This picture that shows Mike at @39thparallel standing beside one of the trees he grows is really all anyone should need to be convinced to try it. There is satisfaction in the world knowing about and growing this apple which means more to me than anything. I’m luck @39thparallel started grafting and selling these apples otherwise i would have wasted my time. A patent or trademark in my opinion keeps people from having alot of great apples. Hopefully you all test the extent of where it grows. It is one of the few apples that grows very well in Kansas.
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@smsmith is right @HunterHomestead we all have been through that with girdling. Unfortunately rabbits. Voles etc. Have got us all before. Cut the girdled part off asap so it doesnt kill the tree. All of us learned that experience the same way which was the hard way. Our teeth clench a bit in anger when we see a rabbit did that to another apple tree and another person starting out. The good news on yours is you wont lose the entire tree which is a huge relief.
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I hear ya! I see them on my security cameras at night and I can’t sleep thinking about the damage they do.
But, they’ve eaten two apple whips to the ground (those are lost), and the other two I am replanting because the are not on ideal rootstocks (M7 and an unknown Sterk rootstock). I bought them before I had as much knowledge so I am using this as an opportunity to start over and plant rootstocks that’ll do better in my clay soil and have better disease resistance. But, I am putting the two apples in another location.
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I’m guessing you can’t use lethal methods to deal with them at your location? I have found that removing as many as possible whenever I get the chance keeps them pretty much under control.
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I wish… Because we are technically a subdivision, the police said no guns (BB or actual), no traps (unless I get a permit), and no poison. So, in the spring I will fence the orchard, each tree, and put on higher tree guards.
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6 scion left after my order of 4. Thanks @clarkinks for notifying me of updated stock and @39thparallel of course
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if it survives our winters here it will be included on my 3 acre orchard im starting next spring.
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Clark’s Crab is getting attention in the “deer habitat” world from my perusal of those forums. 39th Parallel may want to up their grafting and scions for the years to come. There are a number of nurseries marketing directly to “wildlife growers” who sell out of grafted crabapples every year.
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Yes @39thparallel is very busy in the fruit growing world so i will tag him so he sees the comment. I’m not surprised it is in demand for wildlife its perfect for that.
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I Think Clark’s Crab will be a well known Named variety long after we are all gone. I’m doing what I can to distribute it. I will work on cutting scion this weekend and may be able to add more inventory.
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This ‘Candy Crab’ looks very near Clark’s Crab… sounds like it too.
Once you eat one, you will want more of these delicious fruits because of their crisp and exciting flavor. I would describe it as a celebration inside your mouth. I have tasted loads of wild apples and domesticated apples in my travels but never one such as this. The fruit belongs in a grocery store not being planted for deer. It is the best apple I have ever had the pleasure to eat. In my pictures, this crab is heavily loaded every year, yet it still has a nice size to it.
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As i said it is a dominant gene in the wild apples where the trees come from. If you plant the seeds 50% or more will be a somewhat similar variation. My tree originated from wild seedlings in the woods of Michigan. These seedlings are all different but genetically similar to the wild tree they come from. We do not know the keeping qualities of others or disease tolerance etc. . As i mentioned i wish someone would pick up where i left off and drastically improve the variety even more by growing the seeds out.
Here are some huge differences look at the calyx end. At a glance you begin to say yes thats different
The clarks crab is also a different shape slightly
This apple from oikos is at least from the woods of Michigan which is genetically more similar most likely.
It is a wild apple highly dominant genetically like wolf river apples and others. If you grew 100 wolf river seeds 50% will look similar to wolf river. That is good and bad in apples just like tomatos it means the seeds are stabalizing. An heirloom tomato grows true to type because it has stabalized. I believe his deer candy spple could be a seedling of a relative just like oikos.
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I doubt that the guy running it trademarked all those names anyways… i am a fairly good reader and he states that the apple in question survived the 1994 polar vortex and is planted among 1000 wild crabs. However if you read the ‘about us’ section he started in 1999 and then later moved onto a farm and only got interested in things after finding a pear that seemed to be very hardy… his description of it does kind of make me want that pear though. So i gotta stay away from these kinds of sites.
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Yes many years before they offered either apple or were likely available to be offerred i was growing my apple. They could be seedlings of my apple but i dont think so i think there is a wild apple as i mentioned with highly dominant genetics. They both likely did what they said gathered some wild seedling apples. They very much liked them when they tried them and grew their own version of a genetically different crabapple. A gentleman gathered wild apples at one point many years ago from the Michigan woods. He used the apples for his needs and made money from the seeds and seedlings he sold. My crabapple and other apples came from the best wild apples they had in those forests. If your going to start an apple that can survive in Kansas nothing but wild seed will do the tree must be ultra hardy. Those seedlings were never sprayed once where they come from. Naturally the seedlings of those wild apples are genetically superior to anything else just like a wild callery pear will ultimately win dominance. This world the rules are survival of the fittest unfortunately and that seedling did not die of the diseases this world has.New Apple Seedling Varieties
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I bought two of your crabs from 39th… also got an ayers and seckel pear… (also by reading your reviews)… Thank You!
My bees are gonna either be very happy or very tired…
I think i will be very tired too. I am up to about 150 fruit trees and almost 500 cane fruits.
I recently got into garlic collecting and heirloom tomato collecting.
I want to narrow my corn down to two but i keep trying new ones…
Im down to 4 varieties of strawberries and hope it stays that way.
Next year i gotta get my figs and mulberries sorted out… ive collected them and its time to narrow it all down so that it makes sense.
Thanks for the opportunity to grow your crabapple…it will have a very nice home here.
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That sounds like you have some great projects going on. Look forward to seeing you post many of your results as time permits. Think if i did not enjoy all of this so much i might not do as well at it. Im saying i can tell in this community we are all at home because we like growing things. Thankfully my mother literally had me outside working the garden with her since my birth. She had to keep an eye on me and get the beans , tomatoes etc planted, weeded , and picked. That gives me a huge advantage literally having always been around it. Have been very fortunate to have great parents who took care of me and taught me these things that keep me alive. They had great friends and i learned lots from them as well. Really dont know any other way of life.
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I’ve communicated with the owner of Blue Hill, nice guy and a straight shooter. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy from him.
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Speak of seedling apples my understanding is @SkillCult has been turning out some great new apple varities specifically “bite me”. Since we talked apples in 2016 and several times since then i saw he loves growing apples and self sufficiency like i do. When we talked apples on this thread New Apple Seedling Varieties he continued on that path to improve the availability and taste etc. of red fleshed and other apples. It appears his apple breeding project is going well since he released one. Wish everyone was interested in apples. We wish him the best on his project.
https://skillcult.com/plant-breeding
@39thparallel has continued on his path of growing the ultra rare varities like Clark’s crabapple or the lazy j pear and hundreds of more types of ultra rare apples, pears. Jujube, persimmon, pawpaw, Cherries, mulberry, etc. Not even half of it has made it to his website yet
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Those fruit look to be all of 2"? Any chance your crab is more of a small apple? Many of my Keepsake fruit are under 2", yet they’re considered an apple.
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