Fruit tree ID?

[Goldentriangle]

Ok, I the back corner of my yard there has been a very ugly shrub bush lookin thing that I have mowed around for nine years. They are a tangled mess of stump shoots that have been growing from a big stump that was cut long before I purchased the house. I have always said I was gonna cut all the shoots down and get rid of the stump. This bring the ugly shrub decided to grow some fruity looking flowers which turned into these crab apples:

Now I know that there are about a million different flavors of crab apples but I was hoping somebody could tell me what these are and do they have much value for deer at my farm?
I have several small tree projects I will be doing late winter/spring and I'm trying to decide if I want to try a handful of these from seed. I have done a little research on growing from cuttings so that may be something I play with also...
Thoughts???...


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[Goldentriangle]

I forgot to mention this tree is growing in family heavy shade in the shadow of a monster fir tree.


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[Turkey Creek]

No way to i.d that tree. If you plant the seeds it is very likely they will NOT produce the same variety you have in your pictures. You can try cuttings, but typically fruit trees are difficult to grow from cuttings. Now that I spilled all the negativity .... any crab apple is probably a good one if the tree tends to be disease resistant.

 

[Jameson]

Variety is probably of great value to your farm. Try growing a few trees from seed, should at least be hardy for your area. Try grafting a few trees if you like something specific about this tree that you want to replicate; taste, drop time, disease resistance, whatever.

 

[H20fwler]

Good thing you didn't get rid of it, looks like it is making some wildlife food for you.

 

[Goldentriangle]

Thanks for the input guys, as you can see I am a newbie with trees and I know nothing about crabs. I have done some research and I think I am interested in winter wildlife crabs and all winter hangover crabs. I'm thinking about planting mine from seed and maybe just using them for rootstock for the wwc and awhc. Is this a decent idea or should I just buy the trees I want since I am small scale. Don't be bashful guys I really like to know when my ideas are stupid!


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[Turkey Creek]

Nothing wrong with either approach. All great apple varieties start as a seed (well who knows what goes on in labs these days). Your seedlings could be the next best apple in world, you wont know until you try. You can always graft seedling trees over to something else if they turn out to be duds. One thing I can guarantee there is no commercial operation looking for the next big superstar apple for the wildlife world. The commercial breeders only care about what apples grocery store consumers will buy. The amount of genetic diversity in the cultivated world is decreasing yearly as the approach is only to make the best better.

 

[yoderjac]

I would watch the tree and see if it benefits you. What are your objectives? Does the tree's ripening/drop time work well for those objectives? Is it a reliable producer (every year)? Does it produce heavy crops? Evaluate it just as you would any crabapple variety.

If you want to plant seeds, go for it. Since you have a parent tree, once those seedlings are established, simply graft a scion from the parent tree if it has the characteristics you want and you will get a clone.

Keep in mind that everything you do is an investment in time and money. Is this particular tree one you would invest in? Or are you better off with a tree with different characteristics. Only you can decide that.

Thanks,

jack