Let’s see your Northern whitetail crabs growth!

[bgusty]

Looking at buying some crabs next year. Show me your crabapple growth!

Looking mostly at northern whitetail crabs varieties since I’m in MN and cold Hardy and later drops are important.

Would love to see growth and fruit, as well as get some extra info.

Let’s see pics with the following info:
- what area/state/zone you’re in
- how old the tree is
- what you’re seeing for drop/ hold dates
- what your tree care routine was (if it got watered for 3 years it’s going to be very different than plant and forget).

Thanks!


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[gunfun13]

Below is a droptine, 30-06 is similarly sized and 10 point is about 2/3 that size. 4' cage for reference.

-Southern Michigan 6A/5B border
-Planted spring 2017, picture December 2021 ~4.5 years since planting
-Hard to say when they start, I don't visit these trees often during the season and I never see any fruit on the ground as I believe it's promptly consumed. 30-06 is usually done by Late December, Droptine will have some persisting until leaf out, 10 point drops earlier..I'd guess it's wrapped up by mid November.
-Tubed and weed matted at planting, never watered or sprayed. Fruit picked off just after bloom until 2020.

Other observations-I've had Cedar Apple rust issues with 10 point, it severely affected the fruit a couple years ago. Last 2 years its grown very cleanly while other nearby trees have had mild cases of CAR, so maybe that year was an anomaly. 30-06 apples turn into mush relatively early into the season for me, once they get to that point they literally splatter like a spoon full of apple sauce when they hit the ground. Fairly certain the deer lick the mush off the ground still.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

I'm in PA (6A I think?) and only have good pictures of the trees that I planted in November 2021. I have a few that I planted in April 2020, and the Wickson, Redfield and Drop Tine are all great growers, but only the Wickson had fruit so far (I musta missed some buds when popping them off in the spring). Most of these started well below the tops of their respective cages.
30-06

Winter Gold...the 2 I have are 2 of my best/fastest growers

Wickson from earlier this spring

Crossbow..earlier this spring..it has grown at least a foot since then..

 

[sandbur]

I have posted observations on the thread Crabapple Timeline for several years. I have not tried any of the Northern Whitetail Crabs.

What area of Minnesota are you located in?
I am now called 4A,but used to be 3b on the USDA hardiness map. I have reached -42 for a brief period in the last few years.
Do you have wild crabs and apples in your area?

Your question about watering for 3 years after planting would depend on the soil type. Use mulch and I like those moisture crystals in light soil. There is a central Mn source for those.

My suggestion is too start slowly and don’t overwhelm your self. Plant less trees and take better care of them. Don’t forget the time and cost to fence them.

On my soils and in my location, I feel dolgo rootstock gets a faster start and may not need the additional years of watering as compared to Antanovka rootstock. Word is that dolgo rootstock will probably be in short supply.


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[bgusty]

I have posted observations on the thread Crabapple Timeline for several years. I have not tried any of the Northern Whitetail Crabs.

What area of Minnesota are you located in?
I am now called 4A,but used to be 3b on the USDA hardiness map. I have reached -42 for a brief period in the last few years.
Do you have wild crabs and apples in your area?

Your question about watering for 3 years after planting would depend on the soil type. Use mulch and I like those moisture crystals in light soil. There is a central Mn source for those.

My suggestion is too start slowly and don’t overwhelm your self. Plant less trees and take better care of them. Don’t forget the time and cost to fence them.

On my soils and in my location, I feel dolgo rootstock gets a faster start and may not need the additional years of watering as compared to Antanovka rootstock. Word is that dolgo rootstock will probably be in short supply.


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I’m just a ways south of you in 4b.

I have some wild plums on the property but the only crabs are ones I planted - couple decorative crimson and one dolgo.

Over the last few years I’ve been planting an orchard more for humans than wildlife with apples, pears, and cherry. I’m on year 3 of some apples and year 2 of cherry/ pear.

I always mulch but I’ve never done or really even seen anything on moisture crystals.


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[weekender21]

NC 6B

NWC droptine
Planted May 2018
Picture taken 2021
Drop time unknown
Tree height ~15’

NWC Mt. Everest crab maybe?
Planted May 2018
Much smaller than droptine
All apples pinched off by me
Tree height ~9’

NWC 30-06 I think
Planted May 2018
Picture 2021
Tree height ~12’

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[bgusty]

NC 6B

NWC droptine
Planted May 2018
Picture taken 2021
Drop time unknown
Tree height ~15’

NWC Mt. Everest crab maybe?
Planted May 2018
Much smaller than droptine
All apples pinched off by me
Tree height ~9’

NWC 30-06 I think
Planted May 2018
Picture 2021
Tree height ~12’

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Very cool!


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[Derek Reese 29]

Just checked on my friend's trees that he said had been devastated by Gypsy Moth caterpillars....apparently they dont like the taste of drop tine, as his which we planted last spring is 9-10 feet tall and thriving. Some of the leaves looked a little chewed up but other than that not bad....sorry for the lack of a picture I was too busy avoiding a half dozen deer flies at one time!

 

[White Oak]

I live in a warmer climate (zone 7) and planted 5 NWC trees in March of 2020 . Two 30-06 , Two Droptines and 1 Crossbow. I don't have pictures at the moment....but will add some as soon as I have time to take some. The Droptine seems to be the fastest grower , had a few fruit the first year , the 30-06 2nd fastest grower had some fruit in 2021 , The Crossbow had fruit this year for the first time...and a decent amount at that. I expect each year the crops to get bigger. Terry the owner of NWC said about 5 years to start getting really good crops.

One thing to note I have a lot of cedars in the area....40-50 yards away and a couple cedar trees right near my tree plot (that I plan to cut down this winter) to see if it makes a difference, but I doubt it. Anyway My 30-06's are CLEAN no sign of CAR at all , 2 nd best Crossbow a small amount of the fruit have funky looking orange/CAR on them.....the Droptine has lots of yellow spots on the leaves and a lot of the fruit has the funky looking orange/CAR on them.

These are all in a no spray situation....

 

[H20fwler]

Looking at buying some crabs next year. Show me your crabapple growth!

Looking mostly at northern whitetail crabs varieties since I’m in MN and cold Hardy and later drops are important.

Would love to see growth and fruit, as well as get some extra info.

Let’s see pics with the following info:
- what area/state/zone you’re in
- how old the tree is
- what you’re seeing for drop/ hold dates
- what your tree care routine was (if it got watered for 3 years it’s going to be very different than plant and forget).

Thanks!


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NW Ohio 6A, soil loamy heavy clay.
Planted first ones 7-8 years ago I think, maybe a little longer?
The two most prolific are DropTine and 30-06 so far. DropTine starts dropping in November through winter, 30-06 Nov through January...both slow drop.
Apples are nickel to quarter size.
Watered first year, try to trim around the cages some once a year, fertilized a couple times, prune in spring. Pretty much no TLC...they have to make it or die.

The first ones were planted at the south side of Little Woods in CRP strip along with around thirty other apple/pear trees right next to woods.

I have planted a lot of the NWC at both farms, purchased and grafted..I have pretty much everthing they have planted, I've got a couple dozen from 8+ years to first year now.


Here are two of the oldest;

DropTine, usually has a very heavy fruit load but none of the trees in this orchard do this year...late spring or lack of rain? First I've looked at them since March was today.
Pruned this tree hard this spring to thicken branches, last two years it started getting weepy looking due to heavy fruit load and racoons climbing it to eat fruit. Branches drooped bad and started cracking.
Tree is 15' with a trunk like a baseball bat, only has a dozen or so apples on it right now.

30-06, it too is 15'

Same 30-06 in fall a couple yeas ago, very good tasting little apples.

 

[TenPoint]

Droptine planted 2020

 

[TenPoint]

Closeup of the Droptine. All three of my 2020 trees from them have some apples. Other two are Wickson and 30-06.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Had to add this one: got up to a friend's property and this is a drop tine planted spring 2021 in a spot with low pH (tested at high 4s, probably in the mid 5s at this point) that gets a half a day's shade and we haven't had consistent rain this summer). This tree is over 10' (probably approaching 12') and even has a few crabs on it whose blossoms we musta missed this spring...very impressed!

 

[Wild Thing]

Not an NWC success story - just a little success I am having with a wild crabapple I found on my property which I never knew I had until some 14 years after I purchased the parcel..

When I found it, it was loaded with nice sized crabapples so I took note of it and the next spring I went out and pruned it up some, released it from some competition and fertilized it...


It had another nice crop of crabapples so I collected some seed from the fruit...


and then started them in my man cave in the barn the next spring. Here they are germinating in April of 2020 - a little over 2 years ago...


I transplanted them to a raised box in Elaine's garden that fall and tubed them over winter. Then in May of last year I transplanted them to their permanent locations. Here they are at exactly 1 year old.


They were showing pretty good growth by this spring so I trimmed the lower leaves/branches from them...


and this is what they looked like by July - coming out of the tubes already!






So I gave them another "hair cut", put the tubes back over them and caged them.

I am really happy with what they look like now after only a little over 2 years from being just a seed. I will likely remove the tubes next year and train them so the lowest branch is 5' above ground level. This is a 5' tall cage. BTW - this is in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan - Zone 4a


I know that the chances of these trees "cloning" the mother tree are pretty slim but that is OK. I plan to graft scion from the mother tree on to some of these at least and see what we come up with. Fun Stuff!

And I plan to follow along here and maybe plant some NWC trees myself next year.

 

[White Oak]

I was sick with the Covid for 2 weeks and didn't get out to check on my trees. Today I noticed some Japanese beetle damage on most of my crabapples....HOWEVER one of my 30-06 crabs planted in 2020 was pretty much bare with all the leaves gone !!!. Any chance this tree survive and come back in the spring or will it die ?

 

[Teeder]

I'm getting the same thing with my apples planted this year.

 

[Native Hunter]

30-06 around 20 feet tall. Had some fireblight this year but not severe. I will be watching that in the future. Fairly good crop this time.

 

[gunfun13]

Updated pic on my droptine.

30-06 has some biennial tendency's for me, small crops every other year. Droptine has always produced well...including the year I planted it

 

[Mortenson]

Like others here, my NWC crabs have grown well. I planted these in 2019, and I'd say they're in that 15' height range now. Hard to see, but there's quite a few apples on them. I didn't get the lower limbs removed very well.

 

[weekender21]

Like others here, my NWC crabs have grown well. I planted these in 2019, and I'd say they're in that 15' height range now. Hard to see, but there's quite a few apples on them. I didn't get the lower limbs removed very well.

View attachment 45730View attachment 45731

He had some great looking trees in 2019! Some I planted that year are as big or bigger than my 2018 trees!


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