Holy cow, I've been doing this all wrong. Thank you for this advice, all three of you. Hummer, this tree is in bad need of a haircut- it's all busy leaves and apples, and there's no seeing any branches. But there are plenty committing the sin of fruiting wood and spur branches and crossing and all of that. It gets liquid fertilizer injected into the ground around its roots twice a year. The past few years, we've had praying mantises on the tree, so hopefully they're enjoying eating some of the pests.