@Preston That is crazy. Sorry that it didn’t carry. Did you mark the limb to see if it happens again? Maybe you have a sport on your hands.
Yes I put a white plant tag on it so i can keep an eye on it next season. I know your Chestnut Crabs look unusual but i think they may be the real deal and just have more Russet for some reason. The last photo you showed of your fruit looks much more like the authentic CC.
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Your chestnut looks exactly like the chestnut I got from stark. I am quite certain it’s the real deal.
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Some of these do look very different than mine. Maybe I’m too quick to conclude. Mine tend to be “russet leaning”, but mostly shiny. Some red, but not as much as that stark bros photo, irregular shape. A large one might be close to a golfball sized. Warmer colored, with hints of translucency when ripe. Tomboy is very promising, but there is a lot we don’t know about it yet. I already crossed it with chestnut, which it is more similar to than any other dessert crab I know.
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I’ve gotten those late giant double blooms before, but haven’t seen one set fruit. I was wondering if they were one offs or from a genetically different branch. I haven’t seen one return the following year yet.
That last photo does look a lot closer to mine.
@SkillCult The apple was very similar to Busch83 photos above with more russet than normal. The last time I checked it I remember thinking “if this is a sport its probably inferior to CC”. It would be nice to have a sport that made larger fruit, giant flowers and blooms later than CC.
Btw I’ve learned a lot from your YouTube channel and your videos on CC and Wickson are the reason I started growing them and also creating frankentrees. I was fallowing your channel way before you cut the dreads off. Thanks for making the videos Im sure you’ve helped many of us.
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@SkillCult This is the first time I’ve gotten this far with the cc. Last year the squirrels found them and that was all she wrote. Seeing the tattered organza bags flagging in the wind was a harsh sight so near to the finish.
Most of mine are significantly larger than a golf ball though. I’ll have to get a scale image of what comes off of the tree.
Here’s my Chestnut. It’s in it’s 5th year on Bud 9 rootstock. I’m up in Ottawa (Canada) and it’s supposed to ripen mid September, but I also find it’s ready mid to late August. It’s probably one of the best apples I grow for taste and productivity. I actually aggressively thinned the fruit in June, but I should have thinned even more. I tried a couple this morning and they’re pretty good. Will be harvesting shortly as the tree is in danger of limb breakage.
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Those are dead ringers for the ones I grow here, which originated with Fedco.
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@MikeB That is a healthy looking tree. Did yours exhibit the same mottling as mine before they colored up? I’m actually surprised, given my zone and what people have been saying I expected a good portion of mine to be ready by now. It looks like they will be ready nearer to the end of August.
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I note that the apples on my tree which are more shaded seem to get more russeting and have yet to colour up. Here’s an example. Looks more like yours.
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Here is what mine look like right now, almost ripe. I don’t think any are quite as big as a golf ball, but I didn’t thin very much.
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This is weird. I’m in the same zone as @Shuimitao but mine are still around the same level as they were in the previous picture.
Mine look more mottled and less striped than the other examples. I guess that could come down to a difference in sprays. I use both Bonide “Revitalize” and Marrone “Regalia” which are supposed to activate a plants immune defenses so maybe that is a factor. I’m pretty happy with the results. Some flyspeck but otherwise they look good.
This is also the second fruiting year for this tree, just in case that factors into the different morphology at all.
I’ll have to drag out the ladder to get a good picture of some of the other apples further up on the tree to compare. I’m still happy with the growth of this tree. Hopefully the taste adds to its appeal.
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Picking these a little earlier this year, I thought folks might like to see the color variation I get from different places within the canopy…surprise, the sunniest are the reddest. I still love this variety!
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Ive heard Hewe’s Crab is a hybrid of the domestic apple and a native malus species. It makes, in opinion, the best single varietal cider Ive tasted. Id be curious to see what other crosses of high quality domestic dessert apples and native varieties might yield.
On a different note, the appearance of this apple in some of the photos above (props, lots of great photographers here) where it is more russetted and less red remind me a lot of the more colorful specimens of Ashmeads Kernel.
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The best cider I’ve ever tasted was a Haykin “Boulder Hewes” from Colorado. Mr Haykin is a yeast master.
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