First time planting crabapples??

[wisconsinteacher]

Looking at the county tree sale website, they have Siberian crab apple trees this year for a good deal. I'm thinking about buying a bundle of 10 and planting a few on the edge of each of my plots. They are 18-24" seedlings. I'm thinking of a 5' tall fence but I don't know how big to go in diameter. Would 3' in diameter be big enough or will the deer still damage them as they mature?

 

[BuckSutherland]

5 foot tall cage 3 feet wide should do an excellent job of protecting them. I have some red splendor crabs. They grow pretty quick if you give them lots of care.

 

[homerj]

Make sure you also protect them from mice/voles. Hardware cloth or aluminum window screen

 

[wisconsinteacher]

Make sure you also protect them from mice/voles. Hardware cloth or aluminum window screen

Is the window screen better than the white plastic tubes?

 

[homerj]

Is the window screen better than the white plastic tubes?

IMO, yes. I also prefer hardware cloth cylinders over window screen

 

[bwoods11]

Just a small tip for you . Check out Sandbur/Turkey Creek and others in here for advice on crabapples. You might want to consider a mix, with crabs that produce bigger apples ? Chestnut, Dolgo, etc… just a thought ?

 

[Derek Reese 29]

definitely do the window screen and also a weed mat around the trunk. I also put limestone screening on top of the weed mad so the rodents wont burrow to the roots. If you're looking for bigger trees that will produce sooner, Blue Hill and Whitetail Crabs both have crabs still in stock. You will pay more but you will have fruit alot quicker. Just watch your USDA zone.

 

[bigboreblr]

Any apple is a good one. Crabapple seedlings can vary when they come to maturity. I have bought siberian seedlings, but for rootstock. In general, they are october dropping 3/8-1/2" fruit. Seedling often to be more rule than exception.

At camp I planted plain old dolgo and antonovka seedlings. Typical sept / october fruit.

Spread them out, or plan on grafting some of them. If not grafting leave room for 2 or 3 other varieties.

Some great hunting over the years has occured right next to "so-so" apple trees.

Can do a hybrid setup, Graft the one of decent grafting size. Ones too small or big, those are your seedlings. Can always topwork later on. That is what I do with the rootstock candidates I get.

 

[sandbur]

Looking at the county tree sale website, they have Siberian crab apple trees this year for a good deal. I'm thinking about buying a bundle of 10 and planting a few on the edge of each of my plots. They are 18-24" seedlings. I'm thinking of a 5' tall fence but I don't know how big to go in diameter. Would 3' in diameter be big enough or will the deer still damage them as they mature?

I use 5-6 foot diameter cages if using cement reinforcing wire. There opening is much larger and deer some what reach through it.

If you use wire with 2x4 inch openings, 3 foot diameter can work.

I have some old welded wire that is probably 30 years old and I keep reusing it. The new flimsy stuff doesn’t last.

I guess that is ‘progress’.

 

[bigboreblr]

You can get away with 10ft section of 4ft tll 2x4 fencing. IF voles are a major problem, use fabric with crushed stone ontop of it. Do not mke the soil particuarly loose, theyll just borrow in it easily. the mesh around the trunk is also for rabbit protection. Keeping around the tree grass n weed free also deters voles / mice They want to hide in the grass while they slowly kill your tree.

Do as many as you can do well. 10 a year is not a bad weekend job. Seedling might take another year than a 4ft tall grafted bareroot, but in 3 years you can cut the fenciing into 5ft pieces for permanent cages against deer rubbing. That'll leave you 5 full sized cages to make a few more. 5-8 per hunting spot is a reasonable target. Also, seedling often take an extra year or two before they start producing fruit vs grafted trees.