Crab apple, columnar tasty red apple or dwarf honey crisp apple

General Fruit Growing
#1

Hi everyone,

I made space for one more small fruit tree (Seattle 8b).

Trying to decide between:

A. Tasty red columnar apple
B. Honeycrisp mini dwarf or dwarf
C. Diogo dwarf crab (getting a dwarf centennial from rain tree).

Trying to order from raintree before they run out. Any thoughts? I am new to fruit growing, so trying to figure out my fall fruit tree order:

I can plant it in a container on my patio or among a rose patch.

#2

I have always seen crabapples as more of a oriental thing. Columnar apple are good for space issues and are a good thing for growing in a pot. I think columnar apples only grow out a foot or two. Honeycrisp is not the best apple for a starter. It is more disease prone. They also say a honeycrisp from the store will generally be just as good if not better than a home bought honeycrisp.

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#3

Thank you @elivings1 !

I am curious about your comment about crabapples. Why are they considered a Asian thing?

#4

Not oriental as asian. Maybe I was thinking of ornamental? What I meant was they are more so used for the looks than the taste. We have crabapples and the birds get them before we do. The same cannot be said about apples in my area. You said you have a crabapple on order so I guess it can act as a pollinator or your apple tree you choose. Most apples require two varieties of apples. I don’t like super dwarfs as much because of the shallow root system makes them need staking and hear water is scarce so I don’t want to use too much. In fact ideally it is a drought resistant rootstock here like M111. I have found semi dwarf rootstock is a good compromise of apples. 12-15 feet on a regular apple makes it so two apples (minimum for pollination but ideally 3) is 24-30 feet. It is worth noting the columnar apple may be a little less forgiving in fruit yield even though disease resistant.

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#5

Here is a guild on fruit tree yield. You see fruit yield doubles between dwarf and semi dwarf Estimated Yield for Fruit Trees - Stark Bro's

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#6

Thank you @elivings1 ! Thus is super helpful!

#7

I’d pick “A”/ columnar apples are perfect for small lots.

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#8

I have eaten ‘Tasty Red’. I thought it was a good tasting apple. I heard the columnar apples were more for decoration than actual quality but I was very happy with it.

Honeycrisp is a royal pain to grow. I have 2 trees on M7. There is a reason why orchards charge a premium price for it. I love the fruit but the worst apple to grow.
No vigor, slow to bear, biennial bearing, the worst apple for jap beetle damage too.

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