Our Chestnut Crab was planted bare-root in May 2017 on semi-dwarf (unknown variety) rootstock from Stark Bros. It has grown beautifully here in upstate NY (zone 5b) in the three full years since then, with the tree now reaching almost 8 feet tall.
It gets full sun, hasn’t been bothered by any pests or disease (other than some Japanese Beetles munching on the foliage in summer), and gets proper (but fairly conservative) pruning and then a dormant oil spray in late winter each year.
The problem is that after three full years in the ground with healthy growth, we’re still not seeing any flower buds, despite what seems to be the presence of fruiting spurs during the dormant season. A local orchard that grows Chestnut Crab posted photos of theirs in tight cluster today, whereas ours appears to be at the same stage, just with the flower buds missing.
Does anyone have any insight into why we’re not getting flowers, or if, possibly, why what seem to be fruiting spurs are just producing foliage instead? Is Chestnut Crab (even on semi-dwarf) known to take more than 4 years to produce fruit?
Our Crimson Crisp on dwarf Stark rootstock was planted in the same orchard space at the same time, and finally produced a handful of flowers last year (Spring 2019), with the expectation that we’ll get a decent bloom this year. It’s a bit too early to tell though, as it breaks dormancy quite a bit later than the Chestnut Crab, and is only at green tip right now.
