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Post by Sandbur on Jan 22, 2021 10:04:00 GMT -6
Maybe we need to tie some limbs down? That's pretty much a larger version of mine (yours has longer limbs). How old is it? I put mine in the ground 2017. I take a few bites of mine each year. Never get better. I have yet to see any evidence that deer has eaten ANY of my crabs or apples. No clue if they will ever take to these things, but they are not great to my taste buds. In deep snow winter, they will eat the crabs that hit the ground in my climate.
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Post by Sandbur on Jan 22, 2021 17:22:40 GMT -6
Maybe we need to tie some limbs down? That's pretty much a larger version of mine (yours has longer limbs). How old is it? I put mine in the ground 2017. I take a few bites of mine each year. Never get better. I have yet to see any evidence that deer has eaten ANY of my crabs or apples. No clue if they will ever take to these things, but they are not great to my taste buds. Tonight, they stopped and checked the Chestnut and Big Dog before stopping under the flowering crabs. They are headed for the corn Foodplot.
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Post by smsmith on Jan 22, 2021 19:33:31 GMT -6
That's pretty much a larger version of mine (yours has longer limbs). How old is it? I put mine in the ground 2017. I take a few bites of mine each year. Never get better. I have yet to see any evidence that deer has eaten ANY of my crabs or apples. No clue if they will ever take to these things, but they are not great to my taste buds. In deep snow winter, they will eat the crabs that hit the ground in my climate. Deer here hit any fruit left on the ground, or that falls during the winter. Every winter. Deep snow or very little snow (like this year). I do think it probably takes a few generations of deer to learn that fruit is good to eat...just like brassicas do in many locations.
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Post by Sandbur on Jan 23, 2021 6:04:16 GMT -6
Stuart, do you have any pictures of the Long Prairie Crab or tree?
I hope to get some fruit this summer.
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Post by chummer16 on Jan 23, 2021 6:13:34 GMT -6
Kerr remains my favorite. They lived through the first polar vortex so I know they are bullet proof. They are also immune from FB. I get a few apples every year but think this could be the year they have a lot. How tall are your trees and what rootstock are they on. My Kerr are usually loaded. kerr is on the top. I am holding three apples from a seedling. I would say 10-12’ on either p.18 or b.118. I will have to check. They do grow a dense tree. I stopped trying to train them because they would not cooperate. I would say they are the same height as the dolgos I planted the same year.
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Post by smsmith on Jan 23, 2021 8:35:40 GMT -6
Stuart, do you have any pictures of the Long Prairie Crab or tree? I hope to get some fruit this summer. LPVFW? No, I do not. The mother tree was cut down last spring. At some point I had a few pics of that tree, but that would have been two laptops ago. My tree got set back by last spring's frost after the tree had started to leaf out. It survived, but didn't put on much growth. There is a single scion stick on that tree and I hope to graft 2-3 more this spring. Your feedback of the fruit when you get some will be welcome
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Post by Sandbur on Jan 23, 2021 8:39:24 GMT -6
Stuart, do you have any pictures of the Long Prairie Crab or tree? I hope to get some fruit this summer. LPVFW? No, I do not. The mother tree was cut down last spring. At some point I had a few pics of that tree, but that would have been two laptops ago. My tree got set back by last spring's frost after the tree had started to leaf out. It survived, but didn't put on much growth. There is a single scion stick on that tree and I hope to graft 2-3 more this spring. Your feedback of the fruit when you get some will be welcome I had one apple and something got it before I could sample it. Decent sized for an apple crab. I might be able to find a scion for you. I just called it LP and assume it is the same one. I had fruit on the Pilsbury crab two years ago.
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Post by smsmith on Jan 23, 2021 8:47:29 GMT -6
LPVFW? No, I do not. The mother tree was cut down last spring. At some point I had a few pics of that tree, but that would have been two laptops ago. My tree got set back by last spring's frost after the tree had started to leaf out. It survived, but didn't put on much growth. There is a single scion stick on that tree and I hope to graft 2-3 more this spring. Your feedback of the fruit when you get some will be welcome I had one apple and something got it before I could sample it. Decent sized for an apple crab. I might be able to find a scion for you. I just called it LP and assume it is the same one. I had fruit on the Pilsbury crab two years ago. Pillsbury crab is more of a deer crab than a people crab to my palate, but you may find them more palatable since you enjoy Dolgo. I drove past the Pillsbury mother tree a week ago or so and it is still LOADED with fruit. My grafted Pillsbury is not. It had a bunch of fruit, but most fell off by November. I'm not sure if the fruit hanging for a long time on the mother tree is due to it being a seedling, or if my grafted tree will do the same thing with some more years of growing. I'd say of the 3 crabs I've given you scions of (Tank, LPVFW, and Pillsbury), LPVFW has the largest and sweetest fruit. Tank is slightly smaller and not quite as sweet but still good for human eating. Pillsbury is about the same size as Tank, maybe a bit smaller, and it has the most tannins of the three. I don't think I've given you scions of the tree I call wild red crab?
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Post by Sandbur on Jan 23, 2021 17:43:58 GMT -6
I had one apple and something got it before I could sample it. Decent sized for an apple crab. I might be able to find a scion for you. I just called it LP and assume it is the same one. I had fruit on the Pilsbury crab two years ago. Pillsbury crab is more of a deer crab than a people crab to my palate, but you may find them more palatable since you enjoy Dolgo. I drove past the Pillsbury mother tree a week ago or so and it is still LOADED with fruit. My grafted Pillsbury is not. It had a bunch of fruit, but most fell off by November. I'm not sure if the fruit hanging for a long time on the mother tree is due to it being a seedling, or if my grafted tree will do the same thing with some more years of growing. I'd say of the 3 crabs I've given you scions of (Tank, LPVFW, and Pillsbury), LPVFW has the largest and sweetest fruit. Tank is slightly smaller and not quite as sweet but still good for human eating. Pillsbury is about the same size as Tank, maybe a bit smaller, and it has the most tannins of the three. I don't think I've given you scions of the tree I call wild red crab? I think you brought me some fruit to try from that one. What can you tell us about the Wild Red Crab? My Pillsbury had small fruit. I need to check to make sure it grew from above the graft. It is across the ditch and gets neglected. Near where we jumped that buck years ago.
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Post by smsmith on Jan 23, 2021 18:37:28 GMT -6
Pillsbury crab is more of a deer crab than a people crab to my palate, but you may find them more palatable since you enjoy Dolgo. I drove past the Pillsbury mother tree a week ago or so and it is still LOADED with fruit. My grafted Pillsbury is not. It had a bunch of fruit, but most fell off by November. I'm not sure if the fruit hanging for a long time on the mother tree is due to it being a seedling, or if my grafted tree will do the same thing with some more years of growing. I'd say of the 3 crabs I've given you scions of (Tank, LPVFW, and Pillsbury), LPVFW has the largest and sweetest fruit. Tank is slightly smaller and not quite as sweet but still good for human eating. Pillsbury is about the same size as Tank, maybe a bit smaller, and it has the most tannins of the three. I don't think I've given you scions of the tree I call wild red crab? I think you brought me some fruit to try from that one.What can you tell us about the Wild Red Crab? My Pillsbury had small fruit. I need to check to make sure it grew from above the graft. It is across the ditch and gets neglected. Near where we jumped that buck years ago. I did. I think two falls ago. I'm guessing wild red crab was a SWCD seedling planted by the farmer who owned this place about 20 years ago or so. Likely a Red Splendor seedling, but that's just a guess. When I bought the place the tree was loaded with fruit, but they were pretty small, full of scab and insect damage. I started pruning/training the tree a number of years ago. Since giving the fruit more sun and hitting it 1-4 times a year with fungicide/insecticide the fruit is now much larger and cleaner. They are pretty tannic. There are red streaks through the fruit when fully ripe. I wouldn't call them a red flesh crab, but they definitely have hints of red. They make really good pickled/spiced crabs too.
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Post by nhmountains on Jan 24, 2021 4:26:15 GMT -6
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Post by biglakebass on Feb 9, 2021 10:12:20 GMT -6
This wicked cold snap has me a bit concerned if some apple trees are going to get exterminated..... 2 weeks ago I was confident we got thru the worst of it, and jinxed myself with this crap. what a wicked forecast.
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Post by Sandbur on Feb 9, 2021 14:12:04 GMT -6
This wicked cold snap has me a bit concerned if some apple trees are going to get exterminated..... 2 weeks ago I was confident we got thru the worst of it, and jinxed myself with this crap. what a wicked forecast. I put some more snow around the base of a few trees and provided some shade for sunscauld. Usually we have more snow to cover the lower parts of the trunk.
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Post by smsmith on Feb 9, 2021 15:07:46 GMT -6
If trees are going to be lost to this weather, they weren't destined to live here long term anyway.
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Post by Sandbur on Feb 9, 2021 15:51:14 GMT -6
If trees are going to be lost to this weather, they weren't destined to live here long term anyway. Two winters back, I had 14 degrees colder than my coldest this week. This is not a test winter yet.
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