Crab Apple TreesMalus sppPlanting and care of crab apple trees. Trimming and pruning instructions. Crab apple fruit tree disease. Frogeye leaf spot and fire blight. Ornamental crab apples will grow in every part of the U.S. except the deep south where they won't get enough chilling hours to bloom well. There are dozens of hybrids, many of which will grow no taller than 15 feet. Very few cultivars rise above 30 feet. All are showy spring bloomers. Most display a decorative crop of brightly colored fruit throughout the fall and winter months. The following link will take you to a page about growing the various types of Malus species.
Flowering crab apple care. Planting crab apples. Bonsai and landscaping with ornamental crab apple. Siberian, Louisa, Adams and weeping types of Malus crab apple.
Pruning should be carried out in early spring. These trimming instructions apply to all types of crab apples. How to prune dwarf and weeping crab apple trees.
Crab Apple Leaf DiseaseFrogeye leaf spot is a fungal disease that dots the leaves with dark brown spots. Each spot is outlined in purple which is how the disease acquired its common name.Very vulnerable cultivars can be completely defoliated while nearby resistant cultivars remain nearly unaffected. When purchasing new trees, stick with the newer varieties as they have been bred to be more disease resistant.
Fire BlightFire Blight is a highly contagious bacterial disease. It is rare for an entire tree to become infected all at once. You will see shoots that look as if they have been scorched.The leaves will still be attached but the branch will be black. The tip of the shoot will typically curve downward in a hook shape. Treating fire blight: Cut blighted shoots off and bag--do not compost or chip them. Make your cuts well back into healthy wood and disinfect your loppers with a bleach and water solution between cuts and after you finish so that you don't spread the disease to the next plant you prune. Be a little stingy with the food (especially nitrogen) and water. Over watering and over feeding make trees more vulnerable to fire blight.
Fertilizing Apple Trees
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