The Adventures of CrazyED the beach sand guy

[deepsleep]

For the most part correct. I did have a broken branch on a previous trip but I thought it was due to fruit load. The last time I found the tree cleaned off there were no broken branches. My trees are b118. I think in general if you have problems with younger trees and coons you should practice defruiting.

I would agree with this, however, my Centennials are on M7, 5th leaf, and 14 feet or so. Every year, the coons tear 1/2 to 2/3 of the branches off them. The chestnut crabs next to them are on M7, 5th leaf, and planted the same time. The coons defruit them as well, but very little branch damage. I'm going to topwork some seedling crabs over to Centennial and see if they will grow stronger branches. Worth a try, IMO. I can then graft over my Centennials to some obscure cider apples for future use!

 

[CrazyEd]

I would agree with this, however, my Centennials are on M7, 5th leaf, and 14 feet or so. Every year, the coons tear 1/2 to 2/3 of the branches off them. The chestnut crabs next to them are on M7, 5th leaf, and planted the same time. The coons defruit them as well, but very little branch damage. I'm going to topwork some seedling crabs over to Centennial and see if they will grow stronger branches. Worth a try, IMO. I can then graft over my Centennials to some obscure cider apples for future use!

Are you aggressive with training. How are your crotch angles? Some mine are close to 90 degrees.

 

[deepsleep]

Yes, in fact, I think some may be too open after a few years of fruit load. This first pic is a 5th year Cent. on M7, planted as a potted tree. If you look closely you can see where the conduit ends and we have a bamboo post attached to it--the tree is 13-14' tall or so. The open areas are from where coons tore off branches last year. Perhaps I should have defruited it this year, but didn't.



Compare and contrast this to this Violi which is roughly the same size on Ant and planted the same week(ignore the pokeweed). I could just about do pullups on the lower scaffolds. Also, I have a couple Chestnut Crabs next to the Centennials on M7 (all from W-W in WI), planted the same day, and the coons have broken about 1 branch on the 3 Chestnuts in the 2 or 3 years they've all fruited.
Violi


Chestnut Crab



One thing I do know is that wildlife love the Centennial crab, and it is very productive, so I would like to keep some. I just feel they would do better on standard rootstock. I will graft a few of my CSF seedling crabs over, and defruit them for a few years to grow lots of wood on them before the coons get a shot at them.

 

[greyphase]

Hey Deepsleep

Do the Viola crab get as big as a Centennial? My Viola has it's 1st apple on this year and it's about the size of my Centennials. Was wondering if they are always that big or was it because it's the only apple on the tree.

 

[deepsleep]

I had a late freeze this year, so my trees aren't loaded. I do have a light crop on one tree and a few on another, and they appear to be similar in size to Centennial. I went back and read the SLN description, and it mentioned it being good as a cider apple. I will be giving that a try in a few years. This photo is a few weeks old.

 

[CrazyEd]

I had a late freeze this year, so my trees aren't loaded. I do have a light crop on one tree and a few on another, and they appear to be similar in size to Centennial. I went back and read the SLN description, and it mentioned it being good as a cider apple. I will be giving that a try in a few years. This photo is a few weeks old.

Those look great. Glad 3 of the 4 I grafted in may are growing like crazy in my garden right now. How long do they typically hang in your experience?

 

[deepsleep]

Those look great. Glad 3 of the 4 I grafted in may are growing like crazy in my garden right now. How long do they typically hang in your experience?

They are very handsome trees, IMO. These are on Ant, from SLN, so this is the first year I've have more than an apple or two. According to SLN, they should hang well into the winter. When I got started on apples, I was convinced that crabs were the way to go for deer, so I planted 10 of these throughout the property, 4 in my yard and the rest out in remote food plots. Not surprisingly, the yard trees are bearing first, and I should be able to get some good intel over the next year or 2. These were sprayed with Captan/Imidan a total of 3 times this year, but the plot trees haven't been sprayed and look great. This is the 2nd year I've done any spraying and these looked as good as anything with no spray a few years ago.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Nice looking Violi's crab Deepsleep !! We also have one at camp from SLN on Antonovka. 1 apple on it this year, but it's only 2nd leaf. I can't wait until it kicks into gear !! Our All-Winter-Hangover crab - also from SLN - was so loaded I had to snip about 40 apples off of it. They are golf ball sized. Tree is 3rd leaf. I agree that crabs are the ticket for deer. We have a batch of them planted, 20 trees - 11 varieties. No headaches !!:)

 

[sandbur]

Is centennial a natural dwarf or semi dwarf tree? I thought I read that somewhere.

So , if you have trees that tend to be dwarfs or semi dwarfs, should they have a different rootstock than antie. or other full sized trees?

Hazen tends to be a dwarf from what I have read and seen.

 

[deepsleep]

BnB--I need to get some scion of that AWH, sounds like a great crab. Once they get going on Ant, it'll be pretty awesome.

Sandbur--I've also read that most if not all crabs are naturally dwarfing. Makes sense that in the wild you see larger apple than crabapple trees. Crabs also tend to be more precocious. Because of those traits, I think it is wise to put crabs on less dwarfing rootstock for deer. The usual concern with standards is the dreaded possible 10-15 years wait for fruit Several people over the last year have posted their experience and it seems like most crabs start having good crops more in the 5-6 year range and Ant, and even sooner on B118. To me, that's not that long a wait for what will become a huge tree, dropping loads of apples for the rest of my life.

 

[CrazyEd]

Nice looking Violi's crab Deepsleep !! We also have one at camp from SLN on Antonovka. 1 apple on it this year, but it's only 2nd leaf. I can't wait until it kicks into gear !! Our All-Winter-Hangover crab - also from SLN - was so loaded I had to snip about 40 apples off of it. They are golf ball sized. Tree is 3rd leaf. I agree that crabs are the ticket for deer. We have a batch of them planted, 20 trees - 11 varieties. No headaches !!:)

I might have to bug you for some all winter scions this winter. Got any to spare?

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Probably will have some Ed. I'll look closer when I'm up again. It's growing real well in our soil - don't know how it'll do in the sandier soil some of you guys have. Our A.W.H. crab is in the ground since spring of 2013. It produced about 40 apples this year - it's on Ant.

 

[CrazyEd]

Probably will have some Ed. I'll look closer when I'm up again. It's growing real well in our soil - don't know how it'll do in the sandier soil some of you guys have. Our A.W.H. crab is in the ground since spring of 2013. It produced about 40 apples this year - it's on Ant.

B118 roots do fine in Sandy soil =)

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I only wish I'd have bought 6 more of the All Winter Hangover from the get-go. I hope the new SLN owners will carry them again. AND the Winter Wildlife crab. I could graft if necessary, but with other irons in the fire, it's nice to be able to just buy and plant.

 

[CrazyEd]

I only wish I'd have bought 6 more of the All Winter Hangover from the get-go. I hope the new SLN owners will carry them again. AND the Winter Wildlife crab. I could graft if necessary, but with other irons in the fire, it's nice to be able to just buy and plant.

I might have an extra b118 winter wildlife I could spare. I have to do an inventory to see what I have. I certainly plan to graft a bunch more this spring.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Definitely interested Ed. No rush. Only if you can spare it and I PAY you for it !!!

 

[CrazyEd]

My spreadsheet says that i have 3 in the garden that were grafted in 2014. Once all the leaves fall off and I can actually see what the heck is going on in the nursery and I can locate the trees, I will assess for size.

 

[CrazyEd]

Heading to the farm on Saturday and looking forward to a rain gauge check. My dad read one report that was saying as much as 2-3" of rain yesterday, that would be epic this time of year. Slim chance i might have a foodplot that doesnt actually look like total hell. Also get to see the rest of my pallets of shit which were delivered a week after the first.

Planning to nuke my next orchard with oust xp and roundup again, it will be planted in full NWSG and extensive forb mix next spring when we plant 40-50 trees. We nuked it about 1 year ago real good but it needs some cleanup.

 

[CrazyEd]

Well hard to see in the filthy rain gauge but there is an inch in there.

4th leaf kerr b.118 looks great.

For size reference

Decided to paint all my trunks white....removed window screen from a majority of my trees and then painted them. There was some evidence of cracking on a few trees so hopefully the paint will help.

After painting a mixture of white latex paint, sevin, and water.

Here's a Prairie Spy I grafted I think 2 years ago, and planted last spring.

NWSG looking good

 

[chummer]

I love that Kerr. Mine have really taken off this year (2nd leaf). Do you know their bloom time? I am considering 5 more but I am trying to move to late bloomers. Nice job on the paint