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Post by smsmith on Apr 21, 2017 9:21:15 GMT -6
A handful have a red tint to the leaves/bark. There is one that is very red. The dolgo tree the seeds came from is probably close to 60 years old. My dad is 74 and it has been there as long as he remembers. Almost every farm around here has one of the same trees. There is also a chestnut crab in the yard so that is the most likely pollinator. There is one "wild" crabapple tree about 1/4 mile west of the farm along the fence line. The tree is large and old, and I would guess started before the chesnut crabapple was in the farm yard. The wild crabapple is similar in shape to the dolgo, but slightly larger overall and the "wild" fruit doesn't get as red as the old dolgo tree does. The flavor seemed good in late August, a bit tart, but by the end of September it seemed almost flavorless to me. I put a camera on the wild tree and it got pounded at night for the last week of September and first week of October. Most apples seemed to drop in a much shorter time period than the dolgo did. It is within sight of the road so all deer were at night. I will go back and find some of those deer pictures to add. The other "wild" crab I have found has a more round and yellowish fruit. Randomly walked up on it when turkey hunting last spring. It is in low ground and was blocked off from sunlight by some large black ash trees I cut down the next day. Still ended up with some fruit on it last year, it will probably have a lot more this year. The tree appeared to be much younger, so possibly a mix of the dolgo and chesnut crab, and the fruit color and shape would almost go along with that. But I have no idea how the pollination works. How big are the round/yellowish fruit? I've got a wild crab here with maybe 1/2 ping pong ball sized round, yellowish fruit. They are actually pretty sweet just when ripe, but once slightly past ripe they turn into little balls of mealy mush.
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Post by westbranch on Apr 21, 2017 10:25:17 GMT -6
1/2 ping pong ball or slightly larger sounds about right. I tried one in early September and it was good flavor, never made it back to try again.
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Post by westbranch on Apr 25, 2017 6:13:43 GMT -6
A few trees have 3 inches of growth already. Much different in this part of the state than where these trees are going to be planted.
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Post by westbranch on Aug 12, 2017 8:38:02 GMT -6
Update on the crabapples. I was around MN for a couple weeks in July and managed to get a little brush chopping done and checked some trees. Around 6 that came from the rootmaker bags are 3+ ft tall, more than a dozen are 2+ ft tall. Most of the rest were looking good, did not expect as much growth from the styro tray trees. I planted some of the bigger trees where they would have more competition from regrowth. Hybrid poplar screen is behind this tree. I put 10 trees around a 1 acre food plot. This is in area that was cleared by forestry mulcher. Plan on keeping it clear by brush chopper for a few years. I think I had 20 trees in groups of 5 spread around the cleared out area that is about 2 acres. Another tree in the same area.
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Post by westbranch on Aug 12, 2017 8:42:52 GMT -6
Group of trees in mulched area. Had to take a picture down a tube. Only fatality I found, some critter decided to dig up the whole tree and soil surrounding soil. Some trees were nearby and this was the only one dug up.
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Post by sd51555 on Aug 12, 2017 9:22:43 GMT -6
You came back? Oh man, that'd be like hitting the bottle after being sober for months. You didn't feel the urge to stay and keep working on the property?
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Post by westbranch on Aug 12, 2017 10:13:18 GMT -6
We had stuff in storage and one vehicle to get from MN. There was definitely an urge, but the urge to head west again was bigger.
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Post by westbranch on Sept 26, 2017 8:34:28 GMT -6
Got an update picture. At least three trees made it out of the tubes, so 5' tall. Depending on snow, they may get snipped off by deer.
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