It is so funny how this video comes out just as I am making decisions on my own crab apple saplings. I made the mistake of transferring them to pots far too early and so am now going to return them to pond baskets and put them in the nursery bed for a couple more years - silly me. I really enjoyed this episode and can confirm that I too suffer with a sort of wooly aphid that creates those lumpy galls. Drive sme nuts ot be honest! Thanks again for a great video, Xav
@@Bonsaify you are correct about that, i live by a bunch of orchards but never put 2 and 2 together. We even go to gather firewood there in late fall from all the trees hard trimmed back.
There is a crab apple tree out front of my apartment window that fruits every year. Beautiful pink blush flowers followed by little tiny fruit. Seedlings grow every year but maintenance weed whacks them mid summer.
Been meaning to ask but I keep forgetting, what brands of pond basket are these? My larger square ones are fine, but the smaller round ones I bought have wider air gaps and they don't hold smaller soil particles. I think the particle size is too coarse for a lot of my trees as a consequence. Also, I appreciate these pruning videos. It's my favorite thing to do with my own trees, but I obviously can't be cutting all the time, so the satisfaction of watching you remove flawed branches and roots helps scratch that itch, haha. I really like the tree from the middle of the video - I agree it's the most interesting. If it goes up for sale eventually I might try to grab it!
I bought them from an eBay seller a couple years ago. Looks like they are no longer listed. The brand is "Finofil" and is from England. The plastic is much better than any other that I've purchased in the US. I should mention - while I'm using a lot of these, I'm not convinced they are superior to the fabric grow bags. But I need to do more experimentation. It would also perhaps depend a bit on your local climate. Since we have very dry summers, the larger holes make them dry out a bit too fast.
More Oxygen for roots. Roots will grow out of the holes and die off and in response the tree will create more fine feeder roots close to the trunk ("air pruning").
Hi, I started collecting hundreds of seeds and cuttings (crab apple, hawthorn, junipers, Jap Maples) this year as a backyard hobby with the intent to 'casually' sell small bonsai's locally just see what happens. I'm curious what are your best sellers? I'm assuming small flowering crabapples $20-$40 would be popular. I have no idea how to price them. There are no bonsai shops anywhere (regionally) that I know of. Thoughts?
I think there are strong regional preferences, so you should look at what is growing well near you and go from there. People in the northeast grow a lot more maples and hawthorns than we do here in CA.
Ah, thanks for the reminder! I'll do another video on crabapple root cuttings. But generally root cuttings can be buried in soil, showing just the top cut, then treated like any plant. I've had good success with Chinese elm but have not tried apple until now.
No, I don't think so. Although it wouldn't hurt. With elms the new buds actually emerge directly from the exposed cambium, but I'm guessing apples will shoot a bud from below the cut, not right at it. Will see when I try it. If it buds from the cambium then the paste could actually inhibit the budding.
Not a named cultivar - these are seedlings of Malus sylvestris, European crabapple. Generally we use seeds and cuttings for our stock because grafting is problematic. There is some variation in the genetics but as I mentioned in the video, the one potentially problematic thing is the reliability of flowering....which is still TBD.
Smaller leaves and smaller apples? And - ostensibly more reliable blooming. I've also grown regular apple varieties. But remember, edible apples are bred to be larger and more productive, crabapples are closer to a wild-type tree.
