Owner's comments
the wood of this tree tends to be very flexible. We get a lot of wind in the early summer and despite staking for the first two years the tree trunk leans heavily in the direction of the prevailing wind and the top half of the tree was bent parallel with the ground. I cut it off just above the bottom whirls and trained it to more of an open vase shape and I had to tie the branches down that face the wind until they were strong enough to resist but so far the tree seems to be much stronger this way.
I have a Macintosh right next to it that seems to be affected very little from the wind.
I thin the apples in the spring to about 1 per spur or 6"and the apples I get from this Honeycrisp tree are absolutely GINORMOUS! and very delicious. My climate must be a little slower ripening though because I have to wait until mid-late October, risking a few frosts before they reach peak sweetness, same with my Macintosh.
