So, i took your advice, i pruned this back a lot, and staked it, and it put on a lot of growth last year. This year, it looks good.
Unless you look at the trunk, and notice that rabbits stripped almost all of the bark over the winter.
I’ve protected all the fruiting trees, but in the past, they’ve generally not bothered crab apples, which i assume are more bitter. But it was a cold winter, with a lot of snow, and i guess they were hungrier than usual.
Is there any hope for this tree? Should i take some of last year’s growth and try to graft it into something else? Is that even possible this late in the season? Any advice?
Wishing I’d put up a little more fencing last fall…