I’ve never sprayed pears and i have a huge plum curculio population…thriving some might say. Even apples i rarely spray much and they still make it fine…i just have to pick up the drops or the pc will mature in them. The biggest issue with apples is squirrels in my yard.
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BD,
Here is the PC mark really looks like.
Tony
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It looks like they had party time on that one, Tony. There are at least 4 strikes.
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Phew, glad it’s not PC
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In Colorado, Centennial was good, sweet and appley but unremarkable. Chestnut was fantastic, very sweet with balancing tartness and super aromatic. Haven’t yet fruited any crabs in the Midwest, though Chestnut looks like it may fruit this year. Next year I’d like to add Wickson but haven’t tasted it.
I always thought that people who like crabapple were in the minority. Glad to see that many others like them as well as I do.
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After hearing similar wonderful reviews of crab varieties, I added Wickson, Chestnut, Thornberry (which isn’t exactly a crab) and Centenial this year. The only one I’m not sure is going to make it, are the three grafts I did of Centenial. The scions were breaking bud in the mail, and even though I grafted them the day they arrived they might have been too far along.
I have never tasted any of these, but am seriously looking forward to it in a few years. I grafted them onto Bud9.
I sure enjoy these sort of apple threads. Thanks guys! 
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Do I have PC issues? I swear they start hitting my plums before petal fall! It’s a race to get my full sized plum tree sprayed as soon as I think it won’t threaten the bees, but before too many plums are hit hard. They’ve hit the apples, too, but not nearly as badly as plums.
It’s hot and humid much of the year, and the ground doesn’t freeze in the winter. The southeast is paradise to insects and diseases.
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Chestnut is a PC magnet, I have heard of growers using it, and/or Liberty, as trap trees for PC. Worth it though! It is really one of the best fresh eating apples, period. I also made amazing cider with Chestnut. Seems fairly grower friendly,aside from the pest issues; scab resistant, self-training, and precocious.
Like some other Minnesota apples, your milage with this one may vary depending on your latitude, I am z5 , 1000’.
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We don’t yet have PC, thanks be, but I can tell you that Liberty is major draw to codling moth. (I’m lucky that this is almost my only pest issue, and spinosad has generally been enough to control it.)
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Wickson rocks, at least grown around here. It is probably my favorite apple, never mind just among crabs. I’ve not tasted Chestnut and Centennial, but based on what people have to say I grafted them on this year. Hopefully they take and I can taste these guys in a couple years.
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Malus Angustifolia the southern crabapple. While touring a friends hunting camp/land I happened to think about our native crabs and ask him did he have any on his property. He did and I quickly broke off a few twigs to graft from. I noticed a few days ago that three of the grafts were starting to leaf out. These were grafted on my multiple crabapple variety tree and the leaves are so much different they are easily distinguishable from the others. Growing up we use to gather these and eat with a little salt or what we called pickling. No real point to this post but thought it might be of interest to a few old crab eaters. Bill
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Bill,
Thanks for posting I was not aware of that crabapple. Sounds great! Wondering if I can get to grow here now.
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depending where your tree is and how far along, you can try to increase the survival odds by minimizing drying…I’m fairly convinced that if you had a “perfect” humidity control you could graft a fully leafed scion, the biggest problem is drying…
so you can try to wrap the entire thing in parafilm, put a plastic bag on the branch, take it indoors/to the northern side of the house, and/or pinch most leaves off to minimize the scionwood dry-out before the graft takes…I was babying some tiny pawpaw by leaving an inverted glass jar over it for 2 weeks as a greenhouse, taking it off every couple evenings for 4-5 hours to avoid things getting wet enough to mold…
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Looks like Malus ioensis is the wild crab that is native to your area. Probably very similar.
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Bill,
My dad loved those hard, green, sour, astringent little native crabs - M. angustifolia & M. coronaria, there in East Alabama… and he collected root suckers &/or seedlings from various trees that he came across in Lee, Tallapoosa, Chambers, Macon counties - he had developed an orchard of 12-15 of them in the old garden spot at the farm, just outside of Auburn.
He’d gather 15-20 gallons of fruit in the fall and keep them on the back porch… and eat them all winter long - with salt. They’ll really set your teeth on edge.
I’ve got a couple of trees grafted here of his very best selection. I think of him every day when I drive past one of those trees at the end of my driveway.
Those little green crabs will lie on the ground all winter long and still be as ‘good’ to eat as they were when they dropped(lol) - if the deer haven’t eaten them already.
I’ve seen Bechtel crab, a selection of M.ioensis, across the street from my office, on the grounds of the local community college - fruits are very much like those I’m familiar with from M.angustifolia and M.coronaria.
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Crabapples such as Wickson are not doing overly well here. Not that any apple does great here. My seedling are as good as any apple here.
Helpful if you included your growing zone. Trailman is fantastic (at least in my 3b climate). Early apple (in late august) and does not keep well but crisp, juicy with excellent sweet/acid balance.
Wickson isn’t especially easy here either, but I consider it worth it.
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