North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

Melissa,
I don't spray - I'm not 'organic', just busy(and a bit lazy) - I 
don't have the time or inclination to do ANY sprays, and I've not 
fertilized a fruit tree(other than the manure from the two geriatric 
horses that we graze through the middles between rows through the 
winter and early spring) in my orchard in over 10 years.
Yes, the edible crabs/lunchbox apples are quite tasty, and not all are tart.
The edible crabs are not totally bug-free - here's my report from 
this year's crop.
Centennial ripens early enough in the season that I rarely encounter 
much more than an occasional plum curculio scar.  Same held true for 
Almata & Geneva crabs(both red-fleshed crabs) this year.
I'm finding an occasional apple maggot track here and there in the 
Kerr crabapples I'm currently finishing off, but the damage is not 
too bad - I could eat around 'em or bite out affected tissue, but 
it's so minimal that I usually just eat 'em, AM track and all.
Callaway, which is an ornamental crab variety, with large(for an 
ornamental) - 1-1.5" - fruits is almost always totally free of any 
damage.  Same was true for a seedling crab I never got around to 
grafting over to a named variety, whose fruit closely resembles Dolgo.
Giant Russian crab(another red-flesh) in my orchard gets apple scab 
and the fruits are always misshapen, with brown 'punky' areas, and it 
seems to attract codling moth and apple maggot more than the other 
crabs in my collection.  I'd take it out if I didn't think it might 
be drawing pressure off some of the other better crabs - and it is 
handsome in bloom.




Lucky Pittman
USDA Cold Zone 6
AHS Heat Zone 7
Hopkinsville, KY