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.

 

[TreeDaddy]

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.

agree with first sentence

In east texas, any apple that I can grow is a good one

Chill hours, rain,etc at a premium here

bill

 

[bigboreblr]

agree with first sentence

In east texas, any apple that I can grow is a good one

Chill hours, rain,etc at a premium here

bill

I'm thinking of ya. Going to graft black Arkansas scion on my dolgo tree. Once fruiting going to pollinate 2. Dolgo x Arkansas. If it's a winner gonna call it stubborn.

Hotter than 7 colder than 4 options go way down on apples.

 

[Telemark]

In east texas, any apple that I can grow is a good one

Have you looked at Israeli and Australian cultivars?

 

[bigboreblr]

Anything notable from those countries telemark. Any Texas winners known variety or local crabs?

Think that's where there room for new crabapples. Environment. Drought resistant for some wet roots for others. A real late pollinator. Higher insect resistance. Stuff like that.

 

[Telemark]

Off the top of my head, Anna and Granny Smiith would be worth looking into. I don't generally read often about warm weather apples, but I can have a look later when I get some time.

if I were you, I would buy a bunch of Granny Smith late in the year and grow out the seeds. Granny Smith seeds are so easy to germinated that they often germinate inside the apple after it has been in cold storage for a while. This would give you dozens of seedlings to work with that you can later keep as-is or graft to another variety.

 

[bigboreblr]

Got a granny at home. Thought about granny x dolgo.

 

[Telemark]

For Texas? I don't know how far south Dolgo fruits. I plant apples in Ontario, Ohio, and Norway. Ohio has normal midwestern weather, so options are plentiful, but Ontario and Norway have extreme weather. Ontario gets brutally cold, so I have found that pushing northern limits of apples is not a good idea. Norway is extremely rainy, so disease resistance is the most important thing to me here. I am now much more inclined to try to breed my own deer apples for extreme weather rather than try to push midwestern genes into extreme environments. I just planted out 50 seeds from apples that grow and produce well in Ontario, and when the ground thaws, I will dig up my seedling bed from a few years ago and cull the losers. The ones that are growing well will be planted out in a hunting terrain.

For Texas, I would buy warm weather apples and graft any good local apples/crabs I found. Then gather a bunch of apples next Fall and grow them out and see what you get.

 

[TreeDaddy]

For Texas? I don't know how far south Dolgo fruits. I plant apples in Ontario, Ohio, and Norway. Ohio has normal midwestern weather, so options are plentiful, but Ontario and Norway have extreme weather. Ontario gets brutally cold, so I have found that pushing northern limits of apples is not a good idea. Norway is extremely rainy, so disease resistance is the most important thing to me here. I am now much more inclined to try to breed my own deer apples for extreme weather rather than try to push midwestern genes into extreme environments. I just planted out 50 seeds from apples that grow and produce well in Ontario, and when the ground thaws, I will dig up my seedling bed from a few years ago and cull the losers. The ones that are growing well will be planted out in a hunting terrain.

For Texas, I would buy warm weather apples and graft any good local apples/crabs I found. Then gather a bunch of apples next Fall and grow them out and see what you get.

I have one dolgo that is a proven winner/producer that is now 8 years old

a few weeks ago I cut some scion wood to bark graft on to common southern crabapple

bill

 

[sandbur]

For Texas? I don't know how far south Dolgo fruits. I plant apples in Ontario, Ohio, and Norway. Ohio has normal midwestern weather, so options are plentiful, but Ontario and Norway have extreme weather. Ontario gets brutally cold, so I have found that pushing northern limits of apples is not a good idea. Norway is extremely rainy, so disease resistance is the most important thing to me here. I am now much more inclined to try to breed my own deer apples for extreme weather rather than try to push midwestern genes into extreme environments. I just planted out 50 seeds from apples that grow and produce well in Ontario, and when the ground thaws, I will dig up my seedling bed from a few years ago and cull the losers. The ones that are growing well will be planted out in a hunting terrain.

For Texas, I would buy warm weather apples and graft any good local apples/crabs I found. Then gather a bunch of apples next Fall and grow them out and see what you get.

I assume you are not speaking of NW Ontario when you speak of apples.

I follow and have some of the prairie apples from Canada. They might fit my Minnesota prairie environment better.

 

[Telemark]

I have one dolgo that is a proven winner/producer that is now 8 years old

a few weeks ago I cut some scion wood to bark graft on to common southern crabapple

bill

Nice. Do you have any Dolgo that are not producing well there? It would be interesting to know if Dolgo generally works well there or if you have a specimen that is particularly good for the South.