Clark's Crabapple

Really impressed how well Clarks did through all these late freezes. I lost most of my crop on all fruits and Clarks still has a pretty good fruit set. That may deserve another tree of it put in.

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they have been doing well in z4b so far. dont be afraid to thin fruit heavily when young or they will stunt the trees growth.

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When does Clark’s come out of dormancy there compared to other varieties? Early/late?

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fantastic, i will.

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out of the 4 in my yard, its the 1st one to leaf out. even earlier than y. transparent. starting to leaf out now.

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Interesting. Both of mine are top worked to wild crabs and both are just now waking up. They aren’t in full sun however.

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all of mine are in full sun.

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I grafted Clark’s to Antonovka this year. I used a three-bud scion and all three buds had blooms that I pinched off. Given the reports, I’ll probably only keep one growing bud to try and force as much upward growth as possible.

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that trees going to be a super producer. better get ready to sell or give away alot of fruit. mines on m111 and it set over 40 fruit the 1st year and it was only 4.5 ft. tall.

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I’ve got a school full of kids - they’ll get eaten :grin:

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crab apples were made for kids !

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Precocious!!!

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This apple was born to be what it is now. It was raised in the less than perfect Kansas climate. This apple comes from wild feral parents. It is good at survival, treating day 1 of its life as its days could be numbered. God favored this apple with superior genetics. It will produce apples quickly and heavily. Like any fruit raised from my land, you can bet on them. The best part you don’t pay for patents, trademarks etc for them ever.

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My Clarks Crab on P.2 died. A borer took it out right at the soil line. So since it was not fireblight as I suspected; I salvaged 3 tiny scions and grafted 2 more on P.2 and one on M111.

My Bud-10 graft is still fine; though not the fastest grower. In fact I found all my Bud-10’s look good but are slower.

BTW…I thought borers were beetles. But here is what got my tree:

Thought it was a beneficial insect. Wrong!

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How healthy does it stay in your minimal/no soray situation?

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So far it hasn’t had any problems. I do spray. Just get lazy some years. Not enough fruit this year to waste money on sprays though.

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Of course he can answer better himself, but his family for generations has been collecting the best crab apple trees from all over the US and Canada, this is a open pollinated cross between them, and I think he’s not sure of the exact parentage still.

Maybe he already answered, you might even find the story if you search the word grandfather or grandpa.

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I’m a big fan of copper sulfate!

It’s non toxic, in fact most people are deficit in copper so please spray your trees with copper sulfate! It’s the first thing to try before any nasty chemicals in my opinion.

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You’ve probably already chosen a name for your red crab, but I will leave my idea and maybe you can use it for another variety. Clark’s IncRedible Crab :slight_smile:

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This thread is convincing me to take up grafting and grow this crabapple myself

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