Blue Hill 'Wild' Trees - Any Experience?

[Slatterday]

Last year I bought 20 'wild' apple trees, and this year I did 20 each of the 'wild' pears and crabapples from Blue Hill nursery. My thought was to focus on volume and hope for the best with the natural diversity as far as drop times and resistance to different factors.
Last years trees seem to be doing fairly well considering the level of attention they've been given, but it is obviously too early to tell anything meaningful about the trees.

Has anyone planted these trees and had them long enough to say anything about the fruit or other qualities of the trees? Should I expect much diversity from tree to tree, or would you expect each 'batch' to be relatively consistent from one to the other? I did notice the crabs have different bud colors if that means anything (some are green, some are red).

Worst case I guess I'll have a massive grafting project on my hands in a few years...

 

[sandbur]

Last year I bought 20 'wild' apple trees, and this year I did 20 each of the 'wild' pears and crabapples from Blue Hill nursery. My thought was to focus on volume and hope for the best with the natural diversity as far as drop times and resistance to different factors.
Last years trees seem to be doing fairly well considering the level of attention they've been given, but it is obviously too early to tell anything meaningful about the trees.

Has anyone planted these trees and had them long enough to say anything about the fruit or other qualities of the trees? Should I expect much diversity from tree to tree, or would you expect each 'batch' to be relatively consistent from one to the other? I did notice the crabs have different bud colors if that means anything (some are green, some are red).

Worst case I guess I'll have a massive grafting project on my hands in a few years...

Did you buy grafted trees from Blue Hills?


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[gunfun13]

I don't think Blue Hill has been in business long enough for anyone to have experience with fruit from "wild" seedlings.

 

[sandbur]

I don't think Blue Hill has been in business long enough for anyone to have experience with fruit from "wild" seedlings.

Some of the scion I have sent Ryan is from seedlings from wild trees.

I might have experience for a few of them if he bought trees that were grafted from wild seedlings.


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[Slatterday]

Here's what I bought:

Wild Apple Trees

The wild apple trees for sale will resemble the ones growing around on farm steads, in fence rows and over grown fields often seen here in the North East

bluehillwildlifenursery.com

Wild Pear Trees

Wild pears will all produce pears, that are edible to a wide array of wildlife, the main focus being a fruit that is of size for deer.

bluehillwildlifenursery.com

Wild Crabapple Trees

Wild Crabapples will all produce a very edible crabapple that will range in size to feed grouse, turkeys, and deer.

bluehillwildlifenursery.com

I'm just curious if anyone has bought the same and had them long enough to speak about their experience.

 

[sandbur]

Here's what I bought:

Wild Apple Trees

The wild apple trees for sale will resemble the ones growing around on farm steads, in fence rows and over grown fields often seen here in the North East

bluehillwildlifenursery.com

Wild Pear Trees

Wild pears will all produce pears, that are edible to a wide array of wildlife, the main focus being a fruit that is of size for deer.

bluehillwildlifenursery.com

Wild Crabapple Trees

Wild Crabapples will all produce a very edible crabapple that will range in size to feed grouse, turkeys, and deer.

bluehillwildlifenursery.com

I'm just curious if anyone has bought the same and had them long enough to speak about their experience.

I have purchased dolgo seedlings and grown them and fruited them. I have also grown them from seed and fruited them.

They have a variety of fruit sizes and drop times. Fruit size is from 3/8’s inch up to just over two inches. My grafted dolgos run just over 1 inch in length.

Deer are still feeding on drops from one of these seedlings.


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[sandbur]

To continue, sorry I get long winded. Over 30 years ago, I planted 25 Manchurian crabs. I wish I had known about dolgo seedlings at that time and had planted them instead.

If you look at the Crabapple Timeline thread, Clowns Nose and Buckman Crab are two large fruited dolgo seedlings. Maybe I can post pictures for you on this thread at a later time, but I struggle at posting pictures on HT .


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[sandbur]

More ramblings...I see mostly wild crabs and very few wild apples in the area where I live. Therefore, I concentrate on planting crab apples on crabapple rootstock or crab apple seedlings.

I have two friends in central Minnesota where wild apple seedlings do ok for them. There soils tend to be slightly better with a better pH than my soils. They also are slightly warmer than me for winter time lows.

Again, this is why I tend toward crab and crab seedlings. I do have apple and crab seedlings from my wife’s grandma who grew them for over 50 or 60 years.


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[sandbur]

There is another thread on Red stemmed dolgo seedlings. Ryan at Bluehill sorted them out for me and I planted some last spring. I think Ryan also grew a few out for himself.

Luke at Midwest Deer Trees is also growing some out.

I am hoping to find a larger dolgo seedling with pink or red flesh. Something that can be used in cider production. Who knows, they might be an outstanding deer tree.

Dolgos have tended to be pretty much disease free, but an occasional one gets lots of CAR and i graft them to something else. They also do relatively well with little care other than proper fencing. For me, the ignored trees produce fruit about every other year.

Again, sorry for the long post. Crabs and apple seedlings are my passion.


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[gunfun13]

There is another thread on Red stemmed dolgo seedlings. Ryan at Bluehill sorted them out for me and I planted some last spring. I think Ryan also grew a few out for himself.

Luke at Midwest Deer Trees is also growing some out.

I am hoping to find a larger dolgo seedling with pink or red flesh. Something that can be used in cider production. Who knows, they might be an outstanding deer tree.

Dolgos have tended to be pretty much disease free, but an occasional one gets lots of CAR and i graft them to something else. They also do relatively well with little care other than proper fencing. For me, the ignored trees produce fruit about every other year.

Again, sorry for the long post. Crabs and apple seedlings are my passion.


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I have 8 of the Morse Double Red seedings in the ground. https://morsenursery.com/product/double-red-crabapple/ that might produce similar to that you're looking for. A couple are 8-10' tall and hopefully close to fruit production.

 

[Slatterday]

Sandbur - Don't apologize, thank you for sharing your experience, that's what makes this place awesome

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Sandbur - Don't apologize, thank you for sharing your experience, that's what makes this place awesome

Agreed. I tend to go into detail as well. I figure if folks are asking questions about some habitat matter - they deserve a better answer than, "They work for me." What help is that??

I enjoy reading Sandbur's explanations because he's growing native crabs and seedlings that handle tough conditions. Most of us are growing DR grafted nursery trees - and they don't always pan out, or they require more fussing than native crabs do. Less fussing / headaches = for me.

 

[sandbur]

Agreed. I tend to go into detail as well. I figure if folks are asking questions about some habitat matter - they deserve a better answer than, "They work for me." What help is that??

I enjoy reading Sandbur's explanations because he's growing native crabs and seedlings that handle tough conditions. Most of us are growing DR grafted nursery trees - and they don't always pan out, or they require more fussing than native crabs do. Less fussing / headaches = for me.

I don’t say much about seedlings that are covered in CAR or very slow growing seedlings that I should give up on.


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[Bowsnbucks]

I don’t say much about seedlings that are covered in CAR or very slow growing seedlings that I should give up on.

Understood. The info you give on crabs and wild trees is super valuable IMO.

 

[White Oak]

Here's what I bought:

Wild Apple Trees

The wild apple trees for sale will resemble the ones growing around on farm steads, in fence rows and over grown fields often seen here in the North East

bluehillwildlifenursery.com

Wild Pear Trees

Wild pears will all produce pears, that are edible to a wide array of wildlife, the main focus being a fruit that is of size for deer.

bluehillwildlifenursery.com

Wild Crabapple Trees

Wild Crabapples will all produce a very edible crabapple that will range in size to feed grouse, turkeys, and deer.

bluehillwildlifenursery.com

I'm just curious if anyone has bought the same and had them long enough to speak about their experience.

I'd like to try some of the wild pears but the drop time is unknown

 

[Rit]

So much to learn and so little time. I planted 10 Malus Dolgo rootstocks in early April. I was going to graft on to them this year but time constraints always find a way to alter time. They are all already pushing new growth a few questions I have:

When is the absolute latest this year I can graft on to them?

If I do nothing to them but let them grow what can I expect from them down the road?

 

[cavey]

More ramblings...I see mostly wild crabs and very few wild apples in the area where I live.


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I think this is the trend for wild chance seedlings all over. 10-1 20-1 I dont know but by far the higher percentage of wild apple/crabs I find growing are crabs, hands down. And then of those few apples only a handful are good "eaters" - for me that simply being crunchy/firm and sweet. Now is the time to be looking for those blossoming wild crabs and apples that you didnt know were there - at least up here in the north.

 

[sandbur]

So much to learn and so little time. I planted 10 Malus Dolgo rootstocks in early April. I was going to graft on to them this year but time constraints always find a way to alter time. They are all already pushing new growth a few questions I have:

When is the absolute latest this year I can graft on to them?

If I do nothing to them but let them grow what can I expect from them down the road?

You can expect quite a bit of variation. I have Dolgo seedlings(like Buckman crab) with almost two inch fruit size and I have dolgo seedlings with fruit about 3/8 inch fruit size. The 3/8 fruit size I call ‘bird crabs’.

One of those bird crab type dolgos will get used by deer in the winter if wind blows the fruit on the ground.

A big stick might do the same thing but that might be considered deer feeding in a cWD disease control area.


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[Eagle]

So much to learn and so little time. I planted 10 Malus Dolgo rootstocks in early April. I was going to graft on to them this year but time constraints always find a way to alter time. They are all already pushing new growth a few questions I have:

When is the absolute latest this year I can graft on to them?

If I do nothing to them but let them grow what can I expect from them down the road?

As long as the scion wood is dormant, you can graft well into July here in Minnesota. I've grafted into August and they take well but aren't hardened up enough for winter so usually don't make it. Cut plenty of scion wood in March, keep it moist in a zip lock bag in the fridge.