does anyone have any advice about making it fruit??
i want the fruit!
Wait 10 to 15 years! Crabs need to be mature to bear fruit. My guess is you have a 4 to 7 year old tree so you have a bit to go.
does anyone have any advice about making it fruit??
i want the fruit!
you sure it's a crabapple and not just an apple? Apple trees that have naturalized are notorious for being very stingy with blossoms and fruit. Even some cultivated apples don't fruit all that well and have to be kicked in the pants from time to time with pruning.
Throw in inappropriate pruning by owners and blossoms can be even rarer. Apples bloom on "old wood" in specific areas on the tree--specific growth areas of old wood called "spurs." it can take some time to recognize flowering spurs, too. Pruning new growth at the wrong time, or old growth at any time, can reduce or even eliminate blooms--and fruit.
Having had an old apple that simply refused to bloom no matter what I did, I sold it off. Wish I hadn't, as it was simply a nice tree, even without the blossoms.
http://www.weekendgardener.net/how-to/prune-apple-trees.htm
Additionally, some crabs flower and fruit TOO much. Should remember that fruit production can take a lot out of a tree, especially in a container...Crab bonsai have been known to wear themselves out in a single season when their owners failed to thin out the fruit.
Wait 10 to 15 years! Crabs need to be mature to bear fruit. My guess is you have a 4 to 7 year old tree so you have a bit to go.
Really nice tree...one thing to bear in mind is that before you get any fruit, it needs to flower and for that you'll have to wait until spring (usually April)-just make sure that you feed it really well and get it plenty of sunlight. Also, it will need to be pollinated. As for the type? I really think that you'll have to wait and see what opens up in the spring...I mean these things can produce a variety of flowers from prink turning to white, red turning to white, or just white etc...
Good luck with it
yeah, you got to have good pollination to get a nice fruit crop or else you'll loose it (fruit) early...like beginning of summer drop. You know, check out the website for evergreen garden works. They have really comprehensive information re: the various crabapple types; hopefully, you can find a match. Just remember, feed it really well for the rest of this growing season because that is what is going to determine what happens next year.
There is something that I have done to get a stubborn bud to grow. What I did is underneath the bud I cut an incision. The idea behind it is that this would slow the downward flow of sap and it accumulates above the incision and provides more in the way of added nutrients to the bud...it worked like a charm. I think it may work as well if you want to produce fruit-as long as it's pollinated. I guess if you're nuts like I am, take a gamble on one branch and see what happens.
that is a very interesting idea.
Longer would minimize that trunk, which is exactly the opposite of what you want. The present pot is too wide and could be shortened by a third.
I'd want a substantial pot with a rugged greenish gray matte glaze for this tree. Shallower might be nice and elegant, but this tree isn't nice and elegant. It is more of a wild rugged trunk. With something shallower, you also might run into growth issues. Applies like moisture. Shallower pots dry out more quickly.
Something like this might work:
http://www.hhpots.com/Schale788.html
or this:
http://www.hhpots.com/Schale828.html
Something like this also might work with a glaze:
http://www.redwing.net/~daalms/4rec.html