Crabapple timeline

[TonySoprano]

View attachment 88851View attachment 88852I have been knocking some crab apples off of the trees outback over the last few weeks. The first picture is a seedling and the old pole saw with a hook is great for shaking limbs.

The second picture is the Buckman Crab.

Today we hit 35 degrees(above zero!) and when I shook the Buckman crab, many of the apples broke up when hitting the frozen snow. I shook the neighboring Big Dog and the apples held together when they hit the snow. Big Dog is more firm.

This might be an indication if Buckman is a good choice or not in southern climates.

I will only shake Buckman when temps are below freezing.

Al drops are getting eaten here, even bird crabs.

WOW !!!

 

[TonySoprano]

View attachment 88947View attachment 88948View attachment 88949Deer are eating any crab that hits the ground. I shook some more limbs today.

I also started pruning a few dolgo seedlings. Then the snow drifts got too deep.

Will they drop if you don't hit them ?

 

[sandbur]

Will they drop if you don't hit them ?

Some fruit drops off of each tree.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Damn spell check. Not ‘ mercurial’ crabs but Manchurian Crabs.

Technology. It's just wonderful.

 

[bigboreblr]

Our friend turkey Creek has 3 big dogs on m111 left.

 

[sandbur]

Our friend turkey Creek has 3 big dogs on m111 left.

That sounds like a good combination.

 

[bigboreblr]

Hoping someone buys them before me. Got plenty to plant and really want to wait 2 or 3 years to see if those m111's do well on my property. Still debating filling up 2 or 3 acres of trees and making a organic u pick orchard at home. Lost 2 orchards in town the past year. I'm haggling for a pruning tower from one of them.

They got a 4 pack deal with enterprise, Hawkeye, Yates, and centennial for 105. Tried grafting Yates last year, it didn't take.

You put another tree or two off the back porch, you wouldn't have to carry water far........

 

[sandbur]

Hoping someone buys them before me. Got plenty to plant and really want to wait 2 or 3 years to see if those m111's do well on my property. Still debating filling up 2 or 3 acres of trees and making a organic u pick orchard at home. Lost 2 orchards in town the past year. I'm haggling for a pruning tower from one of them.

They got a 4 pack deal with enterprise, Hawkeye, Yates, and centennial for 105. Tried grafting Yates last year, it didn't take.

You put another tree or two off the back porch, you wouldn't have to carry water far........

Always tempted for one more…

 

[sandbur]

Dang, I am a sucker for applecrabs and some of those hardy Canadian/ Alaskan varieties. Wish I were younger. I only have a handful of trees to topwork.

A friend is bringing me some scion from Dearborns Unknown, Prairie Sensation, 922 End, Coopersville Crab, and a few others.

Some of this scion is from Bozeman Montana.

Does anybody have experience with these varieties?

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Sorry, Bur - I never heard of any of those. Good luck with topworking them, though!

 

[Dantana]

I posted about this tree a year or two ago, a late holding apple in a nearby town. Darn near March and still holding a good amount. Lots on the ground, too.

I grafted it onto rootstock a few years ago but will probably grab a few more scion for topworking this year.

 

[RGrizzzz]

I posted about this tree a year or two ago, a late holding apple in a nearby town. Darn near March and still holding a good amount. Lots on the ground, too.

I grafted it onto rootstock a few years ago but will probably grab a few more scion for topworking this year.

Wow. Get enough to share!

 

[rocksnstumps]

Dang, I am a sucker for applecrabs and some of those hardy Canadian/ Alaskan varieties. Wish I were younger. I only have a handful of trees to topwork.

A friend is bringing me some scion from Dearborns Unknown, Prairie Sensation, 922 End, Coopersville Crab, and a few others.

Some of this scion is from Bozeman Montana.

Does anybody have experience with these varieties?

No experience with those varieties but if from Bozeman they should be very hardy. Went skiing out there decades ago. Darn it was cold that week. Low one night was -38F and the next day high only reached -25F. No skiing that day, wind chill was brutal.

But they get Chinook winds and a week later can be in the 50s. Gotta be some tough plants there

 

[sandbur]

I posted about this tree a year or two ago, a late holding apple in a nearby town. Darn near March and still holding a good amount. Lots on the ground, too.

I grafted it onto rootstock a few years ago but will probably grab a few more scion for topworking this year.

From the looks of the location, that was probably a planted and not a wild tree. I wonder if that is rootstock growth with the multi trunks.

The tree we call Courthouse crab is a rootstock. Bark surface, leaves, and fruit allow us to still see some of the flowering crab on top and on one trunk.

 

[sandbur]

I started pruning today and found some things.

My oldest tree that we planted is now hollow on two sides. It is a chestnut crab. I have about 10 root suckers from it for new trees through the years.

It’s knees and back are giving out, kind of like old habitat managers!

:)

 

[sandbur]

I started pruning today and found some things.

My oldest tree that we planted is now hollow on two sides. It is a chestnut crab. I have about 10 root suckers from it for new trees through the years.

It’s knees and back are giving out, kind of like old habitat managers!

:)
View attachment 89855

I can remember having a cage around that tree and lifting my oldest daughter into the cage to throw the apples out for me.

Time flies!

 

[sandbur]

Sunscauld damage or winter burn on another old tree. I am trying to nurse along a rootsuckers for future grafting. This tree is a Red Baron.

You don’t hear of these older varieties too often Hazen is another variety that comes to mind.

 

[sandbur]

East side winter burner sunscauld. This tree had some shading on South or SW, but exposed on the east.

This tree was mostly planted, caged, and ignored.

 

[sandbur]

View attachment 89858East side winter burner sunscauld. This tree had some shading on South or SW, but exposed on the east.

This tree was mostly planted, caged, and ignored.

View attachment 89859

That trunk should have painted white, all of the way around.

 

[sandbur]

View attachment 89858East side winter burner sunscauld. This tree had some shading on South or SW, but exposed on the east.

This tree was mostly planted, caged, and ignored.

Most of our wild trees in an open environment look like this. Multi stemmed or lots of lower branches provide shade to reduce sunscauld. If sunscauld damage occurs, there are other limbs to fill in.

Most of our wild crabs are along creeks or ditch bottoms. I live in more of a prairie type environment with heavy ag switching from pastured areas to more crop farming and confinement livestock.