Local Crabapples your keeping an eye on?

[bigboreblr]

I drive about 60 miles to work through the catskils mountains to work. There's a few I am keeping an eye out for. 2300ft elevation, zone 4 borderline 5. All of these trees are above the "snowline". Where the valley has cold rain but up the mountain has snow / frost.

The first one is on sate land by an old stone foundation. The other two are by old farmhouses alongside the road. Likely known varieties. Definitely grafting the large green pointed bottom one from the stone foundation. Give that twig another 100 years of fruit.....

Don't think there's been a frost up there yet. The mountainside is the last mountain before the river valley. Some mornings there's a 15 degree difference between the bottom and top of the hillside climb. Seen 23 deg last fall once.

Not pictured is a tree with large green round apples with a huge orange blush mark. About 2/3rds of the fruit is still on the trees. These trees are in the open too, so lots of wind to nudge them to fall.

 

[sandbur]

Did you do a taste test?

 

[bigboreblr]

Did you do a taste test?

Not yet. Been on remote sites the past 2 weeks. Will stop by and taste test a few. Might even mark a branch and do weekly apple counts. Might collect a few and see how well they store too.

Lots of old agriculture by us. Used to guide pheasant hunts for a farm that has been in the same family since the revolutionary war times. That farm is down the road from this place. The emerald isle of the catskills.

The green with the orange blush looks alot like grimes golden. Looks like pristine, but that variety is way too new, and the apples would be long gone by now.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I often wonder if some of the roadside apple trees are seedlings from apple cores tossed from vehicles in years past. Seems unlikely that anyone would plant an apple tree so close to our roadways. I see the same here - tight to the road trees. Maybe some accidental gems to be discovered??

 

[sandbur]

I know of a very nice cooking apple right in the bend of a state Highway. Same thoughts as you.

I also see lots of crabs in a River bottom that periodically floods and I think the apples float down the river. These trees do survive the periodic flooding.

 

[H20fwler]

I’ve got this one that is on my way to work. Has fruit every year, a little over 2” crabs. Last year was a heavy fruit load. It’s an old tree, I tried grafting from it two years ago using a couple sucker scions but they didn’t take.
I should try again.

 

[bigboreblr]

I stopped at the trees today. All were dropping alteast 3/4's of what they produced. Need to try and taste them, will give it a shot tomorrow. My hopes for late droppers are not completely gone. One tree right by a farmhouse yellow/green with orange blush and about 1.5"-2" sized. Similar to the others in appearance, but the fruit is holding tight and smaller in size. Deer are on this tree in november, even though it's 50 feet away from a house with a dog and the hustle and bustle of a dairy farm across the street.

 

[H20fwler]

I watched this one for about ten years. It is right down the block from our old house.
Every year loaded with crabapples that slow drop over the winter into early March. Every rabbit in the neighborhood crowds under it all through winter eating the fruit as it drops.
I figured deer would do same, so I cut some scions and grafted it to M111 and Antonovka. Now I have six or so in my shrub strips and I’ve given a few to my buddies that have the habitat bug too. Starts fruiting third leaf.
The street the mother tree is on is Briar Lane so that’s what I call it.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

^ ^ ^ ^ WOW!! That's a good find. Smaller crabs will feed deer, along with lots of other critters. A cousin and I raked up about 2 bushels of crabs that size and put them out behind his house some years ago. Deer cleaned them up the first night!! You should be in great shape with grafts of that tree, H20. We know you like rabbits as well as deer, so bunnies on your places should be customers.

 

[Dantana]

I have this crab growing in my home property. I’m going to attempt grafting it for the first time next spring. Would love a dozen of these trees at the hunting property.

 

[bigboreblr]

This is my best one im eyeing. About 1/2 full of apples as of yesterday. Atleast 6 frosty nights in zone 4 NY 1700dt ekevation. Tasted like store apples, still pretty firm too. Apples more in sub have orange blush. Several trees like rhis one, but this tree has a bit smaller fruit and holds to tree almost a extra month.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

This is my best one im eyeing. About 1/2 full of apples as of yesterday. Atleast 6 frosty nights in zone 4 NY 1700dt ekevation. Tasted like store apples, still pretty firm too. Apples more in sub have orange blush. Several trees like rhis one, but this tree has a bit smaller fruit and holds to tree almost a extra month. View attachment 59426
View attachment 59425

I love finding trees like that.

 

[bigboreblr]

Still about half or more on the tree. Pic is yesterday. Atkeast a half dozen hard frosts thr past 2 weeks. 1st good frost likely 3 weeks ago or more.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I have two that I have had my eye on for several years. I haven’t ever tried grafting but would like to one of these years. One of them is outside a tavern down in a deep valley so I know it is cold tolerant the other is along side of a county road not far from where I live. Both always produced a good crop and both hold apples well into winter if not spring.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[b116757]

Scored 3 prairie fire crabapple trees for a $1 each at Tractor supply on my way home today. I did a little happy dance.

 

[Ruffdude]

Scored 3 prairie fire crabapple trees for a $1 each at Tractor supply on my way home today. I did a little happy dance.

I have one in my backyard, coons broke the central leader so I am training a new one but it still produces a solid amount of fruit each year.

 

[Ruffdude]

This one resides in my dog yard, it was here when we bought the place and it has produced fruit every year. I try to keep it check growth wise and clean up the inside of it annually.
This year is a record crop, best I have seen in 12 years. I'm not sure what species it is, oriental crab? Japanese crab? Something like that I believe. Most winters the ruffed grouse come in and feed on it throughout until its stripped clean often into February.

 

[bigboreblr]

They look great.

Hear alot about breaking branches. I am questioning how much you guys prune these trees back each year. If you cut them back, they get thicker.

I put in about 25 trees last year. I have about 6 or 7 Kerr that are 4ft tall. Next year doing more kerr on antonovka again.

As most of us. I am rethinking my habitat strategy. I am trying to incorporate a pruning comparison with 3 kerr on anty. Camp up north in't the best choice, soil isnt that great. Thinking of pruning well, lighter pruning, and only prune bad stuff. I think many are just bad stuff. There is a difference between training a tree and maintaining a mature tree.

Aside from that, you should share some scions for that tree. When did you take the pic? What zone and soil are you? You water or fertilize the tree. The dog doesn't count.........

 

[gunfun13]

This is a local ditch crab, parent tree tends to be biennial..but on it's production years it throws an insane amount of fruit that starts dropping in October and persists well into winter.


I grafted scions from that tree 4 or 5 years ago. Last year was its first fruit and it fruited again this year. I'm hoping with some care it'll be annually productive.



This is a golfball sized pear that ripens over a long period and hangs late. I know of several like this in the area, but they're all super gritty (don't think the deer care). This one isn't gritty at all. Grafted some of this tree this spring too.

 

[paleopoint]

Oh this is a great thread.
A favorite topic.
Someone used the term "ditch crab". Great term. Will use it myself going forward.

Finding those trees (actually 'looking' for 'em) is sort of a hobby of mine.
And right now ...3rd week of November.....is prime time for me to do it.
And I am.
Collected seeds from two today....(and appraised them for March scion collection).
Over the years, I have had 4 or 5 home-runs. As many, or more, flops.

My home-runs are crabs.....and a pear.
With my best crab.....I watched this cluster of crabs for years before I finally started propagating. It was a very large red crab....but within 50yards or so...there were, oh I don't know....maybe 6, 9, 10? other crabs with similar fruit. But those trees were smaller. I assumed he big one was Momma. So I was confident she threw off fertile seed that came true (closely 'true') to her fruit and bearing qualities. So I now have a lot of trees from her seeds....actually the seeds of one of her progeny.
But what she and her child have done for me......is give me trees that produce annually, with fruit in quantity, and hang late dropping slowly (my 'vending machine' analogy).
That's a home-run in any habitatist's game plan.

My flops have turned out be bi-annual producers. Or meager crops.

Too often ...like this afternoon's collecting.....I pull seeds from trees I became aware of just within a year or so. . So I don't have years of 'curating' them. And too often I get 'flops' from such trees.

Here's a story of an interesting flop:

A beautifully shaped tree with a humongous fruit load in November of that particular year. I had just noticed it several months earlier. I was so impressed with that tree.
But it was on the grounds of a state prison with signs all over the place to stay off, no trespassing, yadda, yadda, yadda. It was not on groomed grounds but along one of their water lines, an un-mowed area. Big deal. No harm, no foul.
I had about a 100yd walk to get to it. So I did. Got my Bahco's on my hip and hiked to the tree and got 2 or 3 dozen fruits. And turned to hike back to my truck.....which, by now, had collected two guard trucks....one blocking it from the front, the other the rear. Uh-oh.

I knew I was gonna get a licking at least (my Bahco holster kinda looks like a pistol holster). The three uniforms were standing next to my truck watching me intently. Seriously. Oh, sh*t!

They asked me to stop about 10 so yards out, told me to raise my sweatshirt which exposed my holstered clippers. Asked me to take 'em out and hold 'emup. (they were armed but had not drawn). I gotta admit I had some trepidation. From 10yds they asked me what I thought I was doing. I explained. Told 'em I'd reach into my hoodie's belly pocket and pull out some crab fruits. Which I did.

They told me to approach. Got my name and where I lived. Looked at my driver's license. I said propagating apples and pears was a hobby. And that sorta broke the ice. One of the men didn't know me personally but was familiar with my farm location. It ended up a pleasant exchange. They told me don't do it again. If I want those fruits in the future call their grounds department.

Me: "OK, officers. Will do. Thank you. Have a good day. Sorry if I caused any anxiety."

Whew!!!!

And that damn crab turned out to be a bi-annual bearer.
I sh*it-canned its' seedlings after two years in the nursery.