winter wildlife, violis hanging, all winter hangover

[bcbowman]

For those guys that have experience with these apples from sln, which would you choose if you could only have 1? How about if you could have 2? The biggest factors for me would be wildlife value, ease of growing, and vigor.

 

[sandbur]

My violi's has only been in the ground one year, but has shown very little growth.
I have not tried the other two.

Some (50%)of our wild crabs are also slow growing.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Bcbowman - I've got an All - Winter - Hangover crab in the ground 3 yrs. this spring. It's on Antonovka rootstock from SLN and it has grown from a whip to a branched 7 ft. tree as of this Nov. Conditions are ideal. It seems vigorous and is easy to grow for me so far.
My soil, climate, etc. are far different from Sandbur's. My camp is in Northern Pa. - is bc British Columbia?

 

[greyphase]

Winter Wildlife crab planted in 2005 has been a very good producer with no disease problems.
Violi's Hanging crab planted in 2011 slow growth the first 2 years, last summer it put on some wood.
All Winter Hangover crab planted in 2013 has had good growth.

 

[bcbowman]

thanks for the help guys. bowsnbucks, i wish i was in british columbia however i am in southern michigan

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Bc - I've ordered all 3 of those crabs for this spring's planting. 2 of the winter wildlife crab, 1 each of the Violi's and All Winter Hangover. My existing AWH crab is doing so well I wanted a 2nd one. The pix that Greyphase put on a thread of Winter wildlife crab convinced me I need a couple of those as well.

 

[greyphase]

Was out on a walk today and took some pics of my Winter Wildlife Crab. It's a little misshapen from a bear "pruning" a couple of years ago, but bounced back and kept on producing.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Bears are gonna be my biggest prob. once these trees start to fruit. I'm working on a trial solution to climbing bears before that time. I understand your " bear pruning " in the pic. I'm gonna try it this summer on some older apple trees that bears climb most years. If it works, I'll let you know.

 

[deepsleep]

I planted 10 Violi's in '10 or '11. They have been fairly vigorous growers for me, very easy to train (good crotch angles) and DR. They had a few blossoms this past year but I only ended up with 1 apple which I blame on a late frost. The apples seem to be a bit larger than the others you mention. They are more the size of a Chestnut or Centennial. I should have pretty decent production in the next year or two and can give more info then. Another one we have planted in S. MI (Jackson Cty) is Yates. Vigorous, precocious, and still hanging when I leave (Late Dec.). Here is a pic of Violi fruit--it is green and hard to see, but right in the center of this picture.