collected crabapple

catfish chapstick said:

does anyone have any advice about making it fruit??
i want the fruit!

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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.

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.

rockm said:

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.

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thankyou rockm

no i'm not sure it's a crabapple and not just an apple. i'm not sure of anything. what i think is that its much older than you would guess, having had its growth stunted by generations upon generations of aphids or some other critter feeding on it (i have searched the area where i found this tree and surrounding areas and i'm not seeing anything else this contorted). thanks for the article, i also think i pruned it too hard and too late last year (inappropriately) and that if i let it rest it will probably produce flowers next spring. i only think its a crab because it seems hardy, i left it outside in its pot all winter with no protection. again i'm not sure of anything.

so how can i identify this tree? by its fruit? if it flowers will it fruit? how old is old wood?

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.

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i'm not sure but i believe this tree is much older than four. its going on two years in a pot. at the nursery i work at we have four and five year old apples. my tree is considerably much bulkier than this and the nursery ones are grown very quickly for the sake of profit. idk if you can tell from the earlier photo but some of the branches i removed were two and three inches thick and i think the tree grew as if it had been damaged repeatedly. idk tho. if the tree really did grow its whole life stunted i think it could be old enough to fruit although if it only fruits on "old wood" the only old wood is on the trunk--you're probably right tho. just need to wait a bit.

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

Very nice material. I think view #3 shows the most graceful movement, and helps to soften that fairly abrupt direction change in the trunk. All in all, though, this tree has great potential.

Zach

John Ruger said:

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

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thanks, it had one flower the year i collected it. pink bud that opened a white flower. so long as it flowers and gets pollinated the fruit will follow?

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.

John Ruger said:

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.

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that is a very interesting idea.

catfish chapstick said:

that is a very interesting idea.

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I think that what you'll have to do to get fruit is similar to ringbarking. Except in this case ring it on three sides (left, right and underneath).

here is a fall shot of it. any opinions about the rock?

yeah, lose it. The color is wrong (too light to go with the dark trunk and pot) It distracts attention

winter images

i guess i'll get rid of the rock when i repot in the spring. i kinda like it though or at least the concept of adding a rock or multiple rocks. i wish i had a better sense about it.

Generally, light colored rocks steal your eyes away from the tree. It becomes "rock with tree" not "tree with rock."

i want to find a pot to better match this tree.. the pot its in is 13 inches long and i feel like a longer pot might look better. maybe shallower too. any suggestions? i could just trunk-chop the tree to shorten it a lot...

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

nice

I 3 and 4 are way nice starts. I think my taste and style lends to a larger tree but i love the styling as well. It is very good work. When it fruits for you will eb the best time with that tree i bet. The short fat squatty one i have obtained this last year is just rampant with two years of uncheck growth since it was pulled out of a field after it had been plow over with machinery. I never actually expected it to live. But your tree is interesting and makes me look at it a newer perspective. The implied gravity is an idea i never really though about using with this tree.. Any way gret work it was pleasant to see

rockm said:

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

Click to expand...

thank you! i think you're right. i dont want to minimize the trunk.. i'm going to seriously consider buying one of those. i also like the idea of matte glaze.

here is a quick update. i guess im not repotting this year.. been out searching for more crabapples and yesterday found a few good ones. cant tell if they can be dug up or not but i'm gonna try a smaller one today maybe.

here is the tree the way it looks right now. growing very strong.

Catfish, Does it flower every year?

I'd bet you can dig all of them up. You can be pretty rough with crabapples, sawing roots to almost nothing, completely flat-cutting the rootball. Good luck!