I just read about the Evereste Crab. I have a Dolga which seems resistant as well as a local family crab that is also disease resistant. The family one appears to be a triploid to me. Can anyone tell me about their experiences with Evereste or other varieties that are know to be disease resistant? Many thanks.
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Welcome aboard! Which diseases are you concerned about and what do you want to do with your apples? My most recent crab apple is a true inedible spitter that produces the most amazing juice for hard cider.
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Cedar apple rust and fire blight are the top 2. My interest in crabs is jelly and maybe planting a few for some friends who deer hunt.
I grow Evereste. No CAR/Fire Blight. Blooms and fruits profusely. I’ve only had it in the ground since March 2020 from Rain Tree Nursery. It was a tiny, bareroot thing.
2021 - Grew a bunch
This was picked in January this year.
Although it hasn’t started fruiting for me, @clarkinks Clark’s Crab hasn’t shown any issues with CAR or fire blight yet in my location(NE Texas with a bunch of cedars) since its planting. You can grab one from @39thparallel Looks like once it does start fruiting, it loads up!
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Apologies for not answering the question, but why plant apples unsuitable for any purpose other than jelly or deer fodder? You could plant dessert or cider apples, and then you could enjoy them and so could the deer.
Among edible crabs, I’ve had good success with Centennial, Chestnut Crab, and Puget Spice. Centennial produces a gorgeous pink and yellow fruit that my granddaughters find irresistible. Chestnut is a drab green-brown, but still delicious. And Puget Spice is sweet and spicy, a great addition to cider.
I haven’t double-checked disease resistance but I remember selecting varieties that are resistant. I’ve got cedars by the dozens here with visible rust infection. The apple leaves may be blemished but damage is minor and cosmetic. I’ve seen no fireblight.
The only issue with these recommendations is that Centennial and Chestnut ripen early, before deer season. Of course, you could store them in the fridge and toss them on the ground as needed.
Trailman, Chestnut, Dolgo, Kerr, and Hewes are all pretty reliable crabapple varieties.
In searching, a lot of the nurseries seem to not have some of these in stock. I guess it is due to covid, labor, costs… Does anyone sell scionwood of any of the recommended varieties?
I have standard trees but wanted more zing in jelly! And from limited observations it seems that crabs hold fruit later in the season that standards except for Shockley.
It depends on your location, to some degree. I see posts from folks on the ‘habitat’ (read: deer hunting) forums, listing fruiting/drop times far into fall & winter… but these are folks in Minnesota, upper peninsula of Michigan etc. Most of those edible crabs/lunchbox apples, like Centennial, Kerr, Bastian, etc. are ripe in July here in southern KY. They’re so tasty that I would consider it almost a waste to use them to make jelly.
Callaway, a large-fruited (1") ‘ornamental’ crab, which is tasty to eat out-of-hand AND to make jelly from… will hold fruits into winter
Fedco has Chestnut, Dolgo, Centennial, Hewes, Martha, Pipsqueak, Trailman, Wickson, and Whitney scions listed for sale.
We still have most if not all still in stock as of this time.
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Keep in mind that of the thousands of apple tree varieties in existence nurseries only carry a handful. This is to be expected as they stay in business by carrying the most desirable inventory for the broadest audience. It took me three seasons to find me a prairie magic apple tree.
If there is something you can’t find put in a request on the plant exchange side of the forum, chances are somebody here will have it.
Also if you haven’t experienced culinary crab apples you are in for a treat. Most folks think they are either inedible or of lower quality when the reality is that there are crabs that will give any full size apples a run for their money. I love Kerr, chestnuts, Alma sweet can have hit or miss years, and last year I grafted a trailman that will be planted next to a honey crisp. Both trees will be equally loved for the awesome apples they’ll produce.
Agree, Don. The edible crabs/lunchbox apples I’ve grown are far tastier than virtually any full-size ‘apple’ I’ve ever had the occasion to eat.
Sorry, I just got on last night and did not know that there is an exchange page. Someone at Raintree told me to become and member and see if scionwood was available. I’ll try to learn the ropes.
39th Parallel has Chestnut, Hewe’s and Trailman trees in stock.
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