Grafted several sticks of it this year. Pretty slow grower for me. Hoping it steps up the pace next year.
I have a chestnut crab I would love to chip bud this onto, if you still have some
I grafted it last year to a wild apple whip. It put on very little growth, but we did have a severe drought. I was hoping it would really take off this year, we’ve had above average rainfall. It hasn’t done much yet this year…
Sounds like a good tree for people with small back yards. The pic 39th posted had a pretty compact tree that was loaded with fruit. That would equate to great deer feed here. Good thing my grafts are up high on existing trees.
@clarkinks
Clark’s Crab update. I ate one that had a little red on the skin. It already had a little sweetness but not ripe.
Those are looking good! It is growing just like it should! Here are a couple of @39thparallel that were loaded heavy this last year. They are loaded up again. They are definately behing yours @Auburn. Like all apples they tend to bear a super heavy crop then a slightly lighter crop the next year.
Do you have any theories why it hasn’t taken off yet since it started raining?
Im convinced everyone should have one of these trees.
The only thing I can think of is that the rootstock’s roots were damaged severely in last year’s drought. That doesn’t really make sense though as I’ve got 4 other wild apple whips growing within 30’ of this one and they’re growing nicely.
I’m not a tree fertilizing kind of grower. I have never given anything to any of my trees beside pelletized lime and gypsum, and those I spread infrequently. I like varieties that grow and produce (and survive winters) without much babying, besides protection from critters and pruning anyway.
Maybe it’ll take off yet.
I hope they take off for you soon! @auburn is going to have some apples to eat soon! When a tree is covered like that with apples it gives me a kind of euphoric feeling. That is what us fruit growers consider wealth i think more so than money. Some of these apples are the size of soft balls. I got to admit i like a smaller balanced apple like these better than the big ones. Im a fan of roxbury russet also.
Tell you what Clark, you keep the fruit and send me the money!
Oh, and I wound up with a couple of your crabs grafted on B118. Only a foot of growth so far, but looking good.
If i had the money, i would only buy more land and fruit trees. I’m glad to hear they are doing well. B118 is a favorite rootstock of many growers. I like mm111 a little better for this Kansas dirt. I think B118 does a lot better in most cases in other parts of the world.
I’m less impressed with B118 each year. Most of my trees are on seedling roots of some sort, but I do have a dozen or two on B118 and maybe a dozenish on M111. I wish all of the B118s were either on seedling or M111. The growth is more spindly, the trunks thinner, and many of the B118s like to lean quite a bit.
pm me your addy and ill send you some.
the ones i grafted to crab apple rootstock were slow to establish as well even though we had a wet, humid summer last year. maybe they might be slow to size up but the one i got on b118 from 39th parallel, that i planted 2 years ago barely put on growth in that time but has set nearly 40 fruit this spring.
It fruits excessively! In this area apples are very hard to raise. When they were small seedlings i intentionally exposed them to disease and selected the best. Outside of Kansas i think it will do amazing. The orchards that tried it around here have commented it was first to fruit. There is no other apple like it for amount of apples, storage , taste, speed to produce.
M111 works ok in the hot Dirty South. But MM109 is probably the best large size rootstock for the South with it’s love of heat and drought. And Sandy soils.
You just have to produce your own.
Took some pics today but the fruit are so small right now you can barely see them. ill take them again in a month.
I prefer the more standard root stocks as well. Anything smaller just seems to have problems for me. Plus bigger has more fruit.
@clarkinks Nobody seems to be waiting long to get fruit. Wish all apples were like that.
I keep expecting Clark’s Crab to runt out because of the excessive fruiting habit. They keep getting bigger. Knock on wood, I have not see any FB strikes yet. I though one of the trees had couple strikes. but it turned out to be broken branches