|
Post by smallchunk on Jan 28, 2019 0:10:53 GMT -6
Unknown varieties. There seems to be a lot of volunteer trees in this area.
SD, I doubt it. I was wrecking branches and fruit spurs from both trees trying to pick them. That's why I like the crab at my grandmas and the other pics I posted on the other thread. Shake and fall is clutch!
|
|
|
Post by smallchunk on Feb 20, 2019 7:23:17 GMT -6
There was just two roosters in a farms front yard next to the road in the very top of a flowering crab tree.
|
|
|
Post by Freeborn on Feb 20, 2019 9:11:35 GMT -6
There was just two roosters in a farms front yard next to the road in the very top of a flowering crab tree. That makes sense. As part of my CRP planting they planted allot of Red Splendor Crabs. Those berries are great for pheasat, turkey, deer and other stuff. Their also healthy no maintenance trees.
|
|
|
Post by Bwoods11 on Feb 20, 2019 11:48:23 GMT -6
There was just two roosters in a farms front yard next to the road in the very top of a flowering crab tree. Our local high school has a bunch of crab apple planted, with spruce next to it. There are 4-6 roosters and hens in there every day. Yesterday I saw a bunch of pheasants in some dogwood as well.
|
|
|
Post by kooch on Feb 20, 2019 17:33:22 GMT -6
I don’t know what kind of crab tree it is. But I’ve got one that holds tiny little fruit most of the winter. It’s been feeding a couple of squirrels all winter. Birds too.
After a good blow, a bunch drop to the ground and the rabbits get their share.
It’s an interesting lesson to me. Everybody chills out in my mature spruce trees and heads into the open area with the crab tree along well worn paths in the snow. I watch them do their thing then scurry back to cover when the right bird flys over. Otherwise they are completely unpressured.
The same critters do the same thing every day around the same time. It’s instructive.
|
|
|
Post by nhmountains on Feb 20, 2019 19:27:14 GMT -6
Diversity is a good thing. All good observations pointed out that maybe we can duplicate on our properties to help wildlife through tough winters
|
|
|
Post by honker on May 27, 2019 21:24:53 GMT -6
I have 21 of the original 25 Red Splendors that I planted in 2016 surviving into this spring. I must have hit the right soil spot for this one. It is on high ground deeper in the woods and I hadn't checked on it since last spring. Well over my head. Should I think about pruning the leader this coming season?
|
|
|
Post by smsmith on May 28, 2019 6:44:35 GMT -6
I have 21 of the original 25 Red Splendors that I planted in 2016 surviving into this spring. I must have hit the right soil spot for this one. It is on high ground deeper in the woods and I hadn't checked on it since last spring. Well over my head. Should I think about pruning the leader this coming season?
No reason to prune the leader. If you want to promote side branches, just take a sharp knife and make a cut through the cambium above a bud.
|
|
|
Post by benmnwi on May 28, 2019 12:04:58 GMT -6
I always just let the red splendor crabapples do their own thing. They can get pretty big, but that's a good thing when you want to produce a pile of seed for the birds (and deer). I usually only trim the crossing branches that damage each other or any vertical shoots that compete with the central leader.
As a related note, I had great looking red splendor crabapple in a similar tree tube as the one you pictured above. Sometime in the winter a mouse built a house in the bottom of the tube and ate completely through the tree. I've never had that happen when using window screen on the trunk and a tree cage.
|
|
|
Post by chummer16 on May 28, 2019 14:01:52 GMT -6
I always just let the red splendor crabapples do their own thing. They can get pretty big, but that's a good thing when you want to produce a pile of seed for the birds (and deer). I usually only trim the crossing branches that damage each other or any vertical shoots that compete with the central leader. As a related note, I had great looking red splendor crabapple in a similar tree tube as the one you pictured above. Sometime in the winter a mouse built a house in the bottom of the tube and ate completely through the tree. I've never had that happen when using window screen on the trunk and a tree cage. I had that happen in a tube on a rootstock but the mouse didn’t touch the tree. As soon as I removed the tube I figured the tree was toast but it must have been a barkatarian mouse.
|
|
|
Post by smsmith on May 28, 2019 15:05:32 GMT -6
I had never had much of an issue with mice and tubes until last fall. I will no longer leave tubes on trees through the winter
|
|
|
Post by Bwoods11 on Jun 25, 2021 12:43:46 GMT -6
I checked on a few Red Splendor, Midwest, Manchurian Crabs...damn hard to tell each one. Which one holds the fruit later into the winter?
|
|
|
Post by smsmith on Jun 25, 2021 13:18:42 GMT -6
I checked on a few Red Splendor, Midwest, Manchurian Crabs...damn hard to tell each one. Which one holds the fruit later into the winter? Hold/drop time will vary from seedling to seedling
|
|
|
Post by benmnwi on Jun 25, 2021 13:22:55 GMT -6
Most of my red splendors typically hold small fruit all winter until a bird eats them.
I'm not familiar with midwest or manchurian crabs though.
|
|
|
Post by benmnwi on Jun 25, 2021 13:25:29 GMT -6
I get my red splendors as seedlings from the county when they do annual tree bundle sales - it is tough to beat the price of about $2.50 per tree. As Stu mentioned there is some variation with the seedlings though. About 75% of them end up with the small fruit that holds on the tree all winter, but 25% of them have 1" diameter fruit that drops by late fall.
|
|