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nafex - [NAFEX] Crab Apples for Birds

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  • From: "Alan Haigh" <alandhaigh@gmail.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Crab Apples for Birds
  • Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 07:37:13 -0500

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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