The Sandbox

[Bowsnbucks]

How big do the apples get on the Columbia crab, Bur? I've read some of you guys in that neck of the woods have Columbia, but I can't find an accurate / detailed description of them and their growth habits. I guess they're pretty hardy if you grow them up there. Are they good producers?

 

[sandbur]

I believe the Germplasm website ahs a picture of the apples. I think my rootstock crab is Colombia. Apples are about the size of a chestnut crab but shaped differently. I have a picture on my 'puter at home of the two crabs side by side. Colombia tends to produce very other year, but by pruning I get some apples during the off year. I like it's late and prolonged drop time.

My tree is not terribly tall, maybe 15 or 18 feet. Perhaps the soils keeps it smaller.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I ran across some family photos while at deer camp. 1945View attachment 2960 View attachment 2961

Dang that barn looked old in 1945! Reminds me a lot of our barn at my mom's.

 

[sandbur]

That was my Grandfather's barn.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Thanks for the info, Bur. I was reading down thru the pages of the Germplasm site and saw a crabapple that sounded like a good one for northern states. One called Wetonka. Have you heard of it?

 

[sandbur]

I looked at it last night!
Lee pointed these out to me about a year ago. It also has 3 siblings. The parentage of these crabs looks great.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I thought so too. I'm far from an expert - I'm fairly new to the apple / crabapple planting scene ( at least from a research first - then plant standpoint. ) I - like you - am always on the lookout for any new crabs that might be a winner for hardiness and later dropping apples. I'm not a grafter, but if some crab looks really good ( like Wetonka and some others do ), I may have to give grafting a shot. Wetonka and the siblings sound like good ones. I wonder what's involved in getting scion from the Germplasm repository?

 

[sandbur]

Pix of our ancestors, be they immediate or further back, are always neat to look at. It gives us a sense of the " pioneer " they had in them and of the hardships they faced. My Pop used to tell me of hunts they had and where they took place. I have a few pix of Pop and my uncles and the deer and rows of rabbits they shot when running dogs. Nothing like some hunting history to see where you came from and how you caught " the bug ".

Bur - My crabapple planting comments in post #182 above were in response to your Oct. posts about putting your crabs " to bed " for the winter. Looking back on MY post, it seems like my crab comments came from out of the blue !!! I hadn't read your " Sandbox " thread in a few weeks. I was getting caught up. Are your crabapples holding up with the recent arctic blast?

Here is a current picture of the crab I suspect is Colombia. The deer are working it.

 

[sandbur]

One of Morse bunches has apples again.

 

[sandbur]

How big do the apples get on the Columbia crab, Bur? I've read some of you guys in that neck of the woods have Columbia, but I can't find an accurate / detailed description of them and their growth habits. I guess they're pretty hardy if you grow them up there. Are they good producers?

I think this is Colombia, but the apple size is larger than what the germplasm site indicates. I found this same rootstock under another flowering crab planted on public land along side a bike trail.

 

[sandbur]

I did a walkabout today.

this corn was planted 18 months ago.

 

[sandbur]

S. beets are nibbled on.

 

[sandbur]

I like to walk my hunting land after I am done hunting to see where the deer travelled and bedded. I did not enter the areas I call sanctuary, yet.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I see you have rubs on your spruces too, Bur. Deer rub on them here too. Over my years of prowling the woods & fields, I noticed that wherever spruce were growing, there seemed to be a concentration of deer movement. We have a row of them planted along one of our fields. Before the spruce were there, there was no concentration of deer movement or interest at that location. Now - with the spruce between 3 and 7 ft. tall, deer tracks ( and rubs )indicate much more activity up and down that field edge. Our spruce just keep growing, even after rubbing. I throw some 10-10-10 around them the next spring and they push new growth.

I like the look of those crabs, Bur. For the tough winters you get, they look pretty good and healthy. Those crabs you're holding in your hand are nice size - look about 1 1/2" ? Keep us posted on your scion request.

 

[sandbur]

I had to get out and take some pictures today.

Sad situation on the sandbox. Not a pheasant track in sight and only fawn tracks. Maybe our only adult doe got killed.


Back to habitat, many of the same things you have seen before..

A couple shots of Sandbur's deer trails.

 

[sandbur]

These red oaks responded to releasing from the popple that was done about 3 years ago.

 

[sandbur]

Spruce plantings of various ages between a restored wetland and rental land.

 

[sandbur]

Don't look too closely at the pruning job that I did on this tree. Maya and stu have given me lots of good tips since then.

This tree might be worthy of a scion collection at some future date. Seed from a wild tree was collected in 2008. Tree was grown in a roottrapper bag for about 18 months and then planted in this location in 2010.

It is bearing and holding crab apples similar in size to dolgo as of Dec. 16. (Dolgo normally drops on Labor day)

Sorry about all of the repetition in posts, cabin fever is setting in...

 

[shawnv]

It's hard to imagine this is so void of deer. Looks like it should be full of grouse and rabbits if nothing else.

 

[chummer]

I tried corn this year but the coons got it all. Hard to believe something hasn't found it. Have you tried planting any apples without caging them? With so few deer I am tempted to leave my seedlings on their own while still caging my grafted trees. I would think if they have not touched that ear of corn maybe I could get away with a mass planting of crab seedlings.