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How to grow crab apples
- BBC Gardeners' World Magazine
Published: Monday, 13 January 2020 at 2:23 pm
Find out all you need to know about growing crab apples, in this detailed Grow Guide.
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Crab apples are great garden trees. They look good all year round, with pretty blossom in spring, followed by small, ornamental apples, red or yellow in colour, and the autumn foliage also puts on a good show. The tiny apple fruits are edible, although not in their raw state, but can be made into delicious crab apple jellies and sauces. The apples can also be used in decorations, such as Christmas decorations and autumn wreaths. Crab apple trees are also quite compact in size, which makes them one of the best trees for small gardens. They are hard-working trees: attractive, productive and good for wildlife.
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Where to plant crab apples
How to grow crab apples - crab apples on the tree
Crab apples are hardy trees and tolerant of a range of soils, but will grow best in moist, well-drained soil in full sun to partial shade.
In this short clip from Gardeners' World, Monty Don shows you how to plant a crab apple tree, offering advice on what size hole to dig to encourage the roots to spread out, how deep to plant it, and how to stake it. He also recommends two choice varieties – yellow-fruited Malus 'Comtesse de Paris' and orange Malus 'Evereste' – which he's adding to his Cottage Garden:
How to plant crab apples
How to grow crab apples - planting a bare-root crab apple
Choose a sunny site, making sure that there will be room for the branches to develop. Prepare the soil then dig a square hole, hammer in a tree stake and position the tree. Check that the 'graft point' – a bulge on the stem where the rootstock was grafted on – sits just above soil level. Fill in the planting hole and firm around the roots to get rid of any air pockets. Secure the stem to the stake and water well.
How to care for crab apples
For the first few years, make sure your newly planted crab apple tree is well watered in dry periods. Always give a mulch of well-rotted manure or compost in spring and prune in late winter to remove any dead, dying, diseased or crossing branches.
How to propagate crab apples
It’s possible to propagate crab apple trees by taking softwood cuttings in late spring or early summer. Start crab apple cuttings after the flowers have fallen. More commonly crab apples are propagated by grafting.
Growing crab apples - problem solving
Like larger apple trees, crab apples can be affected by woolly aphid, fruit tree red spider mite, caterpillars and apple tree diseases such as apple scab, apple canker, powdery mildews, fireblight and honey fungus.
Crab apple varieties to try
How to grow crab apples - Crab apple 'Winter Gold'
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- Malus ‘Evereste’ – red buds open to reveal white flowers in spring, followed by reddish, orange-yellow fruits in autumn. This colourful crab apple has a good conical shape.
- Malus ‘Winter Gold’ - with white spring flowers and yellow fruit; the dark green leaves have good autumn colouring.
- Malus x robusta ‘Red Sentinel’ – a highly ornamental crab apple with pink-white flowers in late spring, followed by glossy, red crab apples stay on the branches longer than usual, well into winter.
- Malus ‘Pink Glow’ – this crab apple produces single, white flowers in spring, followed by larger-than-average dark pink fruits in summer.
- Malus ‘Comtesse de Paris’ - this crab apple has pink buds, followed by white flowers, then very attractive, bright yellow, slightly oval-shaped fruits, that stay on the branches well into winter.
- Malus 'Wisley Crab' – the leaves emerge bronze-red, turning dark green as the season progresses. Delicately scented, reddish-purple flowers appear in spring followed by dark red fruits that are larger than average.
- Malus sylvestris - this crab apple can also be grown as part of a hedge, with white-pink blossom emerging in spring.
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