Malus Or crab apple are small to medium-sized deciduous trees with showy flowers in spring and ornamental or edible fruit in autumn. Malus grow wel...
View full detailsMalus Or crab apple are small to medium-sized deciduous trees with showy flowers in spring and ornamental or edible fruit in autumn. Malus grow we...
View full detailsSmall to medium sized deciduous trees, and a huge family with lots of varieties in, these are not to be confused with the Malus Domestica which are cultivated eating / cooking apples.
Although you can eat most crab apples, but you may be in for a shock when you get the tart and tangy flavour and not a sweet apple taste. For this reason, they are mainly harvested to make jams/jellies or they can be roasted and served with meat.
Crab apple trees have a range of features this being:
Most varieties tend to be dwarf trees so are perfect for small gardens with their neat compact shape, perfect as a standalone specimen or in the border where you can colour match to really bring out the bright blossom colours in spring.
Crab apples are adaptable but thrive best in moist, moderately fertile well-drained soil. They can be planted in partial shade, but full sun (8 hours of direct sun) is required for the best show of fruits and flowers. They are very hardy plants and can withstand a cold UK winter.
They require a lot of watering during the growing season especially during the flowering and fruiting periods. Once they are fully established this can be relaxed slightly just checking during prolonged dry spells. With crab apples you can soon see if they are struggling as the leaves do droop and can turn brown
This can be done in late winter, trim out any dead, damaged or diseased branches or simply maintain the head structure
A general purpose balanced granular can be used in spring, avoid ones with high nitrogen during the flowering / fruiting period
They can suffer with aphids; caterpillars just treat as you need to
