Crab apples grow all over around me. I want to dig some, plant them on my property and get other apple varieties onto them
—what’s the best size crab apple for grafting onto?
—what type of graft is best to use?
—How many varieties can I put onto each parent tree?
—Should I eliminate All growth other than the limbs that I graft onto?
Hi Scott,
There may be others with more experience in using crabs as rootstocks. You raise an important question about their suitability.
I have often pondered if that would have a dwarfing affect since they tend to have a more bush like habit, but there’s no a lot I could find about that question. I would like to follow your experience to find out how it goes.
Here are my thought based on my limited use of crabs as pollinators:
what’s the best size crab apple for grafting onto? I would pick a rootstock with scaffolds that are about the same diameter at the graft union as your scions, just to make the grafts stronger and much easier to match the cambium.
—what type of graft is best to use? I prefer a whip& tongue as it’s the strongest graft union and quickly accommodates fruit loading without bracing.
—How many varieties can I put onto each parent tree?As many as you desire, I would try to pick varieties that are good cross pollinators to give better fruit production.
—Should I eliminate All growth other than the limbs that I graft onto?Only if you need to thin some out to shape your tree or to allow good sunlight exposure to producing scaffolds. Since crabs are good pollinators for most apple varieties, leaving some crab growth on the top central leader would be an advantage to enhancing cross fertilization.
Look forward to hearing about your trials!
Best of luck
Dennis
Kent, wa
Maybe my terminology was off, but I’m not using the crab apples as a rootstock. I want to leave the crab apple structure and graft onto the crab apple limbs with apple varieties. I’m new to all this, sorry if I was unclear
I would call the crab your rootstock too, even if it’s a full grown tree. Maybe we’re both wrong!
I think you have a good idea. Go for it.
Do you plan to graft only to main scaffold branches or do you think you’ll work over laterals growing off of the main scaffolds?
You can certainly do that. However most native/adopted crabs will eventually get big. If that is not a factor; by all means it should work. Or you could go to a place like Coldstream Nursery and order Crab apples that are dwarf size. Or many places offer “Sargent” crab seeds cheaply. Those will work a lot.
I ended up with Kaido Crab by an order I cancelled because I realize it is a hybrid; and not Malus Micromalus I wanted for breeding. For some reason they shipped that order too. So I will try to stool and graft that as well. At least it is small and resistant to fire blight.
Free Rootstock! The best kind.
I suppose I could try both methods. I hadn’t thought that far into it yet haha
There is a Prairifire Crabapple with a larger table apple intermingled here at a local nursery where I live. They boast proudly about it anytime it’s mentioned.
Also in colder areas like Russia the Dolgo Crabapple is frequently used as a rootstock.
i have a sargents crab i grafted 4 different apples to. was a freebie from arbor day. was about 5ft. when i grafted it over. its about 6ft. now. gave me 5 apples last year. it has the best crotch angles ive ever seen in a untrained tree.
Ya all of the native crabs are either horizontal or no more than 30° above horizontal
Most of my apple trees started off as wild crabapples. I have grafted some where they were already growing, transplanted smaller ones, and multi-grafted some. I’ve grafted on some large crabs and small ones. I’ve had few, if any failures. I usually prune off all limbs below my graft. If it is a large tree, I’ll leave some branches to support the tree until the graft is big enough and has enough foliage. My property sprouts lots of wild crabs and I feel very fortunate to have these free rootstocks. I’ve used whip and tongue, cleft, bark, and other grafts. They all work well, whip and tongue healing a little smoother than other types.
Great info thanks!
Sometime simple works best. Just cleft graft it. Cleaner, simple, and fast. Work well for apple. Just graft the main branches. Just leave enough length to do 3 more attempts if the first one fail. You can do cleft and bud graft on the same branch if you want extra insurance. You can put as many varieties as long as there are enough woods. Don’t get rid of all the leaves and minor branches because you just need enough for the plant to be healthy. If you going to replace the entire tree, then get a foot high to 2 feet root stock. If you are creating a cocktail, then get the biggest one that’s is easy to transport and dig out.
Any tips for a good cleft graft? I wouldn’t think that would heal as smooth as a whip/tongue but what the heck do I know haha.
I’ve got a few dozen wild crabs here that I’ve either top worked or grafted to other varieties. Good luck, have fun
For cleft graft, there a couple of things you can try. If you really want to make a strong graft, then cut longer to make more cambium contact and better success. It’s more critical for citrus than apple, as citrus have a thinner skin. Depend on the size of the scion, I may cleft near the skin of the host’s branch. When I do it, I like to shave one side of the scion flat and more angle on the other side. I try not to cleft in the middle of the branch because it tend to split when I shove the scion in. Some where close to the middle is OK.
Cleft graft and whip heal about the same time. To me cleft graft heal a little faster, though whip graft does look better after healing if done right.
Here is a row of wild crabapples I dug up and transplanted into a row. They were cleft grafted at about a meter high. The grafts healed so well you can hardly see them:
And here is a larger crabapple with bark grafts on several larger limbs. These grafts are probably 4 years old:
I live on the west (wet) coast where we receive lots of annual rainfall. I also live by a lake where some sections are very boggy. I have grafted to Malus Fusca which is Pacific Crabapple (AKA swamp crabapple). A few nurseries are starting to sell apple trees pre-grafted onto Pacific Crabapple. The owner of one of these nurseries told me that using Malus Fusca as a rootstock would result in a semi dwarf apple tree.
I have cleft grafted to a few different crabapple rootstocks including the swamp and an ornamental variety. The swamp crabapple is supposed to tolerate wet feet for extended periods of time. Swamp crabapple is also supposed to tolerate drought conditions quite well. The only downside would be for those in colder regions, as it is not extremely cold tolerant like some other varieties of crabapple.
I intend to use Pacific crabapple on sections of my property that is very wet, and also in sections that are without irrigation where where dwarf or semi dwarf rootstocks might not survive the summer without supplemental water.
A lot of standard apple stocks have very desirable rootstock traits to. It looks like my plan is both mounding and layering a selection of rootstocks and crabs. Dolgo and Kaido and probably Sargent Tina or Louisa. G.214, Ottawa 7, P.1 and P.14 as middle range size{M106-m26 sized} Then stepping down Bud-146. Bud-491, P.2 and G.11. Can’t decide on an mm106 class fireblight resistant choice. Probably will resort to good ole slow yielding M111.
