Poor growing advise again :)

[CrazyEd]

Of the varieties you posted for your replacements ACN recommended Winecrisp and Enterprise to me as good DR types. Several university profs. basically all said Liberty, Enterprise, Goldrush, Freedom, Galarina, Priscilla, Florina Querina, and Winecrisp for DR varieties. They are currently the MOST disease-resistant varieties out there. Others have some DR, but the above varieties have the strongest resistance to most of the major diseases. This info is from the profs. and 4 major nurseries - not my own expertise. I'm too new - and still gathering as much info as I can from multiple sources.

I should add that the above varieties are regular apples. There are crabs that are as good or better than the above for DR. Some of the other guys on here have more experience with the crabs - wild and grafted. From my OWN experience, crabs in general have less disease probs. than regular apples. Less headache to grow.

Winecrisp and Goldrush are both susceptible to CAR. They both have it consistently on my farm. Like Frostbite, the disease is only on the leaves and doesn't appear to impact fruit.

 

[sandbur]

WTNUT - I am certainly no expert, but I know from research and asking some university profs. that some crabs are more of an upright " tree " and some are more of a bushy shrub. You may have some of the bushy type.

Of the varieties you posted for your replacements ACN recommended Winecrisp and Enterprise to me as good DR types. Several university profs. basically all said Liberty, Enterprise, Goldrush, Freedom, Galarina, Priscilla, Florina Querina, and Winecrisp for DR varieties. They are currently the MOST disease-resistant varieties out there. Others have some DR, but the above varieties have the strongest resistance to most of the major diseases. This info is from the profs. and 4 major nurseries - not my own expertise. I'm too new - and still gathering as much info as I can from multiple sources.

I should add that the above varieties are regular apples. There are crabs that are as good or better than the above for DR. Some of the other guys on here have more experience with the crabs - wild and grafted. From my OWN experience, crabs in general have less disease probs. than regular apples. Less headache to grow.

I am beginning to feel the bushy type of crabs have their place for wildlife, especially in sites exposed to the winter sun and to high winds like in prairie areas.
Buried in GRIN data is a very old reference to the northernmost location for Malus ionensis being a 4 foot high bush that was bearing fruit. I suspect we can not expect to get a tree out of some of these varieties . Other crabs might be able to grow into a tree if in an environment where they are reaching for the light, or a bush in an exposed site.

My two cents from very limited experience!

 

[WTNUT]

Here's a few pics of my 4th Leaf Frostbite B.118 - July 19th 2015.

Here's a few from 3rd Leaf (August 30th, 2014)

Oh I really hate these photos!!!!

 

[CrazyEd]

Here's a 2nd leaf winecrisp on b.118 last year.

 

[WTNUT]

You are spending too much time loving on those trees. Don't tell me about your sand ha ha. I have as rich of soil and the state of Ohio ever produced and some of mine don't do that well.

 

[greyphase]

You are spending too much time loving on those trees. Don't tell me about your sand ha ha. I have as rich of soil and the state of Ohio ever produced and some of mine don't do that well.

Ditto that. I can see a future business venture with bags of CrazyEd's Magic Sand Soil Mix being sold at all your local big box stores :D.

 

[CrazyEd]

You are spending too much time loving on those trees. Don't tell me about your sand ha ha. I have as rich of soil and the state of Ohio ever produced and some of mine don't do that well.

Honestly when it comes to caring for my trees the handle LazyED would probably be more suitable. I'm a weekend warrior, i'm lucky if i spend 20 days a year on my land. Hope to change that some day.

Really, I put in the most effort in at planting time, I do it right the first time. Tree's get pruned once a year around the first of march. They might get sprayed once or twice between May and August, I usually only spray to control tent caterpillars or insects, and that is strictly reactionary.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I'll second what Ed says about max effort at planting time. I like to get 'em started right from day 1. Less headaches that way. Hardly ANY weeds to contend with, no mice/vole worries, deer fenced out. I spray every 2 weeks thru the summer for bugs mainly, as a precaution. I don't want to show up at camp and find Tent cats. or gypsy moth cats. or Jap. beetles have eaten the trees bare. Pruning done in March also, like Ed does. Mowing about 3 times per summer.

 

[aerospacefarmer]

Most of tree care happens after planting for sure. I just pruned a bunch of pears that had 10 to 15 shoots growing out of the bottom of the rootstock. It was a mess but not looks great and summer pruning can help trees. I also weed whacked under and took one Chestnut crab that looked like a bush with many suckers and wild branches going every which way and made it look like an apple tree now. I also harvested 3/4 of a bushel of chestnut crabs from 2 trees and man are they good. I hope someone wants to make jam or pie or they will be going in a cider blend if I cant get rid of them. The other key is keeping the weeds from accumulating around the trees and I do it the cheap way by using GLY instead of putting all that other crap down at planting. Its a pain and needs to be done 2 or 3 times per season but its help keep down the rodent problem and the hawks have a better shot at getting any varmints that are hanging around the orchard. New problem I had this year was a #$%^&* groundhog getting in caged pear and climbing and breaking branches and eating pears. He is on the hit list. Apple trees are not created equal and there are weak and strong and some just dont do as well as others.

 

[sandbur]

Most of tree care happens after planting for sure. I just pruned a bunch of pears that had 10 to 15 shoots growing out of the bottom of the rootstock. It was a mess but not looks great and summer pruning can help trees. I also weed whacked under and took one Chestnut crab that looked like a bush with many suckers and wild branches going every which way and made it look like an apple tree now. I also harvested 3/4 of a bushel of chestnut crabs from 2 trees and man are they good. I hope someone wants to make jam or pie or they will be going in a cider blend if I cant get rid of them. The other key is keeping the weeds from accumulating around the trees and I do it the cheap way by using GLY instead of putting all that other crap down at planting. Its a pain and needs to be done 2 or 3 times per season but its help keep down the rodent problem and the hawks have a better shot at getting any varmints that are hanging around the orchard. New problem I had this year was a #$%^&* groundhog getting in caged pear and climbing and breaking branches and eating pears. He is on the hit list. Apple trees are not created equal and there are weak and strong and some just dont do as well as others.

Chestnut crabs make great apple sauce.
I am trying to find someone with a cider press, but I think the guy is bear hunting.
Pocket gophers are the problem, here and they got into 2 of my sln trees from last year.