Crabapple Trees: Plant, Grow & Care
The homeland of crabapple trees that grow in many parts of the world in Asia and Malus. Crabapple trees have red, pink, and white colors. Although these trees are garden trees, they are generally used as front garden trees in landscaping. Types of crabapple trees that are not used as front garden trees are generally fruit, which is edible after ripening.
They have a slightly sour taste. They can grow between 8-12 m. Although it is thought that there are about 30 varieties, this number can reach 40-50 with crossed fertilization. When crabapple trees bloom, they create a visual feast and attract bees.
As technology develops, our desire to discover new places is multiplied. Because of this desire, we want to build new structures in the places we have discovered immediately, but while making these structures, we are getting away from natural life. This is where crabapple trees help us. By its nature, it has a structure that does not take up too much space.
It can be planted on the suitable ground and covered with grass. This way, we can bring nature with us, to which we are always connected, next to large construction structures. The types of crabapple trees seen in many places have the appearance of umbrellas. It attracts many people because of its colors and shape. Although the fruits of wide varieties of these trees are edible, some are too bitter to eat.
If you want to know how long crabapple trees live and how fast crabapple trees grow, you can find the necessary information in this article. The issues to be considered to keep these trees alive for a long time are listed below.
Planting Crabapple Trees
Choosing suitable and sunny land for the development of plants ensures that the plants get maximum efficiency from the soil. Soil selection is important for planting crabapple trees. The soil must be permeable. Make sure to use as much organic soil as possible. Clean the area to be planted from foreign materials.
In addition, although the roots of the crabapple trees do not go very deep, it is useful to dig a few meters deep into pits to plant the crabapple trees. Thus, the development of the plant will be facilitated. They will bloom in the spring if planted in the fall.
Fertilizer can be used after planting crabapple trees. But if the trees you want to plant are not your own product and you bought them ready from outside, it is useful to fertilize 1-1.5 months after planting.
If you want to get more efficiency from the soil, you can do soil analysis. When making soil analysis, you should pay attention to the pH of the soil, the amount of lime in the soil, and the nitrogen balance. If front garden trees are not used for planting crabapple trees, keep phosphorus and potassium in your soil for fruit formation.
If you want to plant grass on the trees you will use in the landscape, you can choose clay soil. Having a pH between 6 and 7, and keeping your soil permeable and moist is also effective in fruit development.
If you want to create your garden, crabapple trees will decorate your gardens beautifully as front garden trees. If you add sakura from different garden trees to these, you will understand that spring has come when front garden trees start to bloom. If you are going to plant fruit trees in the back of your garden, crabapple trees will help these trees to bud regularly because they will attract bees with their quick flowering.
Development and Growth of Crabapple Trees
In this section, you will find the answer to the question of how fast crabapple trees grow, we will talk about the development of crabapple trees. As it is known, crabapple trees can grow between 8-12 meters and can grow where apple trees grow.
Planting crabapple trees that bloom profusely in the spring is recommended in the fall. It bears fruit towards summer after flowering. It begins to shed its leaves towards autumn. It must be vaccinated for its development. We will consider this issue in more detail while answering the questions of what should be done so that the crabapple trees can live and survive for a long time.
Crabapple trees reproduce by seeding and grafting. Plantings made from the seed sprout in 10-20 days. With this method, plants can live for 40-50 years. Those that normally root, on the other hand, may live less.
In the case of sowing from seeds, certain parameters apply. Some of these include soaking in hot water and letting the seeds harden. For the hot water soaking process, approximately 3.5 times as much water as the seeds in hand should be heated, and this water should then be left to room temperature. When the water begins to warm, the seeds are thrown into it.
If this process is to be done at night, it can be seen that the seeds swell and rise towards the water surface in the morning. If seeds are left at the water’s bottom, the same procedures are applied again to take these seeds and swell them. If there are still seeds that do not swell, it is better not to use them.
Folding consists of two types
Warm-covering: Some types of crabapple trees may need warm covering. Here again, the water is boiled to the same degree. But here, the water is boiled with seeds. Seeds should not be boiled too much. The next day the seeds should be combined with organic sand.
Cold-covering: The most recommended method for improving seeding in crabapple trees is cold covering. The seeds, kept in cold water for one night, are taken again on the next day’s evening. Excess water on the seeds is dried. Seeds are combined with organic soil. As a result, the seeds are rested in a suitable environment at plus 4 degrees.
After these processes, it should be combined with moist soil. Sprouting can begin a few weeks after planting. If you are going to grow it at home, you can fertilize the soil with the appropriate flower pot and soil selection.
Care of Crabapple Trees
In this section, we will answer how long crabapple trees live. As mentioned, crabapple trees develop by budding and grafting. If you do not take care of your crabapple trees in a controlled way here, you will suffer root loss in your plants. Spraying can be done in the spring to avoid exposure to flies and aphids.
Rootstock and cuttings are needed for grafting. The tree to be vaccinated is the rootstock, and the grafting you will make is the tree or plant from which the cuttings are taken. We can consider vaccines as eye vaccines and pencil vaccines. In budding, a small plane is cut from the rootstock, and a single-eye pencil graft is applied.
This grafting is mostly done in fruit trees in terms of fruit yield. Stagnant budding in fall is recommended for crabapple trees. Inoculation made in autumn enters the stagnation stage in winter and continues its development in the spring of the next year.
Shoot budding can also be applied if the rootstock barks in the spring. There are certain periods for the administration of this vaccine. For eye grafting, an eye is taken from the pen plant. Transverse and longitudinal incisions are made from the lower and upper parts of the eye on the pen plant, with approximately 1.5 cm between them.
After these cuts, it is necessary to carefully remove the eye from where it attaches to the plant. Next, a transverse incision is made on the rootstock plant we have determined, and two cuts are made from the top of that cut, like the edges that form the ceiling of a triangle.
An eye is placed in this incision. This grafting is called the inverted T eye grafting technique. If cuts are made from the lower part of the transverse incision, this will be the T eye graft technique.
After placing the eye, the cut areas should be closed starting from the bottom of the eye. The most important points to note here are that the eye should not be covered, and the closed areas should not get air. It may take several weeks to realize that the vaccine is effective.
Pen grafting technique: English grafting is generally recommended for crabapple trees. This grafting technique is usually applied to small rootstocks. Pen vaccines should not have several eyes. Cross cuts are made in opposite directions; on the rootstock and the shoot.
That is, a diagonal cut is made from the tip of the rootstock down. In the opposite direction of the same, a cut is made from the bottom of the pen. These segments are combined to complement each other. These combined cuts are hermetically wrapped.
Usage Suggestions for Crabapple Trees
Many sources say that crabapple trees are beneficial for health. You can make marmalade from their fruit if you have fruit trees and like sour flavors. Even if you do not want to make marmalade, you can use it as vinegar. Diabetics prefer the fruits of crabapple trees because the sugar rate is not very high.
Planting fruit and vegetables in a large garden will attract bees due to its high flowering and increased pollination in crabapple trees. Apart from this, you can come across common uses in landscaping in parks and gardens.
When you buy crabapple trees for sale, you usually grow them in flower pots in your home. Just because these plants are at home does not mean you will not do all these things. You should pay attention to some points when you are at home. Do not keep them in very cold or very warm environments. The temperature, humidity of the environment they are in, and the amount of water you use are important for crabapple trees.
If you do not trust the soil of the plants you bought outside, you can prepare soil again in your home. This soil that you will prepare should be in a permeable structure. Crabapple trees are recommended to plant in a deep flower pot. Although the roots of crabapple trees do not go deep, depth is important so that the soil does not lose its moisture and breath. If the soil you have prepared is moist, you do not need to do the first watering too much. But if it is not humid, it is useful to water it.
Because dry soil will not help the development of your crabapple trees, when crabapple trees are watered too much, their roots begin to rot. Almost all crabapple trees have good smells, aromas, and colorful images. If you use these plants as an ornament in your home, you can choose fruitless ones. Caring for the fruity ones at home can be a little difficult. Still, the choice is yours. If you do not buy crabapple trees for sale and want to develop them yourself by budding or grafting, you can get high yields by paying attention to the specified parameters.
You may not be able to take care of these plants regularly. Then you can collect the fruits of the trees you see in public parks and use these fruits according you.
Varieties and grafting methods of crabapple trees are not mentioned in detail here. The necessary information is available for you to have the basic knowledge.
You have seen how long crabapple trees live, how fast crabapple trees grow, what care is taken professionally, and what needs to be considered for planting crabapple trees. You can create a visual feast for yourself as soon as possible to create your garden or grow it in flower pots at home.
You may also be interested in:
Why Are My Sunflower Seeds White?