Winter Wildlife Crab

[greyphase]

Any issues with bears in your corner of PA? That's my only concern with crabs that hold on tight to their fruit.

Yes usually have some bear damage every year. Strangely most damage occurs during late summer and often times any apples on the limbs they break are not eaten. This year a young Enterprise tree with no apples had it's central leader broken by a bear.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

From things I've seen, a fair amount of bear damage is done by younger bears that are exploring their world. They climb everything they can, get into everything, and if it moves or makes a noise - they'll investigate. Food isn't always the target. We've had some limbs broken in the spring & early summer when no fruit is on the trees, just because they reached up and grabbed a branch and pulled it down with their body weight. Just for something to do?? Curiosity is the main stimulus for younger bears.

Having said that, the bears around my cabin's location are hibernating in winter months and we haven't seen any winter damage from bears looking for food. You may not be as winter-safe in North Carolina?

 

[White Birch Farm]

I am adding one to the collection this year to add diversity, though I have a lot wild crabs that cover the same time frames.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I jumped up on the crab bandwagon after I read things Sandbur, Greyphase, and ssmith posted for a few years. I believe you can't go wrong with crabs for deer in most places. They're just tough and dependable producers.

 

[weekender21]

From things I've seen, a fair amount of bear damage is done by younger bears that are exploring their world. They climb everything they can, get into everything, and if it moves or makes a noise - they'll investigate. Food isn't always the target. We've had some limbs broken in the spring & early summer when no fruit is on the trees, just because they reached up and grabbed a branch and pulled it down with their body weight. Just for something to do?? Curiosity is the main stimulus for younger bears.

Having said that, the bears around my cabin's location are hibernating in winter months and we haven't seen any winter damage from bears looking for food. You may not be as winter-safe in North Carolina?

I’m not sure how safe we are in western NC. Typical winters are pretty cold in the mountains but warmer periods are common. I don’t recall any trail camera pictures of winter bears in the few years we’ve owned the property. Bears can be found wandering anytime of year, I’ve seen brown bear tracks on Kodiak in January. A bears resting state (torpor) isn’t a true hibernation.

Thanks for the information! I’ll have to add a few of these trees in the future.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I’m not sure how safe we are in western NC. Typical winters are pretty cold in the mountains but warmer periods are common. I don’t recall any trail camera pictures of winter bears in the few years we’ve owned the property. Bears can be found wandering anytime of year, I’ve seen brown bear tracks on Kodiak in January. A bears resting state (torpor) isn’t a true hibernation.

Thanks for the information! I’ll have to add a few of these trees in the future.
I think you'll like the Winter Wildlife crabs.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Weekender21 - not sure what happened above !!

I think you'll like the Winter Wildlife crabs.

 

[greyphase]

An unscientific observation our pet goat Woody prefers crabapples over regular apples.

 

[Peeps]

Peeps - How long have yours been in the ground?? We love these WW crabs.

that tree was planted as a small whip in 15. This was the first year it produced a bunch.

 

[Mortenson]

2 observations made while perusing the SNL catalog:
- no Violi's Hanging crabs offered this year
- stated that the Antonovka rooted trees will reach a size of 12-15 feet.

 

[homerj]

- stated that the Antonovka rooted trees will reach a size of 12-15 feet.

That's probably considering pruning to an open center or modified central leader

 

[Mortenson]

I figured that might be the case. Was just wondering if he missed a zero after those numbers after I built some big expectations for a few years. Dreaming of the "Mighty Apple Tree"

 

[Bowsnbucks]

FWIW - We have some SLN trees on Antonovka that are 16 to 18 ft. tall after 5 years in the ground. The tallest is a Chestnut crab, followed by a Wolf River.

 

[sandbur]

An unscientific observation our pet goat Woody prefers crabapples over regular apples.

I see the same thing with deer in my orchard by the house.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

2 observations made while perusing the SNL catalog:
- no Violi's Hanging crabs offered this year
- stated that the Antonovka rooted trees will reach a size of 12-15 feet.

I think you would have to prune the Antonovka trees to keep them at 12-15 feet based on the growth I've seen. My fruit trees from SLN are only between 4 and 10 years old, but they are still growing strong and many have passed the 12-15' mark.

 

[DrDirtNap]

How big are the apples on the WW crab and do they actually drop from the tree or hang all winter ? Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DrDirtNap]

How big are the apples on the WW crab and do they actually drop from the tree or hang all winter ? Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sorry, I see the pictures now...looks like relatively small fruit? Still not sure when or if the fruit actually drops?

 

[Bowsnbucks]

DrDirtNap - Our WW crabs run 1" to 1 1/4" dia. They drop slowly all winter here. I still see a couple hanging on the trees in March when I go up to prune.

Read my post #10 on page #1 of this thread for description. IMO - very good trees to have. Fast growers.

 

[DrDirtNap]

DrDirtNap - Our WW crabs run 1" to 1 1/4" dia. They drop slowly all winter here. I still see a couple hanging on the trees in March when I go up to prune.

Read my post #10 on page #1 of this thread for description. IMO - very good trees to have. Fast growers.

Thanks I should get one or two....or three.

 

[CrazyEd]

Winter wildlife crab is the best fruit tree I grow for wildlife out of the 150+ trees I have in the ground. It's the most vigorous, disease resistant, starts pumping out large volumes of fruit at a young age. Greyphase gave me a stick off his tree probably 5-6 years ago now. The master tree is probably 10' tall now and just filling out beautifully, and I've made at least a dozen other clones off of it which are all pumping out fruit that hangs throughout winter. I've even got a couple in my nursery right now that are 2 years old, loaded. I took this past year off grafting but my buddy wants 100 trees grafted this spring and i'll probably do 10-20 winter wildlife crab.