Crabapple seeds are called pips. Separate the pips from the fruit and wash them to remove the apple flesh. Pat the seeds dry with a paper towel. The seeds must go through a period of cold temperatures to simulate winter temperatures.

To obtain seeds, collect ripe fruit from a crabapple tree. Cut the fruit open with a knife and remove the seeds. Rinse the seeds with water to remove sugar and fruit flesh, and allow them to dry on a paper towel for at least 24 hours.

Crab apples are essentially little apples and safe to eat. Be sure to avoid the seeds and core, just as you would if you were eating a regular apple.

Store the bag in the refrigerator: Once the bag is well sealed, keep it in the fridge for at least 3 months. After 3 months, the seed will sprout.

Sowing the seeds It is recommended that you check out how drained your soil is before sowing the seeds. All you need to do is to dig a hole of12- to 18-inches (30- to 46-cm) deep and wide and to fill it with water.

Practically the only way to propagate crabapple trees is to use stem cuttings. Take softwood cuttings in late spring or early summer. In most conditions, crabapple cuttings root quite quickly, and should be ready to transplant by early fall. Make sure the cutting has a pliant stem and several sets of young leaves.

Feeder roots, which extend the furthest from the tree, typically extend two to three times this distance. For example, if the dripline is 8 feet from the trunk of the tree, the roots will likely extend 16 to 24 feet from the crabapple’s trunk.

Crabapple trees need about 1 inch of water every week during their first year. You need to make sure you’re watering the tree regularly during the first year because the tree is establishing itself during this time period and once it has, you don’t have to be worried about watering it.

30 to 70 years

Signs of a Dying Crabapple Tree

1. Foliage Symptoms. A change in the look or color of crabapple tree leaves is the first sign of a problem.
2. Branch Death. Infections by fungi or viruses spread across the crabapple tree from their point of entrance, such as a bark injury.
3. Trunk Issues.
4. Reduced Vigor.
5. Unusual Flowering.

15 to 20 feet tall

Your crabapple might be an alternate-year bloomer. It is quite normal for some cultivars to flower and fruit only once every two years. Or to bloom lightly one year and abundantly only the next.

Crabapple trees are known for their beauty as an ornamental tree in the home landscape. They cover their branches in blooms for two to three weeks every spring, if undisturbed by wind or rain.

Sunlight: Crabapple trees require full sunlight and a too shady location may be the culprit when a crabapple isn’t flowering. Although crabapples don’t require heavy pruning, proper pruning in spring can ensure sunlight reaches all parts of the tree.

Crabapple trees need full sun to have enough energy to produce fruit. If the tree is in a shaded area, it may not be able to flower. If the tree forms buds in early spring and there is a late frost or freeze, the buds can be killed. If the buds die, the flowers will not form.

The answer is a fungal disease called apple scab. A fungus called Venturia inaequalis infects crabapple leaves early in the spring. As the fungus grows in the developing leaves, it causes purplish-brown spots, often clustered along the leaf veins.

Spring fungicide applications – For trees that are highly susceptible to the apple scab fungus, annual fungicide treatments are the best option. These treatments are applied as leaves emerge throughout spring and early summer, and can protect them from infection by fungal spores.

10-10-10 fertilizer

Prevention & Treatment: Prune out branches or infected twigs early in the season. If disease is severe enough to warrant chemical control, choose one of the following fungicides for use on apple trees and crabapple trees: thiophanate-methyl, myclobutanil, a copper fungicide or sulfur.

A: It could be apple scab, which is a plant disease caused by the fungus Venturia inaequalis. It also could be a rust fungus known as cedar-apple rust.

During its first year of growth, crabapple trees need regular watering. Keep the soil evenly moist over the root zone, about an inch per week. Once it is well established, crabapples are very drought tolerant and shouldn’t need supplemental watering unless the season is extremely dry.

Instead, apple scab first appears on the undersides of the leaves of the blossom clusters. These fuzzy, roughly circular, brown to dark olive green lesions may cause leaves to distort or crinkle. Scabs can be small and few, or so numerous that leaf tissues are completely covered in a velvety mat.

Apples with scab are perfectly fine on the inside, and still good to eat. The apple interior is not affected, so look for recipes that will use your apples peeled and cooked.

Apple scab is caused by the fungus Venturia inaequalis. In spite of severe leaf drop, apple scab rarely kills a tree. If severe defoliation occurs for several years the tree could be weakened, making it vulnerable to other problems. Scab can cause cosmetic blemishes on the fruit.

Spray fungicide – Bonide Captan, wettable sulfur, summer lime sulfur or Spectracide Immunox – when temperatures are above 60 degrees and the leaves or blooms are wet.

Several fungicides are available for controlling apple scab. These include fixed copper, Bordeaux mixtures, copper soaps (copper octanoate), sulfur, and mineral or neem oils. Generally copper or Bordeaux sprays should be used only from green tip to full bloom.

The best time to prune apple trees is in late winter or very early spring before any new growth starts. The tree takes up a dormant state after shedding its leaves and before sprouting new buds.