I have to ask if you can share your twine strategy with us. Are you preventing branch breakage using twine or training the limbs? It looks like you are staking the limbs and doing both.
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They will turn yellow as they ripen and sugar levels start to peak.unfortunately i dont know when that will be for everyone. I can tell uou normally that is October - November here in Kansas. Hot weather followed by cold weather really improves the flavor. See the color of ripenimg apples changing to yellow below.
Here are some ripe ones i was eating in January. They were not in cold storage just sitting out they keep a very long time. They are a true yellow and frequently have a red blush.
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@clarkinks
The smart thing would have been to thin the apples so the limbs would not have needed any support. These trees are essentially dwarfs for growing habits (M111/B9 interstem) and as others suggested that the Clarks Crab would do better on a more aggressive root and I agree. The last picture is the top of the tree and I wanted it to continue growing upright. I tied it to an upright brace and left the apples alone. The first two pictures are of the same limb and my strings were put on as an emergency to keep it from breaking. In both cases thinning the apple would eliminate both issues.
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They do get heavy with apples. The branches are pretty wirey and normally are not given to breaking. It is a good idea to stake those grafts since that the union might not be fully healed yet. Those look like they should Bill now it will just take time to ripen them. I’m guessing September they will ripen in Alabama. You definately know how to grow apples there! That seems like yesterday you grafted and now you have fruit.
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I just hope they have time to ripen here before frosts strike. we’ve been lucky in the last 3 years to not have killing frosts until mid nov. traditionally its early oct.
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I grafted onto an established tree last year without any issues here in MN. The grafts took well and grew a bit and this spring they blossomed profusely and have set fruit that I’ll hopefully get to try. I did thin them back as to not stress the year old graft union. I’ll try to get some pics soon.
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I just looked at the Clark’s Crab graft on Bud118 yesterday to find one of the buds had bloomed. Not surprising. Looks good.
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I just removed marble size fruit from 2 of my 3 Clarks Crab, they’re on M7 and too small to carry the weight of fruit. Of course, that didn’t stop them from blooming and setting about 30 fruits. None of the trees are above 4’, but they were moved from the nursery bed to the orchard in the fall of 2022 and it took a season to recover from the move. I’m curious how M.7 will affect them, if I recall correctly, M.7 tends to reduce fruit load. If I see that, I’ll probably put them on a second root stock.
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My Clark’s from 39th parallel is on M111 and 2 years old in mountains of Virginia. This year it is taking off with growth and the leaves are very clean with just a very small amount of CAR, like a few spots, and we get CAR like crazy. I don’t spray my trees. So far this one looks to have good disease resistance.
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Out of curiosity, has anyone tried grafting Clark’s Crab on pear?
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I never did try that , it sounds like an interesting experiment. Will you use winter banana as an interstem?
@roth2000 @NuttingBumpus @AndySmith
I’m looking forward to seeing photos. I’m glad to here everyone is having such good luck. I went to a lot of work taking care of it when it was a baby. It makes me feel better to know this crabapple wont die with me. Money has never been my motivator with things i love like growing fruit. I do it for the betterment of everyone. I always thought it was odd everyone did not have small apples for sale. If you think about it how many times in life do people eat half an apple and chuck the rest. Think about kids and your wife etc. We do it here on orchard walks because we want to taste 100 different fruits in a day. I’ve never not eaten a clarks crabapple down to the core. If your looking at a 2 pound apple and believe me @39thparallel has a bunch it is just not something most people eat in one sitting. Those are the type of apples you use to make an entire pie you eat with the family. Every apple has its place for sure. I didn’t even realize how bad our selection was until Mike showed me hundreds of different types he grows with all different flavors. Sure i grow 20 or 30 types here , but this is a poor apple growing area. Thank God for clarks crabapple because he is responsible for that clarks crabapple. Believe me when i say apples are very hard to grow here. I worked really hard to raise that apple here.
I have picked then many times in the snow and ice at 20 degrees. Cold nights seems to make them sweeter. I hope thats your experience in Maine .
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They are perfect for packing in kid’s school lunches. The popular large crisp apples are not great to eat without a knife. Clark’s Crab does great in storage lasting well into the summer. Looking forward to hearing growing reports from all over the country.
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I want Clark’s Crab to go in a collection of large crab/ applecrab selections slanted to kids apples.
Coble’s Wilder, Yates, Hall, Little Benny, Little Jewel, Wickson and Little Limbertwig. All a little bit different in taste/texture. I just need to figure out a little tart apple now.
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Chestnut Crab would be great for early season. Clark’s is tart, but high brix, like sweet / tart candy
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I was planning on trying it with and without an interstem. Got plenty of callery pear I can use…
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What about centennial? I have a couple dwarf trees and love them. I like tart fruit.
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Our grandaughter was tearing up a Parks Pippin we got from a market. Talk about an acid bomb…lol…Granny Smith has nothing on it
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