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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Crab Apples as Pollinizers

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  • From: Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Crab Apples as Pollinizers
  • Date: Wed, 05 Feb 2003 10:20:29 -0600

Tom,
If 'edible crabs' or 'lunchbox apples' will serve the purpose of enhancing pollenation, you might as well go with 'edible' selections, over mere ornamentals.
From my own minimal experience, I'd strongly recommend considering Centennial and Kerr - both have a very good quality fruit, in addition to their potential as good pollenizers.
Chestnut crab, from what I've read, consistently wins taste comparisons, though I've not been fortunate enough to taste one yet, as my young trees haven't reached fruiting age yet.
I've also seen good reports, on this list, for Wickson, though I'm now convinced that the tree I purchased as Wickson was mislabeled.
Callaway crab, though currently considered primarily as an ornamental, is, hands-down, the favorite apple for my kids - it's a heavy producer of large(for an ornamental) tasty red/yellow-fleshed crabapples, sometimes approaching 1.5-2 inches in diameter. Dirr claims it has good disease resistance in The South. I suspect they'd make good jelly, but my kids eat all my young tree will produce - none ever make it back to the house.
Of the red-fleshed varieties that I've grown, only Winter Red Flesh has fruited yet. It's a pretty little tree - both in bloom and in fruit, but the fruits - at least the ones I've been able to beat the kids & critters to, have been quite tart & somewhat astringent, though they probably weren't fully ripe when picked.


Lucky Pittman
USDA Zone 6
Hopkinsville, KY





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