pruning, please let me know. I pruned some when dormant and some in the summer, but it seemed like it didn’t matter and kept pushing out suckers.
Enterprise Apple
First year Gold Rush
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