Northern Whitetail Crabs

[Native Hunter]

Question for anyone:

I'm considering ordering some of the NWC trees despite not knowing the rootstock. Maybe I'm just being taken in by the marketing, but the drop times and hardiness without special care or spraying fill a niche in terms of apples and crabapples where I currently fall short. I do have no spray pears and persimmons that will fill that time slot, but finding the perfect (or near perfect apple or crabapple) covering most of November here is tough.

I'm in Zone 6b and would be planting these in good, well drained soils. My question is this: Other than not knowing the rootstock, what other concerns would you have about these for my particular situation? And, would you have a better recommendation? I do have two other varieties of young crabs already coming on which I think will work for me, but I would like to add some more varieties as a backup.

Thanks!

 

[Big Snow Man]

Question for anyone:

I'm considering ordering some of the NWC trees despite not knowing the rootstock. Maybe I'm just being taken in by the marketing, but the drop times and hardiness without special care or spraying fill a niche in terms of apples and crabapples where I currently fall short. I do have no spray pears and persimmons that will fill that time slot, but finding the perfect (or near perfect apple or crabapple) covering most of November here is tough.

I'm in Zone 6b and would be planting these in good, well drained soils. My question is this: Other than not knowing the rootstock, what other concerns would you have about these for my particular situation? And, would you have a better recommendation? I do have two other varieties of young crabs already coming on which I think will work for me, but I would like to add some more varieties as a backup.

Thanks!

I'm a lot farther north than you and am not concerned about hardiness. There are a few guys as far as central Michigan that have had them in the ground for a few years and look good. I know that's not 28 below but I think I will be ok.

 

[Native Hunter]

Since they're in NE PA and state they've bred these trees specifically for "northern" areas, my main concern for a guy in 6b would be that their bloom, ripening, and drop times may vary significantly in a much more "southern" zone.

I was thinking about that too Stu and one of the reasons I brought this up. I was hoping that the advertised extended drop times might help in covering any shifting due to my location, but it will be a crap shoot.

What I may do is just get three of these trees and plant them in groups along with my persimmons and pears that I'm more sure of. That way if it fails I won't have a complete failure. I'm wanting to start fruit trees in a new spot and looking for apple/crabapple ideas. If I was looking at through October drop it would be easy, but the November into December is tougher for me.

Thanks!

 

[Native Hunter]

Yep, that time slot is tougher to fill.

You aren't out much if you try them. If they work out well, you can always graft some more of them (or buy more)

My feelings exactly. Thanks for the response.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

I may try one of each of these trees. I will bite on the BOB tree! What is another $150.........and another $150..........and another $150.........

It never fricken ends!

 

[Neahawg]

I was thinking about that too Stu and one of the reasons I brought this up. I was hoping that the advertised extended drop times might help in covering any shifting due to my location, but it will be a crap shoot.

What I may do is just get three of these trees and plant them in groups along with my persimmons and pears that I'm more sure of. That way if it fails I won't have a complete failure. I'm wanting to start fruit trees in a new spot and looking for apple/crabapple ideas. If I was looking at through October drop it would be easy, but the November into December is tougher for me.

Thanks!

I'm grafting a winter Jon this year native that claims to hold small green apples into Dec, unsure of disease resistance just yet but it's a possible option along with keener seedling which century farms states is there latest dropping apple.

 

[Native Hunter]

I'm grafting a winter Jon this year native that claims to hold small green apples into Dec, unsure of disease resistance just yet but it's a possible option along with keener seedling which century farms states is there latest dropping apple.

Keep us posted on how those do Neahawg. I've looked at the Century Farm list and have some of those apples. So far my Yates seems to drop earlier than advertised, even though its a good apple. Terry Winter has been a little disappointing so far but haven't given up on it yet. I'm trying to cover early to Mid November more than anything.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Native - Do you have any Goldrush ?? DR and very late apple. Delicious too !! They're supposed to do better further south as they need a longer growing season. Ours ripen around the beginning of November and hang on the tree through the month here. We also had Kerr hanging on 2 trees in November. FWIW.

Our trees are border of zones 5 & 6. Our normal lowest temp. in most winters is -10 to -15. Greatest number of days during winter are +15 and above. Northern Whitetail Crabs is about 1 hour east of our camp.

 

[Diesel5610]

I have been very pleased with our Goldrush, they do drop in November and later. I think they would be a good option for you.

 

[Native Hunter]

Native - Do you have any Goldrush ?? DR and very late apple. Delicious too !! They're supposed to do better further south as they need a longer growing season. Ours ripen around the beginning of November and hang on the tree through the month here. We also had Kerr hanging on 2 trees in November. FWIW.

Our trees are border of zones 5 & 6. Our normal lowest temp. in most winters is -10 to -15. Greatest number of days during winter are +15 and above. Northern Whitetail Crabs is about 1 hour east of our camp.

I do have one Goldrush planted in the spring of 2014. It has grown very well but no signs of fruiting yet. The thing that worries me about it is the amount of CAR I see on the tree. We are in CAR and FB Hell here. Hopefully it will work out for me and I'm expecting fruit this year - hopefully. I have it set in a prime spot if it does end up working.

I didn't realize Kerr would hang so long. I wonder what it would do here.....

The 2 trees advertised as Dolgo that I got from WG never fall off the tree at all. Nice crabapples, but they hang all winter and rot on the tree. Very discouraging. I have a feeling they are not Dolgo at all.

 

[Native Hunter]

I have been very pleased with our Goldrush, they do drop in November and later. I think they would be a good option for you.

Thanks. My one Goldrush should fruit this year so hopefully I will get to find out. But, as I just mentioned in the thread above, it sure does show lots of CAR....

 

[Neahawg]

Native you must have got calloway Crabapple. Red crab that doesn't fall off the tree unless shaken. However we have I believe two Merle and I ate one and not bad for what I expected a crab to taste like.

Also Wickson is a crab that is supposed to drop in November. I'm grafting it and Kerr this year

 

[Native Hunter]

Native you must have got calloway Crabapple. Red crab that doesn't fall off the tree unless shaken. However we have I believe two Merle and I ate one and not bad for what I expected a crab to taste like.

Also Wickson is a crab that is supposed to drop in November. I'm grafting it and Kerr this year

Yes, I have decided it is Calloway. They sell that one too, and probably just got them mixed up when I ordered Dolgo. The taste is really good, but not what I wanted. Guess I will have to be like Elvis when I walk by that tree - with a whole lot of shaking going one.........

 

[Neahawg]

Lol yeah ours was mostly for pollination, but I'm too working them this year I think. Keep lower portion in reach calloway and top portion something that will drop like centennial or Kerr.

 

[Native Hunter]

Lol yeah ours was mostly for pollination, but I'm too working them this year I think. Keep lower portion in reach calloway and top portion something that will drop like centennial or Kerr.

That sounds like a good plan. Mine are such nice trees now I hate to mess with them. They are on the trail to one of my cameras. I generally do the last camera check about 10 days before we start hunting. I guess I'm going to give them a good shake as I walk by from now on.

 

[chickenlittle]

There are a bunch of PRI Co-op DR varieties that ripen a week or 2 earlier than Goldrush. Many are available from USDA GRIN. A few like Sundance are still patent protected.

By ripening time -
https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pri/cultivars.html

Links to the varieties to check which DR traits each has. Some are good for CAR but not all. https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pri/default.tml

 

[Native Hunter]

There are a bunch of PRI Co-op DR varieties that ripen a week or 2 earlier than Goldrush. Many are available from USDA GRIN. A few like Sundance are still patent protected.

By ripening time -
https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pri/cultivars.html

Links to the varieties to check which DR traits each has. Some are good for CAR but not all. https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pri/default.tml

I've looked at those before. I wonder if there is anything out there that would help a person know how much difference it made in being X miles north or south of Lafayette, Indiana...

 

[chickenlittle]

The times given by PRI and the ripening times given by USDA GRIN are calibrated to Delicious. So if a local orchard grows Delicious, they could tell you when their Delicious is usually ripe and you could add about 3.5 weeks after that for Goldrush. An Ag Extension or State University fruit program might also have good guidance for you.

You still need to estimate the gap from ripe for picking to dropping off the tree.

 

[Native Hunter]

Yes, and some drop much more readily than others when ripe........

Good solid info on various cultivars should become easier for us to find as time goes on and people on these types of forums share experiences....

 

[Native Hunter]

I placed my order tonight for 5 trees. Their biologist called me. Both of us felt I would be better off going with varieties that drop slowly - starting early and ending late - in their area. That would give me a better chance of getting my November drop that I'm looking for in this area further south. One exception is that I did get the 30-06, which is a mid to late season dropper in their areas. He felt the Sheepnose was my best bet, so I got 2 of those.

He said these are basically full sized trees and don't bear as quickly as semi dwarfs, but they see fruit within 5 years most of the time. That's fine with me, because I like big trees better for a lot of reasons, and willing to wait longer if necessary. I look at these as just a "bonus" to the late pears and persimmons we are already growing.

Thanks everyone for the help. I wouldn't have know about these trees if not for this forum. If they perform as advertised, this fills the gap that I had been wanting to fill for quite a while.