Vinny’s ‘Sugar Tyme’ Crabapple

[Vincent Tanner]

Two years ago, I asked suggestions for good cold-hardy species to start with as a beginner. @Leo in N E Illinois suggested I buy some crabapple cuttings from Brent at Evergreen Gardenworks. I ordered several, including this Sugar Tyme.

Spring 2022
One gallon Crabapple ‘Sugar Tyme’



I potted it up into a cheap terracotta flower pot with regular potting soil.



Spring 2023
I got it into a tokoname training pot with real bonsai soil. Did a little pruning to a basic silhouette and added some wire.

This tree flowers profusely!



Spring 2024
In one year, the tree filled the pots with roots. I lost water percolation and roots were growing out the drainage holes. Time to repot!



I raked the roots out, trimmed about half.



Only one year in bonsai soil! What a great root ball full of fine feeder roots! There was a bit of a hollow spot in the bottom where some old potting soil was still hanging out. I removed that and trimmed a couple large roots.

Then I repotted it into the same #9 tokoname training pot with 1-1-1 APL.



There’s a few big structural cuts I want to make this summer. I’ll post more updates then.

I’ll be growing this out in large training pots until the trunk is a bit thicker.

Eventually, I have a really awesome blue oval by Roy Minarai that will be great for this tree. But that may be several years away.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Roy Minarai pots are great, this tree will deserve one soon.

 

[Vincent Tanner]

Roy Minarai pots are great, this tree will deserve one soon.

Thanks, Leo, I hope so!

Here’s the pot I’m considering:




I think this will look awesome with white flowers in Spring and red fruit in Winter.

It’s just over 12” so we’ll see if it fits the final design in a few years.

 

[Dabbler]

I would have probably cut it off at the first branch - but I do like the look of it

 

[gooeytek]

Beautiful start!

 

[Cmd5235]

I would have probably cut it off at the first branch - but I do like the look of it

I agree- I would layer the tree just past that first branch, and then once the layer was established, remove what is currently the third branch on the left (would be the second on the layer). That would reflect the movement in that section of the trunk and give you two good starting options. Regardless, looking forward to seeing how this develops over time- I love the blooms!

 

[Vincent Tanner]

Flower power.

 

[TrevorLarsen]

That’s an amazing tree with all the flowers I need to get one.

 

[Eckhoffw]

Flower power.

View attachment 542626

That’s lovely.

 

[Vincent Tanner]

I would have probably cut it off at the first branch - but I do like the look of it

Took off about two feet of growth. Hoping for some good back budding now.

 

[Jrmcmich]

View attachment 550617

Took off about two feet of growth. Hoping for some good back budding now.

Nice! Did you try any air layering on upper tree before cutting?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Great job at this point!

Likely no need for air layering, given OP already has a good nebari, rare with crab folks in my experience. Unless there is a need for more crabs and it looks like OP has a number.

Only suggestion would be to work on more frequent cut backs in the furure. Crabs naturally form these long, barrel straight, sections that need frequent cut backs ( 1-3x a year ) in development to create a craggy, natural looking older structure.

Now the nebari is solid, this might be something to keep in mind.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Vincent Tanner]

Great job at this point!

Likely no need for air layering, given OP already has a good nebari, rare with crab folks in my experience. Unless there is a need for more crabs and it looks like OP has a number.

Only suggestion would be to work on more frequent cut backs in the furure. Crabs naturally form these long, barrel straight, sections that need frequent cut backs ( 1-3x a year ) in development to create a craggy, natural looking older structure.

Now the nebari is solid, this might be something to keep in mind.

Cheers
DSD sends

Thank you! I can see how I’ll need more cuts. I was already thinking that the first straight section to the right of the trunk might get cut depending on where I get buds.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

My thought exactly. Feed it up and see what happens.

I often cut crabs back in the late winter as they are extending to get an extra bend in the growing year, then at least twice more. Not sure how that would work out in your neck of the woods though.

Once the tree recovers its likely there many be one more opportunity this year.

Best
DSD sends

 

[Vincent Tanner]

In an effort to try and grow more roots and expand the nebari, I buried the surface roots under another 1/2 inch of soil then added spagnum moss over everything. I also used my scissors to nick a couple spots where I want roots to grow. Not sure it that’ll help, but I did it!