Chestnut Crab

[bwoods11]

If there’s one standout for my limited Apple experience it’s Chestnut Crabapple . I just checked a few and they are doing very well. Should be decent amount of fruit this year, I have 5 or 6 planted on different properties …

Great survival & growth !

Minnesota & Iowa.

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

If there’s one standout for my limited Apple experience it’s Chestnut Crabapple . I just checked a few and they are doing very well. Should be decent amount of fruit this year, I have 5 or 6 planted on different properties …

Great survival & growth !

Minnesota & Iowa.

How old are your trees? I planted one chestnut and liberty last year on one of my food plots. Curious what to expect.

 

[bwoods11]

How old are your trees? I planted one chestnut and liberty last year on one of my food plots. Curious what to expect.

All different ages, the oldest is probably 5 or 6 . I can get a few pics later.

 

[sandbur]

If there’s one standout for my limited Apple experience it’s Chestnut Crabapple . I just checked a few and they are doing very well. Should be decent amount of fruit this year, I have 5 or 6 planted on different properties …

Great survival & growth !

Minnesota & Iowa.

Be sure and taste some early in the ripening period and then later. Report back on which tastes best.

 

[gunfun13]

I have one planted in 2019 on P18. Out of 200ish trees it's definitely in top 5 for growth rate and very possibly the top. Poor producer so far though. Just a handful of apples each year. Not sure if it's the rootstock or what.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

^ ^ ^ Late frost killing blossoms? Not enough bees & other pollinators? Late frosts are our biggest hits to a heavy crop load - on any of our apple & crab varieties.

 

[sandbur]

I had a client who had beef cattle and his brother had a small commercial apple orchard.

The brother told me that if you want a real treat, make a chestnut crab pie. He said it is a lot of work to peal them.

I have noticed that young trees with a light crop often produce the largest apples. We make an apple pie mix for the freezer and I peal just a few chestnuts to throw in with the other apples.

peel or peal?? Heck if I know

 

[gunfun13]

^ ^ ^ Late frost killing blossoms? Not enough bees & other pollinators? Late frosts are our biggest hits to a heavy crop load - on any of our apple & crab varieties.

Frost could have been the culprit last year, but not this year. It gets a fair amount of blossoms, but not much fruit. Pollination shouldn't be an issue at all, several other varieties close by and they're carrying decent fruit loads.

My hope is that in a year or two it'll flip a switch and carry heavy crops from then forward.

 

[bwoods11]

I’ll probably add a few more in the future. Seems like the perfect crab apple for eating & for deer !

 

[bigboreblr]

I got a chestnut on m111 at home. Growing well on year 2. No rust, no signs of scab yet. Hard to tell insects resistance. I spray 3-4 times a year malathion mostly.

Probably be good to have around for sure. However, I would have kerr around before I would chestnut. Got 2 at home, 2 at adirondack camp, and 2 at the farmland I hunt

 

[H20fwler]

In for the pics.

I only have one and it was planted maybe eight years ago, for some reason it was a very slow starter. In the last couple of years it has finally taken off and is getting some good growth, not many apples yet though.

Had a sugar sweet pear planted ten years ago do the same thing and now it has caught up with the other pears planted same time. The first four or five years it just stayed as a whip around four feet tall... then all of the sudden it took off and has a nice fruit set this year too.

 

[H20fwler]

I’ll probably add a few more in the future. Seems like the perfect crab apple for eating & for deer !

That's the way Hewes/Virginia crab is for me here.

 

[bigboreblr]

The best pickle in the jar is the first one. trailman looks like a good one. Never ate one, but got 2 trailmans planted and topworked a tree this year with it.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

The best pickle in the jar is the first one. trailman looks like a good one. Never ate one, but got 2 trailmans planted and topworked a tree this year with it.

Trailman is pretty tasty. I tried one a few years ago before we lost the tree to something - no marks, signs of damage, insect borings, .... just gone. But Trailman is a good eater IMO. Hope you find the same.