Misc Crab & Apple pics

[greyphase]

I'm lucky to have a good number of wild crabs and apples growing within sight of my house. They all are tagged with a number and I've been observing them for several years now. This crab (#5) holds great promise as a heavy cropper and very late hanger.

It's crabs are borne in clusters and shows minimal bug and disease damage.

This crab is a very limby tree and am in the process of turning it into a Frankenapple tree with many different limb grafts. This year it's carrying it's best crop so I'll let some of the original tree grow. It's crabs drop in Oct.

Another Frankenapple tree that I had limb grafted 2 Hudson's Golden Gem's scion to in 2013.

It's carrying 3 HGG apples this year. This is the nicest looking one.

These are two Linda's Sweet crab scions I grafted to this tree this spring that have put on good growth.

And finally this tree only has a few crabs on but they are certainly different looking from my other crabs with a ribbed shape. I've been grafting this tree over to different varieties but will leave a limb of the original tree grow just to see how it produces in years to come.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Grey - I was just whining on the other crab thread about the abundance of nice crabs they have in Minnesota growing wild. Then I came to this thread !! I never see crabs like you show in the pix growing wild. APPLES - yes, crabs - no. Any chance of getting a stick or 2 from that red crab in pic #2 ?? I'll be sending you more scion from those late-hangers that I found last year. I'll be looking for watersprouts too this time.

That ribbed one is an oddball. Never saw anything like it. Any taste to 'em ??

 

[buckvelvet]

Looks great Grey, love these pics!

 

[CrazyEd]

And finally this tree only has a few crabs on but they are certainly different looking from my other crabs with a ribbed shape. I've been grafting this tree over to different varieties but will leave a limb of the original tree grow just to see how it produces in years to come.

Awesome looking crab. Wanna send me a stick of that before you totally graft it over? : )

 

[buckvelvet]

Awesome looking crab. Wanna send me a stick of that before you totally graft it over? : )

Look like a 'wee pumpkin doesn't it? :)

 

[greyphase]

Grey - I was just whining on the other crab thread about the abundance of nice crabs they have in Minnesota growing wild. Then I came to this thread !! I never see crabs like you show in the pix growing wild. APPLES - yes, crabs - no. Any chance of getting a stick or 2 from that red crab in pic #2 ?? I'll be sending you more scion from those late-hangers that I found last year. I'll be looking for watersprouts too this time.

That ribbed one is an oddball. Never saw anything like it. Any taste to 'em ??

Be happy to send you some scion from that red crab. Just took a pic of a limb graft of one of your late hangers that you sent my last spring that I had grafted to one of my Sherry trees. It put on about 2 foot of growth this year.

that oddball crab is as hard as a rock right now:eek:. I'll be looking forward to some more of that late hanging scion next spring:D.

 

[greyphase]

Awesome looking crab. Wanna send me a stick of that before you totally graft it over? : )

I'll add that to your list Matt :D.

 

[deepsleep]

Great pictures Grey! I would like to hear a bit more about your approach to topworking these wild trees. I am going to be doing some of that next year and had originally planned to take out the whole central leader and just leave some nurse branches which I would work over a year later. It looks like you are taking a more measured approach which should yield fruit sooner but be more time consuming. Any words of wisdom after your experimentation?

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Grey - Good deal on the scion swap for spring !! :cool: The limb graft of the late hanger in the pic - Is that a cleft graft on the end of the limb ?? I've not done any limb grafting .... from the looks in the pic of the scar area, it looks like a cleft. Is that all that's necessary to do a limb graft ??

 

[greyphase]

Great pictures Grey! I would like to hear a bit more about your approach to topworking these wild trees. I am going to be doing some of that next year and had originally planned to take out the whole central leader and just leave some nurse branches which I would work over a year later. It looks like you are taking a more measured approach which should yield fruit sooner but be more time consuming. Any words of wisdom after your experimentation?

Hey deepsleep

No words of wisdom from me :eek:, I just find a limb that I can reach that's about the same size as the scion and cleft graft it. May not be the proper way to topwork a tree I don't know??? I don't see why your plan wouldn't work also. Maybe someone else will add to this post how they topwork a tree.

 

[greyphase]

Grey - Good deal on the scion swap for spring !! :cool: The limb graft of the late hanger in the pic - Is that a cleft graft on the end of the limb ?? I've not done any limb grafting .... from the looks in the pic of the scar area, it looks like a cleft. Is that all that's necessary to do a limb graft ??

Yes that's a cleft graft. I just happened to take a pic of it this morning also. the brown blob is toilet bowl wax that I use to seal the end of the graft. Works great and is cheap.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Grey - Thanks for the close-up pic. When you do the limb graft, do you wrap grafting tape all over the ( now ) scar area and then put the wax at the end of the tape - on the scion side ??

 

[greyphase]

Grey - Thanks for the close-up pic. When you do the limb graft, do you wrap grafting tape all over the ( now ) scar area and then put the wax at the end of the tape - on the scion side ??

Yes I usually use parafilm to hold the graft together but I've also used the green garden tape http://www.amazon.com/Rolls-thick-Stretch-Ribbon-Garden/dp/B00JE6VOQU/ref=sr_1_2?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1441186721&sr=1-2&keywords=green garden tape with good success. Add some wax where the scion enters the limb and that's it. Oh and don't forget to tag it :rolleyes:. Don't ask me why I added that:oops:.

 

[sandbur]

Grey - Thanks for the close-up pic. When you do the limb graft, do you wrap grafting tape all over the ( now ) scar area and then put the wax at the end of the tape - on the scion side ??

I have done a few and used the toilet was ring over the stub end of the limb and even used a grocery bag on one to tie the scion in place. The plastic needs to be cut off.

 

[Rally1148]

Anyone ever try topworking by basically cutting off ALL of the top of the tree? I'd assume that it would be too much shock, but I'm not sure. I cleaned up some trees REALLY heavily last winter, as they were diseased, and I've got 3-4 ft of growth this year on grafts. I have a few other trees that will eventually have to be cut, unless I can cut the trunk a few feet from the ground this winter, and then bark graft onto it.

 

[greyphase]

Stephen Hays of YouTube fame has some videos in which he does some brutal pruning and then grafts to the watersprouts the next year. Here's one of them.

 

[Rally1148]

Stephen Hays of YouTube fame has some videos in which he does some brutal pruning and then grafts to the watersprouts the next year. Here's one of them.

That's more like what I did this year on a few trees. Next year I'd cut where there are basically NO branches/ growth this year. I've got some wounds one or two, and FB on one or two, I'd love to get ALL the way down (12+ inches) below those spots and basically have a stump that I graft onto this spring.

 

[chickenlittle]

Depends what you mean by top working. If you really want to change the tree, knock it back. That way you make fewer grafts and let that mature rootsystem rebuild the tree. I wouldn't want to go back to a stump though if I could avoid it. No reason to throw away the mature structure that keeps the new growth out of deer reach and supports rapid fruit production.

If you just want to add another variety to part of the tree, you can be more gentle. I'd still look for a low water sprout to graft and then remove everything above it. That gives space for the new variety to grow into with your encouragement/pruning.