i have 6 grafted on semi dwarf rootstock. looks like they all took. i also have a full tree i bought from 39th parallel that is growing well and pushing new growth. ill keep you updated on the hardiness of them. if they make it through our test years here, they will make it just about anywhere.
The seedlings of the Clark’s Crabapple will have the genetics to make larger apples. They are already a large crabapple. Most of the seedlings will be somewhat like the parent but it is one or two generations away from an amazing apple. Think of the storage, taste, and hardiness potential! Most apples you plant 1000 seeds to hope for one palatable apple. In the case of this apple 1000 seeds would grow an amazing 900 apples. The seedling would all be slightly different. Larger fruit, fewer apples, more apples, sweeter apples , more sour apples, different colored apples etc… We will be able to know what the ancestor tree was. This seedling i grew had a dominant parent thats traits are displayed in many wild apples. The apples below are likely cousins to this wild seedling. Different but with the same amazing qualaties. These wild seedlings are amazing apples! There are likely 100 other similar seedling wild apples for sale somewhere online i dont know about. My seedling collected from the wild apples in Michigan and these apples below are all from the same region " The distance between Michigan and Pennsylvania is 402 miles".The original ancestor of all these wild apples was or is likely in that 400 mile block of heavily wooded land. My guess is there are hundreds of these seedling trees in that area. Don’t believe any currently available will keep better, taste better, or produce better than the Clark’s Crabapple. Hopefully you all change that very soon! Imagine if it was crossed with a larger apple!
I have a pair of new grafts on a mature tree that are doing well here in coastal Marin County, California.
a lady that works with me has a farm outside of town. i went to buy some milk and cheese from her yesterday and she showed me their single apple tree that is growing on a open hill. it has a beautiful form and i could smell it before i got to it. its a red fleshed crab that has apples about the size of a egg. she says it sets so much fruit that the branches nearly touch the ground. its a good fresh eater and makes the best apple sauce and butter. she wants more of it so next spring. im going to graft a half doz or so on seedling rootstocks for her. its growing on thin soil over ledge so its very precocious and drought tolerant, funny thing is its got green leaves and white blooms which is unusual for a red fleshed red skinned apple.
You should send a couple sticks to @39thparallel to preserve that tree long term. He would likely swap you something you wanted.
If you’re cutting scionwood from it, please put me on the list of people who want a stick of that!
Where does the line form for scion. LOL You can’t post about a crab like that and not expect us apple geeks to get excited.
He threw out a handful of corn in front of a yard full of turkeys. Now the turkeys are getting ready to eat him.
I would love to get some scions of it as well if you end up taking some next season.
ill see what i can get next spring from her. im helping her establish a orchard next spring and prune this tree and a 100 year old apple tree.so i should be able to prune off some sprouts for you folks. ill post pics of the fruit off of it this fall. im intrigued as well. it had so many blossoms on it it looked pure white. should have seen the bees in there.
i definitely will. good suggestion.
I’ve been called a turkey before, so I’d gobble up some of that action, lol.
I’m not sure if I can officially do it so I’m aiming at containers, but I’m angling for a couple of small sized apple apple trees to graft onto something very short like Mark to keep at hte group home I manage. None of them go for the big apples, but somethng unique, tasty, and requiring commitment to only a few bites would get gobbled up in a heartbeat. Gobble, gobble.
Sign me up too lol
Gobble gobble
I’ll be curious to see it. Your description makes it sound amazing.
Were apples not far enough along to be affected by the hard frost a couple of weeks ago? We had 26 here, and though I thought the fruit set was still OK, I see now that they’ve gotten a good heavy thinning! Probably what’s left will be some pretty nice fruit if the bugs and diseases don’t wipe em out! To bad as it was looking like we might be due for a big crop. Darn eggs weren’t hatched yet though it seems
although its been a cool spring we havent had many late frosts. we still have a few weeks that we could get some but so far so good. the 7 day says none are on the horizon so i think we are in the clear. should be a great year for fruit set.
When you say it’s a good fresh eater, does that mean it doesn’t have the “typical” acidic/tannic bite of many (all?) red fleshed varieties?
It seems every red fleshed crab/apple I’ve ever tasted makes a Dolgo crab taste sweet.