North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Bruce Hansen" <brucehansen@acd.net>]

I put in 300 siberian crabs. They have small fruit that the birds, racoons,
ground hogs, turkeys and oppossum love. They bloom in the time frame that my
Mason bees just love em.
Bruce z5 MI

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-admin@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-admin@lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Lucky Pittman
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 11:20 AM
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Crab Apples as Pollinizers


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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