To your point, on a MASSIVE 50+ year old Cortland in NY state. Most trees with big fruits likely automatically thin fruits in a cluster, unless it’s a giant biennial tree then maybe it won’t
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True. But I’ve seen some apples that do well with no thinning. Willingham Cropper, Vityaz for example still give good size not thinned. Seems like there would have to be some nutrient delivery advantage at play. I bet more apples are that way. We just thin to much to see it.
Vityaz:
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Cider
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I’m not seeing a ‘Whitcomb’ crab on the ‘net. Do you mean ‘Whitney’?
In addition to flavor and pollination, and ornamentation that other have mentioned, they are also used in cider, and have a ton of pectin if you make jams and jellies. They are more dense so they provide shading and privacy in the landscape. You also do not need to coddle them, they are very self sufficient.
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Nope, Wickson
I just planted two crabs because I wanted to experiment , because they pollinate well, because the flowers are supposed to be beautiful and, finally, they are shapely, attractive trees.
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I’ve come to this way of thinking as well. This season I hope to try some good fresh eating crabs. My regular apples produce too sporadically as well. So am looking for regular production.
That’s good! Some people are scared to experiment.
…well, if short on $ and space, then you have an excuse not to experiment.
I like that! I gave up gardening because I didn’t want to be a slave to it. I like self-sufficient trees that can be wild crafted with minimal care.
That is crazy!
Good work!
I hope to try these.
Chestnut
Wickson
Trailman
No room for more. Although if big name apples don’t produce better, I may pull them out and put in more crabs for eating.
You can’t get any good cider here. It is all garbage. In the 1990s you could still get unpasteurized cider once in a while. But unpasteurized cider is like trying to find raw milk now.
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Thanks, didn’t know that. I can’t chew the peel, but I put apples with peel in smoothies.
The peel on storebought apples is not good to eat. It is coated with wax and may have pesticides / chemicals under the wax. You can’t wash it off.
lol people scared to boil their milk
Crab just means small, really, though i know people usually mean “small and bitter” by it. the best apple i had last year from my own property was a trailman that got full sun the whole time it was ripening. it was like three bites of sugar sunshine. just perfect.
the trees for the smaller apples need less tending and fussing too. a big benefit. i can give away more apples from em. they make more (smaller sized) but same by the pound if that makes sense.
Chestnut on left, trailman on right
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Is all that white stuff chemical spray?
Beautiful! I had only known about oddball crabs I would see at the park with cherry size bitter apples. I had no idea there were crabs like this until coming to this forum.
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Cue up lawsuits and the post-regulatory response to everything.
Here is a critter we are trying as a rootstock for pots/containers. Has a side benefit of giving tasty circa 75 gram apples that are juicy and taste of Johnagold. We will see how they go. Poor thing has no name yet. But I bet the girls will give it one if it performs.
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the bitter crabs are so widespread, as had been mentioned, because they are good cider apples. plus you get a lot of people planting seeds hoping for a good un, but getting not good uns.
then you gotta make jack out of em. they still produce calories, you just need to know how to get it to be palatable. a strong cider that’s been freeze jacked a few times over a deep winter, that’s really delicious, the bitter apples it was made from almost make it a better flavor.
we have sweet or tart apples mostly but i do have one or two that are less so. more bitter or tannins in them. i like to make a lot of jam and jelly, do a lot of canning. (also known as pasteurizing) that tannin flavor means it’s a lot of pectin in it. don’t need to buy it in if you’ve got bitter apples around.
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A crab apple is designated by its size of less the 2", not by its genetics. Malus members generally have very few computability issues regardless of where they orginate.
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