Three years ago, we bought a house in north Alabama that had three apple
trees in the backyard. At the time, they were 5 years old and the home
owner said that he had a "few" apples on them. This was in August 2001.

The next year, there were no apples. One tree's leaves wilted and many
of the branches turned black. Thinking it was a disease, I cut off all
the bad limbs. The other two trees grew fine but produced no fruit.

A family member suggested that we prune the trees in the following
winter. So in Spring 2003, we pruned the trees pretty hard.
Unfortunately, we had a late freeze in May and it killed many of the
blossoms (including those on a neighboring peach tree). So the trees
just put on new growth for the entire year, but no fruit.

This year, each tree had only ONE cluster of blossoms. Nothing came of
the two trees. The 3rd (the formerly diseased tree) tree started to put
on fruit and then they withered and died. So again, we are without
fruit. One tree is about 9 feet wide and about 10 feet tall, another is
5 feet wide and 11 feet tall, and the other "diseased" tree is about 2
feet wide and 7 feet tall.

Any tips for getting these trees to produce will be appreciated. In
particular, what kinds of fertilizers should we use? Is having a peach
tree nearby a bad idea? How often should one prune the trees?
Pesticides? Etc?