I am interested in wickson crab and some other of the larger sized crab apple varieties. What else is larger for a crab apple with good disease resistance and cold hardiness? Has anyone grafted crabapples to Bud118?
On another not, I got a brother labeler, is all of their labeling tape uv resistant? Or do you order a specific UV tape?
Lastly, hardware mesh, where do you all buy it at the lowest price?
Whitney and Chestnut are two good tasting larger crabs. Chestnut has a bit more disease resistance than Whitney at my location, but both will produce a lot of fruit with no or minimal sprays. Both are central MN winter hardy. I have both varieties on b118
I use aluminum window screen for trunk protection instead of hardware cloth
Dolgo is a red variety that I like a lot. It makes a nice pink apple sauce and I think it’s sweet enough (with a bit of tart, to be sure) to eat out of hand.
Is it sturdy? Cheaper?
Yes I learned from SMSmith a long time ago to use the aluminum window screen cut in 12" strips. Then stapled into tubes. Bury the bottom edge a couple inches. I get rolls at Home Depot. If you’re in snow country you may need to go with 36" instead of 24". Make sure you use aluminum instead of cheaper plastic screen. This is cheaper than hardware cloth
Yep and yep.
Centennial is another good sized, good eating crab, that is winter hardy to at least zone 4a. Mine isn’t bearing fruit yet, but there are plenty of them growing in this area. I can’t comment much on disease resistance as of yet, but so far it seems to be at least as good as Whitney.
I grafted the following on B.118 this spring : Centennial Crab; Chesnut Crab; Dolgo Crab; Red Vein Crab; Whitney Crab; Wickson Crab. I also have all of these these, plus Niedzwetzkyana, on EMLA.106 as well, and a Hewes / Virginia Crab on M.111. Crimson Gold is a crab cross I had on wild rootstock, but I lost it due to deer damage. I hope to replace that one. I usually purchase hardware cloth at Tractor Supply.
I have hewes Virginia crab on mm111 it is by far my most vigorous variety and seems to be among the most resistant to CAR and scab. It’s apples are very tasty, and according to some extension literature I’ve read, are ideal cider apples - comparable to Kingston black. Although mine have gentle to unnoticeable tannins. However they are young so results may change in time. I’m in NY zone 5b, ymmv
I also have three wicksons. They are fairly vigorous and disease resistant but have not yet borne fruit.
I found a couple more. I have Harrison on M.111 (I believe it’s a crab) and this fall I budded Hyslop Crab on B.118 and Giant Crab onto something, darned if I can remember what.
I love chestnut. Whitney is good too and very prolific. A friend returned from California last year on a visit and brought back some wickson crabs. He shared some with me as he felt they were really good. Somehow I was not impressed on the flavor. Maybe they were not picked at their peak of flavor.
Just my thought on Wickson.
Can anyone identify this crabapple variety? My mother’s neighbor has this tree. Decent sized fruit, dropping now. I think it would be good for wildlife and eating.
Where did you get your scion wood from? Was it a single source?
Last year I ordered scion from Maple Valley, Geneva Research Station and Queener Farm.
