Crabapple Varieties & guys' comments / input

Sanbur, are these trees mostly for wildlife? Or do you use most of the apples? If they are mostly for the wildlife, on these younger trees, how do the deer get to the apples, being the trees dont hang over the fences? I have the same thing going on, and the apples just fall inside the cages, then I need to go out there and toss them out of the cage, or the deer and bear just shove the cages around to get at the apples, and damage the trees doing it.

Most of the last pictures are from trees near the house for my family.

In Minnesota if we move the apples and it is not normal agricultural practices, it is called baiting which is illegal. Feeding is also illegal in my area.....

So what is normal ag practices with windfalls to control disease?


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ABC showing color. Apples may be a bit early this year???
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Early? Maybe I guess. I've had Pristines ripe Aug 1 a few years back. I'm just getting some color on the seeds now. Normal is about Aug 10th and looks to be right on track for Pristine, WilliamsPride and Zestar!.
 
Early? Maybe I guess. I've had Pristines ripe Aug 1 a few years back. I'm just getting some color on the seeds now. Normal is about Aug 10th and looks to be right on track for Pristine, WilliamsPride and Zestar!.

I tried one that had dark seeds this week, but I can’t remember which variety.


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Trailman crab is almost ripe. Very juicy and I like it. Dolgos will be ready very soon, also.

The first cider might be a three way crab blend of dolgo, chestnut, and Trailman.
ec1effd47ad9e06586bb948dcd56be4f.jpg
Trailman crab.


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^^^^ Your Trailman apples look really good, Art. I like the taste as well. Cider blend sounds like a winner !!

I was just up to camp on Friday to plant more plots with 2 other guys. The trees with the most fruit were the crabs. Dolgo, Whitney, Nova Scotia, Trailman, Winter Wildlife and our 6 or 8 un-named crabs all had lots of fruit on them. Some of the "regular" apples must have been nipped by late frosts or squirrels cut some apples to snack on. We lost one Hyslop crab on B-118. Something either ate the roots or B-118 isn't the right rootstock for that location. I have a couple trees on order for spring, so I'll just replace it. It's the only tree I've had poop out on me.
 
^^^^ Your Trailman apples look really good, Art. I like the taste as well. Cider blend sounds like a winner !!

I was just up to camp on Friday to plant more plots with 2 other guys. The trees with the most fruit were the crabs. Dolgo, Whitney, Nova Scotia, Trailman, Winter Wildlife and our 6 or 8 un-named crabs all had lots of fruit on them. Some of the "regular" apples must have been nipped by late frosts or squirrels cut some apples to snack on. We lost one Hyslop crab on B-118. Something either ate the roots or B-118 isn't the right rootstock for that location. I have a couple trees on order for spring, so I'll just replace it. It's the only tree I've had poop out on me.

My wife and youngest daughter both like the almost ripe Trailmans.

Tell me about Nova Scotia. CAR? Seems like I tried to graft it, but failed.


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Nova Scotia looks a lot like Trailman as far as the fruit goes. CAR - I don't know because we don't have any cedars or junipers around our camp for miles, so CAR isn't really a problem for us. Thank God. Our biggest nemesis is Japanese beetles. They do more damage to our apple trees than any diseases. We get some tent caterpillars, but not too bad.

Over all - Nova Scotia seems to grow very well for us here. I got it from Morse Nursery in Michigan. I haven't seen Nova Scotia crab anywhere else.
 
I just thought of something. Could you mail me a couple seeds from the Buckman crab when it's ready and ripe ?? My grafts all failed this year due to rootstock death. The Buckman looks like a really good sized crab for deer. If it's not too much trouble, a few seeds in a zip-lock bag in a plain envelope with a stamp ought to work.

I can mail you more scion from Nova Scotia crab in the late winter for grafting, plus any other scions ( or seeds ) you want - if you want to try anything I have here.

I have :
Enterprise, Liberty, Goldrush, Wolf River, Prairie Spy, N.Y. 35 "Bonkers", Arkansas Black, Kerr, Minnesota 1734, Sherry, Rhuby, Galarina, Winecrisp, Priscilla, Crimson Topaz, Sundance, & Dayton for regular apples. As for crabs : Dolgo, Chestnut, Whitney, All-Winter-Hangover, Hyslop, Winter Wildlife, Centennial, Centurion, Nova Scotia, Violi's, Wickson, and Trailman.
 
I had just a couple of Shafer crabs on a young tree. Stood there and ate them all but one before I remembered to take a picture. :emoji_blush:
Shafer_Crab_009.jpg

A milder taste than a Chestnut crab but not bad. Especially while working in the orchard on a hot sunny afternoon. :emoji_thumbsup:
 
I just thought of something. Could you mail me a couple seeds from the Buckman crab when it's ready and ripe ?? My grafts all failed this year due to rootstock death. The Buckman looks like a really good sized crab for deer. If it's not too much trouble, a few seeds in a zip-lock bag in a plain envelope with a stamp ought to work.

I can mail you more scion from Nova Scotia crab in the late winter for grafting, plus any other scions ( or seeds ) you want - if you want to try anything I have here.

I have :
Enterprise, Liberty, Goldrush, Wolf River, Prairie Spy, N.Y. 35 "Bonkers", Arkansas Black, Kerr, Minnesota 1734, Sherry, Rhuby, Galarina, Winecrisp, Priscilla, Crimson Topaz, Sundance, & Dayton for regular apples. As for crabs : Dolgo, Chestnut, Whitney, All-Winter-Hangover, Hyslop, Winter Wildlife, Centennial, Centurion, Nova Scotia, Violi's, Wickson, and Trailman.

I doubt it will be true to seed but can collect some.


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Nice Jhoss and a timely pic as well. Looked at a mystery tree today that is either a Whitney, Enterprise, or something else that just started bearing this year. Think it is a Whitney. Something ate the plastic tag off it before I got back around to adding a stamped alum. one and a couple others. Why they chew the crap outta plastic, I don't know.
 
^^^^^ Make a map of your trees and label the paper copy so you have a good record. That has saved my butt a few times when bears pushed the cages off our trees when they were young & small. Other camp members put the cages back to protect the trees, but with tags on the cages, they didn't know where each cage went. Paper map told the tale.
 
Russetting on Chestnut Crab.2B769070-3EDA-45E8-BD9E-8C5CC29158CD.jpeg
 
^^^^^ All these pix …...…….. nice going boys !!! Lots of good fruit in the future.
 
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