There is a huge range of flavor variation within crabapples just like there is for regular apples. You can’t predict what’s it will taste like based on it being in the “crabapple” category.
2 Likes
The ‘improved’ crabs… edible crab, lunchbox apple… whatever you want to call them, are indeed as good - and in many cases, BETTER than a 'regular apple. Centennial, Bastian Orange, Kerr, Chestnut are all much tastier than almost any other apple I’ve retained in my orchard over the past 25 years.
Now… the native American crabs - M.coronaria, M.angustifolia, M.ioensis, etc… not so much. They tend to be very hard, very sour, and quite tannic. My dad loved those little acid balls, and gathered a collection of nearly 20 seedling/root-sprout selections from around east Alabama, and would keep a couple of 7-gallon buckets full of the fruits on the back porch and eat a dozen or so most nights through the winter.
7 Likes
Yes, Lucky,
I agree. I would add Wickson to best flavored crabs. We have a native apple here in PNW. Also small, tastes bad.Oregon swamp crabapple.
@Lucky_P and all: do your crabs like Chestnut, etc resist insects and disease better than larger apples? Would they be easier to grow no-spray?
In my environment - pretty low fungal disease pressure, but lots of codling moths - I’d say no. The crabs that I grow seem comparable to the larger apples, health-wise.
1 Like
hambone,
I’m totally no-spray. I do get some insect damage - though minor - on Centennial. Kerr and Bastian (mine may turn out to actually be Trailman) are pretty much blemish-free. Just re-grafted Chestnut last year, so no experience to report, as yet.
2 Likes
What is Centennial hitting on? Heard it has a soft fine grain texture.
After my Chestnut crab fruited a couple times I found out it was prone to Bitter Pit, which is why they were inedible. I grafted the tree over the Wm’s Pride, which ARE edible here. And I drop all consideration of any varieties I read about that are prone to Bitter Pit.
1 Like
As long as you aren’t giving too much nitrogen, bitter pit is easy to solve with a bit of calcium supplementation. I give my trees crushed oyster shells (as sold in feed stores for chickens). It’s very cheap and very effective.
1 Like
I’ve never had bitter pit either. I don’t really fertilize, except when I take a whiz in the yard. I also add ag lime to the biochar I’ve been slowly adding to the yard, so calcium won’t be so lacking. I have read that bitter pit is associated with a lack of calcium.
John S
PDX OR
Inadequate calcium is for sure the cause of bitter pit. It can be caused by actual low calcium levels in the soil, but also can happen if calcium is readily available if there is too much nitrogen present as it creates an imbalance between speed of growth and speed of calcium uptake from the soil.
2 Likes
Old post but I didn’t see a photo of a developing chestnut. How’s this compare to others? I’m in 7a. I’m expecting another month-month and a half of growth.
3 Likes
Last year mine ripened end of August in 7a.
That early huh? I figured earlier than stark brothers indicated but not by that wide of a gap. My honeycrisp is coloring at this point but the chestnuts are still as shown.
Not sure what that is, but it isn’t chestnut crab. Some kind of classic russet.
1 Like
I concur that dessert crabs are some of the best apples and can beat or surpass “normal” apples in some regards. I think they have a bright future and if I have anything to say about it and there are going to be a lot more of them soon. Can I trade you for a Bastian Orange and a Kerr this winter? I’m trying to collect and vet dessert crabs to find the best ones for breeding purposes. I had Kerr, but I’m not sure I ever fruited it and I don’t have it anymore. I’ve never heard of Bastian Orange. I can trade you my new dessert crabs if you don’t have them already. Both are wickson offspring.
Doesn’t look like the images on internet but it does look like mine this year. Only had 3 fruit. Either we have a different crab or under some weather or soil conditions they look different. I picked they yesterday before the squirrels got them so perhaps some red would have developed over the next few weeks. I’ll see what look like next year. Mine look close to this without the red.
3 Likes
@danzeb Yours looks closer to what I’m seeing now. I’m expecting much more red before they are ready but I guess we will see. Where did you purchase your tree? Maybe its a characteristic of who is selling them. Mine was through Stark Brothers in 2016. Unknown semi-dwarf rootstock.
My “Chestnut”:
Stark’s Image:
@SkillCult you may be correct. Other images of the chestnut look a lot cleaner than what I have going. I assumed that it may be something to do with the environment or maybe my partially ignorant sprays brought out more russeting. The unrippened windfall that I tried out was decent for being under ripe so I am happy in either case. Besides that, I think the russeting gives them an attractive character.
Love your work by the way. I hope to see more on “Tomboy”.
2 Likes
This year i had one chestnut crab that looked exactly like yours. Way more Russet than normal and i guess it was from being bagged and growing in complete shade.
Another weird thing is that particular apple was from a giant flower that bloomed way later than the rest of the chestnut crab blooms so i was watching it all year to see if it was a sport. The apple dropped before ripe so i never confirmed it but here is the big flower.
4 Likes