crab apples

Golf ball size crab apples are big! Hard to find ones that size available as grafted trees to purchase or even as scion wood. Let me know if you are interested in swapping some scions this winter.


If you are interested in doing some grafting, bark grafting is an easy way to change the top of a mature tree.



I used this method this past spring to change one of the trunks of a wild plum at my place over to 2 different plums and a sweet-pit apricot.

My father used to can spiced crabapples each fall. I did not get the recipe before he passed

THIS is really cool

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cider, wine, apple juice

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Our existance here is soley for the expoitation of CMG

I'm guessing she can tell the difference the same way my dh and I did this weekend while out 'tasting' the wild trees in our woods: some had incredibly thick skins and were small, while the rest had 'normal' thickness of skins and were larger even if not full sized yet. The crabs were the ones you couldn't barely bite hard enough to break the skin on .

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What kind of crab apples are they? If they are the ruby red Dolgo crab apples (pic of Dolgo included) people will pay good money to get them. I have 2 dolgo crab apple trees on our property and we make crab apple jelly, crab apple butter, rosy crab apple pie and crab apple holiday cake, all of which are yummy. We love them so much that we put them up in the freezer along with the other fruits we grow. We sell all the Dolgo crab apple jelly and butter we can make. As a matter of fact, this year we sold everything in the pre-orders so although we just harvested and made the jelly, we are already sold out.

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I really don't know what variety they are, but I do know they are crabapples.

Oh, and I'm a he, not a she, lol.

Pickled (spiced) crab apples.

These are wonderful!! I wish someone around here had a real crabapple tree. You can probably set up a stand and sell the extras!

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You can make jelly out of them. Red are best, but regular ones are fine. If you or someone you know is a deer hunter, they are great for bringing deer in (if legal).

I don't cut any apple trees down that are bearing fruit, even apples that are no good to eat - it takes just too long to get to that point. I hunt deer, so I always have a use for the inedible apples that come from some of the volunteer trees we have.

Noooooo! Sorry, that was my crabapple envy speaking. Pepper jelly, if you like spicy, is way better with crabapples instead of vinegar, there's no comparison. Juice, jelly, apple butter, and like others have mentioned, they're great free food for fattening up your livestock in the fall and a good source of nectar if your bees can get moving that early in the spring. I wouldn't cut them down unless you absolutely need the space.

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I've never heard the term spoonsweets, but it is delightful. I have a collection of pickle dishes from Grandmothers, I too, remember every holiday table decked out with pickled goodies.

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"... And what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" Micah 6:8

Crab apples the size of golf balls are a wonderful size! I wouldn't cut them down. They always seem to be grown in pairs, so I wonder if you need two for pollination.

At our old house our neighbor had two crab apple trees, the kids would eat them off the tree and I made crab apple jelly which was really good. I made the spiced crab apples, but those weren't a big hit in our home... we still had jars of it years later!

Natural pectin, livestock food, jelly, bee attractant etc. What a blessing!

Wow, I'm sure getting a lot of advice to NOT cut them down.
I wonder if I could get just as many donations to help me buy more property so I would have the space I need to keep them AND grow the trees my family wants

Dixie - wait till you've been here longer - you'll find homesteaders save much and find creative ways to do with most everything.

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Only you know if not cutting them down is an option. If you want to replace them with other apple trees, the grafting option will get you there faster than saplings, as there will be a substantial root system to re-use. If you have any pasture area, you could consider planting trees (with guards) there as well as your small orchard area. The animals will benefit from the shade and fallen fruit.

Are you listening? Most everyone is saying DO NOT CUT THEM DOWN!!!! And I would agree, plant your other trees somewhere else and leave those trees. Not only will they help pollinate your other trees, but you can use the crabapples - to make jelly, feed to the pigs / other animals, or other uses.

Unless you absolutely won't have room to plant your other trees, leave those mature trees alone!

You certainly don't want to act in haste, and you certainly don't want to cut them down only to find out a few years - I could have used them for _____________.

They are loaded this year, next year, they might not be. Those lean years, those future pigs of yours will thank you for keeping them.

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"Everything happens for a reason."

I fully understand the reasoning to keep them. An added bonus is, in spring, when they are in full bloom and the breeze is right, they fill our house with a very sweet scent.


I may just keep one, and prune other one back and graft it. With the space those 2 trees take up, I can add a third tree there, but really no other place on our property would be reasonable without yaking away from other uses of the property either current of planned future.