I'd think the sheer volume of seed produced by a crabapple over a standard apple would allow them to predominate in most areas. On the same token, if a seed from a standard apple was allowed to establish it is high probability it was pollinated by a crab. When I've ever found what I consider a Wild Apple, it's always more of an Apple Crab. I don't recall ever finding a wild tree with standard sized fruit.
SE Michigan 6A/5B
Where I live it is heavy clay and I'm unsure of natural pH. My farm 30 miles away is a very light sandy loam, typically in mid 5s.What is the natural soil pH in your area? Heavy or light/ thin soils?
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Wild crabs have proven hardy rootstocks. Seeds from regular apples have random roots and may not be good survivors.I posted this on a smaller deer hunting forum and am looking for a wider range of opinions. I see 95% wild crabs in my area. Perhaps this discussion could lead to better choices for apple tree plantings in each area.
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Im guessing they also are the first to get pulled down and damaged at a younger age when fruiting and have even less survivability...I think it has to be genetics - "crabbing out" of seedlings must be just a dominant thing - proof that as they say they make great pollinators - apples like a wolf river must be a super rare chance happening. You just do not see many wild apple trees compared to crabs and even if you do see an "apple" they tend to be on the smaller size.
See a fair amount of fruit trees in ditches around farm homesteads that are more apple sized than crabs. Is that the apple core out car window/from tractor theory or also where power lines and bird perches tend to be. Probably both.I have found one wild apple up here at the junction of 4b and 3a. It grows where along a state highway where someone probably threw an apple core out. It is large like a haralson.
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Usually not pruned as much either. But yes, I think they tend to be bushier with lots of smaller branches. They also tend to sprout from the roots.Do crabs tend to have more of a ‘bushy’ type growth with closer limb structure? If so they might survive better in areas exposed to winter sunscauld.
Trees with larger apples might??? Have a limb structure that is more exposed and would have a better chance of survival where there are hills to reduce/temper sunscauld.
Lots of guessing in the above comments.
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Do crabs tend to have more of a ‘bushy’ type growth with closer limb structure? If so they might survive better in areas exposed to winter sunscauld.
Trees with larger apples might??? Have a limb structure that is more exposed and would have a better chance of survival where there are hills to reduce/temper sunscauld.
Lots of guessing in the above comments.
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I kind of think crabs tend to have scalier bark and more brittle pointy arsss thorn like spurs too, which I notice when pruning crabs. I tend to get more cut up / scratched up doing them versus when I prune my "apple" trees.
Its always those apple trees with smooth soft trunks/bark that get girdled first. Once the trees get that older rough bark the voles and mice tend to leave them alone. I was always going to try and lightly spray undercoating on the trunks and toss course sand onto it before it dries to see if that would work as bark protection.
Funny. They ran a mulcher under our power lines this summer. They went to painstaking efforts to avoid the few apple trees. Not sure how they would have even seen them and not just mulched them. No such luck on the spruce i had growing for a screen.Last comment, the township likes to spray the crap outta trees and shrubs too close to the road but they leave the apples alone. Must be a softy running their sprayer program or a deer nut