Crabapple timeline

[sandbur]

I may give No Bull a try as I feel late dropping apples are important for winter survival of a deer herd. Strong winds or a long pole my knock some apples off.

I probably won’t try Wild Azz since I have lots of other applecrabs that drop during that period. Wild Azz is a hardy tree.

 

[sandbur]

I didn’t have a real great apple crop this year. A few trees are holding here and there. Deer are feeding on the corn and scrounging for apples. Deer pheasants, turkeys, and a few partridge (grouse).

 

[sandbur]

I didn’t have a real great apple crop this year. A few trees are holding here and there. Deer are feeding on the corn and scrounging for apples. Deer pheasants, turkeys, and a few partridge (grouse).View attachment 49249

 

[sandbur]

View attachment 49250

 

[BuckSnort]

View attachment 49251

@sandbur is this corn you plant yourself and leave stand?

 

[sandbur]

@sandbur is this corn you plant yourself and leave stand?

My renter of the ag land plants it and sprays when he sprays his foodplots.

 

[sandbur]

My renter of the ag land plants it and sprays when he sprays his foodplots.

I leave it stand.

 

[sandbur]

Looking east from our dining room, there is still deer activity in the orchard every night, even though there wasn’t a good apple crop. There is a flowering crab directly behind the bird feeder and the deer always stop there to look for drops.

 

[sandbur]

This picture was from my recliner last night and looking west. I like it here!

 

[bigboreblr]

Anybody ever harvest the apples and store them for the deer later? Think the old timer put them in the basement with some sand or sawdust packed in IF I recall right.

We got one treestand call apple bob pond..... One year at camp, these two old timers collected buckets of apples and put them around their stands. One of them was named Bob Was stalk hunting and saw a huge mud puddle with hundreds of apples floating it in. Neither saw a deer that year.......

 

[b116757]

As a kid we collected hundreds of pounds of apples in pails and old 100lb corn bags and stored them in the basement to peddle out to the deer all fall. Obviously some kept quite well and others had to be fed quickly.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Anybody ever harvest the apples and store them for the deer later? Think the old timer put them in the basement with some sand or sawdust packed in IF I recall right.

Have thought about it but either need apple production to ramp up as more trees get older or these late spring frosts to quit happening. But think damaged or buggy apples store poorly and since I have no plans to spray they probably better fatten up on em when they first fall.

I do take apples from the fridge after they hang around too long and start to get mealy up to the land and toss em out on occasion all winter. Not many obviously but always gone by next trip.

 

[sandbur]

My area is under a feeding ban. Four miles south is a different county and outside of the ban. I can not feed with stored apples.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Nice sunny day yesterday for a change so did a bit of snowshoeing and checked on things. Franklin cider only that still had fruit besides the tiny bird crabs (typically red splendor). 1/2 doz fell down when shaking a branch.

The EMS crab was completely bare. It had an off year with only limited fruit on top third so not much to offer from the start. This tree has persistent fruit that rarely fall even into later winter. It is a full size tree so expect with the warm Jan we just had the critters like coons and possums were more active and cleaned it out along with the birds. Saw a possum way high in it last winter during a sunny day.

Franklin tree

 

[b116757]

Guys I want some fruiting flowering crab apple trees for as much winter interest in my yard as for wildlife value my short list so far.

Red Jewel
Sugar Tyme
And possibly
Adirondack
Prairiefire


Anybody have any experience with any of these?

 

[sandbur]

Guys I want some fruiting flowering crab apple trees for as much winter interest in my yard as for wildlife value my short list so far.

Red Jewel
Sugar Tyme
And possibly
Adirondack
Prairiefire


Anybody have any experience with any of these?

Not me. I have Red Splendor and two others that were root suckers from friends and relatives. I wonder if one might be Profusion( I think I got the name right)

 

[bigboreblr]

Seeing all your post on this thread, I think sandbur has a case of cabin fever.

Looking very forward to seeing some trees come in.

B116757, I want to give adirondack a try myself. If you see a scion source, I'd like to try that too. Doing a comparison up at camp and neighbor's camp gets some volunteers. Droptine, crossbow, big dog, dolgo, trascendent, winter wildlife, and hopefully adirondack. Trying them on B118, dolgo, and antonovka. Got M111, but kinda doubting it'll be a good sandy soil tree. Thinking the rootstock will almost be a mute point., and more on the graft itself. If you have a liking toward adirondack, crossbow from whitetail might be a good choice. Terry has some in stock still. Crossbow is a more smaller tree too.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Nice sunny day yesterday for a change so did a bit of snowshoeing and checked on things. Franklin cider only that still had fruit besides the tiny bird crabs (typically red splendor). 1/2 doz fell down when shaking a branch.

The EMS crab was completely bare. It had an off year with only limited fruit on top third so not much to offer from the start. This tree has persistent fruit that rarely fall even into later winter. It is a full size tree so expect with the warm Jan we just had the critters like coons and possums were more active and cleaned it out along with the birds. Saw a possum way high in it last winter during a sunny day.

I like the spacing of your spruce trees. Good spots for deer to lay in those sunny gaps while out of the wind. Franklin looks good.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Red Jewel
Sugar Tyme
And possibly
Adirondack
Prairiefire


Anybody have any experience with any of these?

We have a Sugar Tyme in our back yard. GREAT tree!! One of the most DR crabs on the market. Covered in white flowers in the spring, 1/2" red crab apples in the fall that hang into late winter - with some slow dropping. Birds love to forage in it for winter food. Fall leaf color is an orange-ish yellow.

I don't have a Prairie Fire, but researched it for our own yard. It's also a great DR crab apple tree, and it won "Tree-of-the-Year" in Iowa and I believe also Indiana several years ago. It gets bigger than our yard location would allow, so I went with Sugar Tyme instead. ST stays smaller than Prairie Fire for the most part. Prairie Fire is one of the highest-rated ornamental crabs on the market.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Have a couple prairie fire from a nursery. Must be on semi something rootstock since they are staying smaller than seedlings on own roots at my land. Would like them to be a little bigger honestly, you might try dolgo rootstock. But for a backyard maybe smaller is desired.

But lots and lots of small red berries that hold way into winter. A bit smaller fruit than typical red splendor. Call it dime size max.

Deer love to chew on this tree, more so than others near by. Protect them well.