Crab Apple Thread

[sorce]

This shipped well from @GailC to me Sept 27th arrival last year.

Starting to push ....

With them Dutch talking some shit that I think is Mame but with more constanants and shitloads of the same vowels in words that don't even seem different enough to make a sentence in that other thread....

And the above talk of mame....

And with my pick a trunk any trunk what the trunk dilemma...

And with this having a trunk size thick enough to Mame....

I think I might just ditch both trunks!

If this pops off like I feel it's gonna....

Sorce

 

[GailC]

Looks like it's popping all over. It could be a awesome mame, make sure to post follow up pics whatever you do.

 

[sorce]

Looks like it's popping all over. It could be a awesome mame, make sure to post follow up pics whatever you do.

Absolutely. Is that elm looking to be ok?

Sorce

 

[Rjoyce]

I am working on developing these crabs and read that I should remove the flower buds to distribute resources into growth instead of flowers/fruit. Before I start cutting, I want to check that these are in fact flower buds, and that they should be removed.

 

[just.wing.it]

Anyone have good advice on taking cuttings of Malus?

 

[JudyB]

I am working on developing these crabs and read that I should remove the flower buds to distribute resources into growth instead of flowers/fruit. Before I start cutting, I want to check that these are in fact flower buds, and that they should be removed.
View attachment 182967

Yes those are flowers. The big energy suck is between the flowers and turning them into fruit. You can let it flower if you want, and take them off when they are getting old.

 

[GailC]

Absolutely. Is that elm looking to be ok?

Sorce

Yep, the elm is looking good. Buds are swelling a little, I need to get it in a grow box soon

 

[Rjoyce]

The big energy suck is between the flowers and turning them into fruit.

Awesome, thanks for the info @JudyB!

 

[Gsquared]

Since we are showing our crabs, I thought I’d post my two new ones. These are Manchurian Crabapples that I got on Ebay. I bid on the larger one, which was shipped w lightening speed, and the seller included the smaller one in the box. Pretty rockin’ Gift w purchase! The trunks of both are about 3.5 cm/1.25 in or so. Since they came so quickly, just used my regular medium rather than formulate something fancy. They can bare rooted so the only trim I made for now was to reduce one stub on the smaller tree. Since this is my first time buying trees online, I am cautiously encouraged by the process.

Oh yeah, there are a couple of trident maple cuttings I popped in the larger black pot just to keep them moist until I get a rooting flat going.

 

[Victorim]

Sorry, nothing impressive from me but have 2 mal silvs in the making:

First is was a less than pencil thick seedling I got back in Feb. Waiting for leaf drop before cutting back. Super mild Autumn.
View attachment 166082

Second is a chunky late collected trunk. Hoping it will explode in the spring.
View attachment 166083

Starting to gain momentum.

 

[Lazylightningny]

I have a very young Japanese crab Malus floribunda that is in the ground thickening. The problem I have in my yard is powdery mildew and leaf curl. It affects all my acer, prunus, and malus. I have to be very diligent with a rotation of different fungicides to keep them healthy.

 

[W3rk]

My first Crab Apple. I have a really nice tree in my back yard. Last fall I jammed one of the few crab apples that I could find in a pot and forgot about it. Early this spring I found that two seeds had sprouted. This is from about a month ago. One died, but this one is still chugging along. I'm also going to try to start a couple of air layers very soon now.

 

[Hyn Patty]

This is a great thread! I love crab apples and really want one as a bonsai - particularly a Royalty Crab or something with very strong, dark pink flowers. Like the one we used to have in the front yard when I was a kid. A lot of these trees you have posted are beautiful. I'll be looking to add one or two to my collection in time myself.

 

[Danny Tuckey]

Bought this from a nursery, it's a Malus comptesse de paris and I have had it for a year now I guess. I'm new to Bonsai so not sure exactly what to do with it but I think I'll just let the trunks get bigger first. (twin trunk) I repotted it when I bought it but I only had normal compost at the time, so I guess I'll repot it into a better mix in winter?

 

[Solaris]

Hardly anyone ever regretted letting their tree get bigger!

Looking at the size of those leaves and knowing how apples tend to ramify poorly, you might want to plan for a bigger bonsai. With the size of the fruitlets, if you go for a bigger tree you'll be able to present the picture of a full-sized apple tree rather well. Were I you, I'd look into putting that thing into a grow box and letting the roots escape. (You can let the roots escape in that nursery pot, too.) That will help with how high up the forking is for the twin trunk, too - the bigger the tree, the lower the forking will be relative to the whole thing. I think I'd shoot for about a 4" base and about 24" in final height. Unfortunately, that means you won't be doing too much to it in the immediate future other than letting it grow.

Does it have three or four branches coming out from around the same spot? That will lead to some nasty inverse taper if you don't check that.

I was about to suggest cold protection for the winter (just lost several of my apple whips to a lack of it), but in your zone that's hardly necessary. You probably ought to repot it before midsummer, but the particulars on that I defer to people who've more experience in your climate. I pretty much just know killing taking care of trees in Zone 5.

 

[Danny Tuckey]

Cheers for the comments, it has the main trunk which branches into 2. These 2 have side branches from different directions but dont really have movement.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Blooming again...for some reason. Even better than the first bloom in April.

 

[Victorim]

The chunker is just about to push again after a hedge cut two weeks ago.

 

[baron]

Mine is pushing again aswell after cutting it about a week ago.
Letting it fruit to see how big they get. Will be doing a drastic cut next spring following @Brian Van Fleet's advice

 

[Victorim]

Mine is pushing again aswell after cutting it about a week ago.
Letting it fruit to see how big they get. Will be doing a drastic cut next spring following @Brian Van Fleet's advice

View attachment 194928

Can get a cut or two more in before it thinks about setting fruit no? Or am I wrong?