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dolgo crab apples?

has anyone planted dolgo for deer?

They are on my list of to plant trees.....unfortunately that list has about the 1000 other things as well! Haha

Anyways, they''re supposed to be a great tree but as pat mentioned, you will need to protect them for a while. Depending on the size and location, I have heard 5-7 years will begin getting decent crops and it should only get better.

My parents live in town, on the edge of town, and their 40+ year old crabapple tree gets absolutely hammered all year long. Dad never has to go pickup apples...lol.

We constantly see deer in their front yard.

I would plant them...and protect them for sure. mom and dads is established and old so just the fruit gets eaten. They do have to protect all their other young trees.

the trees im planning on buying are 9-10 feet biggest i could find that wasn't an arm and leg for shipping

Where are you planning on ordering them from?

At that size they may have fruit from year 1!

ty ty nursery planted in spring 2015 will have fruit 2016

I have several. They were bareroot and were planted about 8 years ago. Still waiting for production. All trees have been caged.

Does anyone know if they are resistant to apple-cedar rust? The Southern Crab apples I have planted here in West Central Alabama do well for a few years and even begin producing fruit that the deer like, but eventually most succumb to this disease and die as we are covered up with cedar trees on my property. Same deal with regular apple trees. I have to find one that is resistant or it's toast after a few years.

I bought Kerr, Whitney, and Chestnut. These fruits are supposed to be a little larger than Dolgo and Dolgo is also a biennial producer. Surround them in a 5 foot fenced cage, protect the bottom 12-18" in wire mesh for rodent girdling the bark, 1 layer of landscape fabric covered by a layer of pea gravel and you are all set except for fertilizing and spraying. If you plant them "right" the maintenance is really not that bad. I have lots of other apple trees, but only bought the crabs this past year. I put them in large pots and I plan to transplant into my plot this spring.

http://www.wolfraths.com/garden-center/item/10-fruit-trees-seedlings-transplants

I planted these dolgo crabs in Illinois and put wire pens around them. They put out a lot of apples for their size, but the fruit ripens in late August early September. That time of year there is less of a need for food since abundant variety are available for deer. I much prefer apples that hang on to the tree and drop in late fall or early winter like the Arkansas Black. Mike

Don't forget to consider pears. Excellent attraction and later in year, during hunting season.

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