1st Crabapple have to start somewhere...

[Japonicus]

Ok, got this little Prairie Fire from Brent last Summer after seeing @LanceMac10 's crabapple tree.
Then I saw the one in the Winter silhouette thread by Bill. OMG I got nothin'!!!@!!! That is awesome.
So, I thought this might be a good time to wire the perfect Y I had, but the twin trunk was a bit closer together
and I failed to take a before picture today.


Pardone the wire ends, this was the back when I applied the wire, then changed my mind 180º

I slipped it up to a 6" round late Summer and roots seem to have taken a good hold.
The bending went way better than my maples, one snapped yadi yada, bad time of year for that.

So I'm not so keen on the twin trunk, and I'm thinking that upper heavy branch near the top should be snubbed back
to 1/4" long, well, just beyond the 1st node, or should I cut back well below that when I do?

 

[Mike Hennigan]

If you want the twin trunk to work you should bend them closer together and so they’re moving in the same direction. But that may not be so easy with what you’ve got there, so may be better as single trunk. If I could offer you one piece of wiring advice, when you wire the trunks you should anchor the end of the wire in the soil. Instead of one piece of wire on for both trunks, use two separate wires both anchored in the soil. You will have much more leverage and bending power than how you currently have the one wire arranged.

 

[Japonicus]

If you want the twin trunk to work you should bend them closer together and so they’re moving in the same direction. But that may not be so easy with what you’ve got there, so may be better as single trunk. If I could offer you one piece of wiring advice, when you wire the trunks you should anchor the end of the wire in the soil. Instead of one piece of wire on for both trunks, use two separate wires both anchored in the soil. You will have much more leverage and bending power than how you currently have the one wire arranged.

Hi Mike! Thanks. I certainly had better luck with this one than my maples.
This is the 1st time I've ever pulled anything from Winter storage and did any kind of work.
Removed some wire from one juniper that was cutting in pretty good at one point,
but wasn't as bad as it would've been had I waited till April.

Probably shooting for a 17-24" or so tree on this one.
If I didn't damage either branch, (probably over worked the one on the left)
where would you suggest I cut the trunk back to?

 

[Japonicus]

@LanceMac10
I didn't take any flower pictures or give any updates this year as I thought I had read at one time
that malus had to have a viable branch to cut back to. The long trunk now working against bonsai
and the depth of colour is awash this far along really.

Just below the clothes pin you can see some old nodes, which is where I would want to cut back to if I did.
I've just placed the plastic pot (from EGGW) in the pot it's in for some stability in the wind.

 

[Japonicus]

so I never got a confirmation on cutting back to old nodes so I tried it this Spring around bud break.

Failed to bud

Now I have a single trunk with a stub LOL and the remaining trunk height is what I will continue to work with. Bummer.





branches are wired out to cut back next year

 

[HorseloverFat]

so I never got a confirmation on cutting back to old nodes so I tried it this Spring around bud break.

Failed to bud

Now I have a single trunk with a stub LOL and the remaining trunk height is what I will continue to work with. Bummer.


View attachment 368154
View attachment 368155

branches are wired out to cut back next year

Looking nice! Even WITH the “stub”.
Crabs are.. “weird” when it comes to back-budding...

I’m CERTAIN that there is a formula.. I just haven’t figured it out yet.

I remember cutting back my son’s sargent crab sapling DURING the growing season.. and it responded.. aggressively, with buds...

During the winter, the rabbits got at it, as it was one of my “Bunnicula Casualties”.. but they stumped it... there was 2 visible nodes left.. but it never started “pushing”..

Weird..

I bet SOMEONE knows “the secret”..

Maybe the rabbits know?

 

[Japonicus]

Looking nice! Even WITH the “stub”.
Crabs are.. “weird” when it comes to back-budding...

I’m CERTAIN that there is a formula.. I just haven’t figured it out yet.

I remember cutting back my son’s sargent crab sapling DURING the growing season.. and it responded.. aggressively, with buds...

During the winter, the rabbits got at it, as it was one of my “Bunnicula Casualties”.. but they stumped it... there was 2 visible nodes left.. but it never started “pushing”..

Weird..

I bet SOMEONE knows “the secret”..

Maybe the rabbits know?

Thank you HLF, if I may I abbreviate your screen name?
well, after having 2 failed layers on JM...I have no intent on killing this tree, know what I mean?
I hate to be a stick in the mud, but it's going to be a stick looks like. So you think I should have
cut back not in the Spring like JM but Summer? Maybe @Leo in N E Illinois has some insight I'm clueless on.

 

[Carol 83]

so I never got a confirmation on cutting back to old nodes so I tried it this Spring around bud break.

Failed to bud

Now I have a single trunk with a stub LOL and the remaining trunk height is what I will continue to work with. Bummer.


View attachment 368154
View attachment 368155

branches are wired out to cut back next year

No one will notice the stump when it is in full bloom!

 

[Japonicus]

No one will notice the stump when it is in full bloom!

 

[HorseloverFat]

. So you think I should have
cut back not in the Spring like JM but Summer?

I honestly have no idea. Just sharing my observations... gotta get enough people to share THEIRS, as well.. maybe we’ll figure it out..

Take a survey..

*Wisconsin Accent* “‘ey! Come’over here, for a minute real quick!

 

[LanceMac10]

Sorry missed the tag, @Japonicus ....had vacation cancelled on me, probably at the same time as you tagged me.

Need to take a shower, but obviously what's done is done......hold on....

 

[Carol 83]

had vacation cancelled on me,

Well that sucks big-time. I only had that happen to me once, and I cried. And I never cry. Sorry.

 

[Japonicus]

Well that sucks big-time. I only had that happen to me once, and I cried. And I never cry. Sorry.

I had a spvsr make me come into work the day I was supposed to check into a condo at the beach (3 days into my vacation)
just to be sure an undependable wad showed up to cover my job. What about the other 2 weeks I was gone and he may not show up?
Did not approve my leave till the guy showed up, and I had it turned in like 5 months in advance.

 

[Japonicus]

View attachment 368184 View attachment 368185

Sorry missed the tag, @Japonicus ....had vacation cancelled on me, probably at the same time as you tagged me.

Need to take a shower, but obviously what's done is done......hold on....

Dude that sucks, 2020 was rough, still is...
I locked up my thrift savings when the mkt crashed to safe mode. It's still there and the mkt is on a bull run...again.
Hate unlocking it when it's so high ya know. Fortunately I didn't lose as much as a lot of other people, locked it up at 1st dive.
Actually losing it twice since I lost out on the bull run to where it is now.

 

[Japonicus]

Slight uptick with the foliage looking better/healthier.
Could be my lack of experience with it, but since wiring it some again this Spring,
there seems to be more interior possibilities to cut back to, and the leaves just look healthier
than I remember last year this time. Maybe I'm just forgetting last Junes characteristics.



It also managed to squeeze out a dormant bud all the way down at the base of the
one trunk I chopped off high...hmmm. It's about 1/2" or 10mm above the soil
My luck it will get knocked off by something, but for now this is a major game changer.



Should I clean the bloom ends of the apples off or let them run their course?
Above I pinched the end off of one.

 

[Japonicus]

Also, I will be hitting the junipers with Mancozeb this weekend.
There's a chew spot here or there on this tree, nothing bad, so I probably won't
use any insecticide at this time, rather anti fungal.
So does Mancozeb treat malware for malus?

 

[Japonicus]

Appears to be a couple smaller buds forming on the stub, and maybe even at the top of it
where the cut was made. Will be able to tell better next year if they're viable.
If so that makes this one all the better, given the current tall trunk.

 

[just.wing.it]

I use Mancozeb on everything....though I have no Malus.
The flower color is cool on this Prairie Fire one!

 

[Japonicus]

I wasn't thinking Fall colour when I chose this pot, just a random pot that fit the needs at the time.
I think a cream colour might work someday, IDK?

 

[Japonicus]

If I can't or should not cut back all the way to the new growth just above the soil line
this is my plan for next Spring, to remove all elongated growth hazed out here, and to
wire down the branch where the arrow point to an upright shoot, regrowing the branch from there.

When should I cut back to the lower growth from the new low shoot?