Crab apple color12/4/2023 Cultivars highly susceptible to leaf spot may experience complete defoliation by late summer. During springs with abundant rainfall, fire blight and rust may become significantly worse, and during summers with abundant rainfall, foliar leaf spots may become significantly worse. Resistance to fire blight, powdery mildew, rust and apple scab varies, depending on the cultivar of the tree and where it is grown. ProblemsĬrabapples may be susceptible to fire blight, powdery mildew, cedar-apple rust, cedar-hawthorn rust, apple scab, several leaf spots, canker diseases, Japanese beetle and caterpillar foliar feeding, borers, scale and aphids. Do this in late winter or early spring before bud-break. Pruning is recommended for opening the center of the plant to air and light, removing unwanted branches, shaping the tree and removing suckers. While it requires medium fertility, over-fertilization may make it more susceptible to fire blight. The soil should be moist, slightly acid (6.0 to 6.5 pH) and well drained. The tree is adapted to most sites, but should be placed in full sun for best flowers and fruit. Large-fruited types, such as ‘Callaway,’ can create maintenance problems with rotting fruits falling to the ground. However some cultivars will retain their fruit (persistent) on the tree throughout the winter. A characteristic of many crabapple cultivars is that the fruit will drop upon ripening. Because of its small stature, it is a good selection as a street tree under utility lines. The crabapple can be used in a home landscape as a specimen or patio tree. The unusual branching of most crabapples creates a strong silhouette in winter when the leaves are absent. Some crabapples have outstanding fall color, while others do not – it depends on the cultivar. While all crabapples are edible, fruit of many ornamental crabapples are not palatable without first cooking and sweetening the fruit. The color of the fruit may be red, yellow or green. The fruit, which appear in summer, vary in size, but are less than 2 inches in diameter (fruit larger than 2 inches are considered apples). Some crabapples bloom heavily only every other year. The blooms, which come out before or with the leaves in the spring, range from white to red. The ornamental flowering crabapple is valued mainly for its flowers and fruit. Joey Williamson, ©2013 HGIC, Clemson Extension Fruits and Flowers Of The Crabįruits of the flowering crab apple are about 3/8 inches in diameter and are either red or yellow, beginning to color in late August an remaining on the tree until mid-October by which time the birds have eaten most of them.Malus ‘Donald Wyman’ (crabapple) flowers. There is a period in early May before the buds are full open, when the red flower buds and the pure white flowers make a gorgeous color combination. The flower buds are small and red, the flowers are white and about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Some gardeners prefer to have the trunk bare of branches several feet off the ground but the foliage is so dense that it is most difficult – if not impossible to grow grass underneath it unless the branches are cut off 6 feet from the base. It is rounded in habit, with very dense branching, and if let alone will grow into an impenetrable, rounded dense mass of branches and foliage touching the ground. The Japanese or showy flowering crab-apple (Malus floribunda) has been in America since about 1862 when it was first brought to this country from its native Japan. They are of ornamental interest at least twice a year, and sometimes longer. It is suggested here as only one example of crab-apples that are being grown throughout the entire country wherever apples prove hardy.įlowering crabs seldom grow over 30 feet tall, if that, making them especially useful for smaller properties. The Crabapple is one of the very best of small ornamental trees for planting around the home.
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