Apple/Crab apple grafting question

General Fruit Growing
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My daughter and her hubby bought a home and 4 acres out in the country here in TN about 5 miles from where we live. Nice starter home place.

I have walked the property checking out all things growing and they have a couple of huge pecan trees, several large black walnuts, persimmons, pawpaws… a good start.

Then there is this (Pretty sure that is a crab apple). Confirm please…

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It looks like a buck deer has rubbed it good… the main trunk leans pretty bad… there are a couple shoots that are more upright.

Is this something I can graft something decent on next spring… like Clarks crab ?

I am thinking I might just take the main tree down and toss it… it is beat up, crooked, ugly…

Possibly keep one or both of those shoots and graft onto them.

Any experience with something like this ?
What would you do ?

Thanks
TNHunter

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definitely some type of crab apple. they make great rootstock so yes i would chop the ugly stuff and graft the upright one over. maybe keep one branch to see what the fruit is like in case its something worth growing. crab apple wood works great for smoking meats!. :wink:

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I cut my 2 centennial crabs back hard so have lots of sprouts if you want this winter. Maybe graft onto one of the two smaller branches ?

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Thanks… i may just start off and graft Novamac onto it.

My Novamac is going to have some nice scionwood on it this winter. Their place is in a hollow with a creek in front… no doubt it gets colder there than it does at my place.

Novamac blooms late… which may help there.

I can add other pollinators later.

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Looks slightly smaller than the crabs from Markus Kobelt.

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Looks like an ornamental crab. I have one with similar looking purple fruit and it blooms profusely pink every year. If your crab is like mine, it may not be a good partner for late blooming apples in case you were thinking of saving a branch for pollination.

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A crab apple is any apple regardless of species that less then 1.5 Inches in diameter. There no major compatibility issues I know of between ornamental and domestica.

However, from what I understand grafting to Malus angustifolia can turn an otherwise sweet apple scion into a cider apple. But that I mean the apples are more astringent then if grown on another rootstock. We have talked about it in the forum before. If I find it I will post a link.

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Looks like fruit you get when you let B9 rootstock grow big enough to bloom.

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Ps… that tree is in a part sun location… it may get 3-4 hours at most of full sun.

Might be better off just whacking off the ugly part and let that one better upright shoot grow as is. It might make some nice blossoms ? The fruit are tiny… i think useless.

I will be planting pears (callery grafted with kieffer) in the sunny part of their field next spring… and possibly persimmons, mulberries… dependable low maint stuff.

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it looks similar to my Sargant’s crab. i have 6 different cultivars grafted to it and its set about a doz. apples this spring for the 1st time. its only 6’ and 2.5’’ circumference. it gets about 6 hrs. full sun then dappled shade in the afternoon.