[NAFEX] Crab Apples for Birds
Alan Haigh
alandhaigh at gmail.com
Thu Jan 3 07:37:13 EST 2008
For a short period a couple decades ago installing wildlife plantings was
part of my business (not enough response to continue). I did some
preliminary research on bird serving crabs and for the most part the advice
was small fruit that stuck to the tree late into winter. I matched this
prerequisite with beauty and disease resistance- primarily relying on the
sensibilities of Dirr and selected Molten Lava and Adams crab apples.
I was happy with the aesthetic results but I've not been back to the sites
enough to assess their bird attractiveness. The fruit does stick, however.
On my own site they seem to be drawn to almost any bright berry that manages
to stick to the plant past December and I have a wide variety of plantings
intended to feed our feathered friends. I consider this approach to be far
superior to bird feeders which provide so much spill for my rodent enemies.
Whatever happened to the advice of not providing wildlife with unnatural
food sources? (That ought to stir up some controversy.)
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