I have been watching a seedling grow along the edge of highway 14 for a couple of years. This year it produced fruit for the first time, so this morning I stopped and picked some. They don't look like regular apples, I am guessing that it is a crab apple? I tasted one, it is very tart and very sweet.
It is growing in a brutal spot, at the bottom of a south facing bedrock slope. The soil is pretty shallow. So this is a tough tree. I am thinking of taking some cuttings in February, which is why I wanted to check out the fruit.
jafar said
The fruit are beautiful Dave. I wonder if the conditions contribute to the flavor.I'm interested to follow how they do for you.
Could be. I am quite amazed that it survives the summers in that spot.
I forgot to mention that the fruit is very hard, 1.0-1.5 inches diameter. The flesh is juicy with a strong tart + sweet flavor.
Do any of you use crab apples? For what purpose?
jafar said
I haven'tf used crabapples, but I look at those and the first thing that came to mind is them pickled whole. They'd need to be without codling moth.
I saw no evidence of any bugs, probably because they are very hard. I too can picture them as some kind of candied dessert.
Those are lovely apples.
I could see making apple sauce with them. Cut in half. Use slow cooker method. When tender, run through a food mill to remove seeds. That's what I do with windfall apples and some are pretty small.
There's a crab apple on the road to my place in Battle Ground, near Daybreak Park. Nice bright red apples. But they taste terrible. Bitter. I thought about collecting scion, and use as a pollinator. Pretty tree.
That sounds like a great apple, Dave M.
I would love to get my hands on some of those scions.
I am a huge fan of crabapples. Maybe I should say that I am a medium-sized enthusiastic fan of crabapples.
Strong sweet and strong tart is my favorite flavor profile.
I just eat the crabapples as apples-fresh in the orchard mostly.
Crabapples are the most nutritious of apples.
If their small size and density keeps away codling moth-all the better.
One of my theories is that strong flavor and nutrition can be compensated for by small volume.
That's one method I'm trying to use to become skinnier.
Results so far are mixed.
I used to be skinny, but I think the extra weight just slowly snacked up on me.
Let me know Dave M, if you've got some extra scions.
John S
PDX OR
In Febrary I will set some scions aside for anyone who wants them.
I shared some of the apples with a friend who owns a restaurant in town. He wants to try using them in various ways at his restaurant. I told him that since it is a seedling, we should come up with a name. We decided to name it after his restaurant, "hey jack," (yes with a comma - the name is like a greeting).
Dave M: Those look true to the kind of "ranetka" hybrid apple (malus: domestica X baccatta) as (by the description) you can get. It is an old idea of the russians to use them as hardier rootstocks to graft better cultivars to in northern climates to make better use of northern orchards and it is still a common practice in interior Alaska.
John: I found recently on the internet that these hybrids and the true to type siberian baccattas are higher in vitamin C and possibly other nutrients.
One would expect to find many feral ranetka apples along places people travel because many an apple farmer use m baccatta ungrafted in each row to pollinate the marketable apples. They are smaller and more bush like. It looks funny to see them in the apple rows looking like overloaded hawthornes. The cultivated Alaska forms of baccatta are extremely variable and long lasting on the tree. Some are so sugary they stay sweet like raisins one year later. I now have my own best selections.
Thanks Rooney for the great info. The tree does look like a bush, but it is also very young.
I put a bunch of them in my dehydrator today. Most have just one seed or no seed. Out of about 150 apples, 2 had started going bad. I had a hard time cutting some of them, a few were quite hard. I should have used a shorter, tougher knife.
Hi davem,
Those are beautiful fruits! They appear to be virtually pest and disease-free, and it definitely looks like something worth propagating and testing. I'd be interested in a scion me-self.
I agree with Rooney that it looks like -- and I would guess, is -- a cross between a true crabapple (M. baccata) and a "typical" apple (M. x domestica). A crabapple seed would be the more likely to have been disseminated by a bird, and the bird wouldn't have had a clue that the pollen parent was a large, unwieldy apple more likely to have its seed dispersed by a human, a deer, or a coyote.
I've recently gotten more interested in the sparing use of "apple-crabs" in cider making. They are often -- despite their size -- proportionately high in sugars, but also high in malic acid and/or tannins. If appropriately mixed with other apples, they can often make a superior cider of distinction. Some experimentation might be in order.
Quite some years ago now, I remember reading a brief article by someone (-- it must've been in an issue of Pomona, published by NAFEX --) In which the author distinguished between crabapples (which we think of as small-fruited and usually grown as ornamentals), apples (which we think of as reasonably large and grown for eating or cooking), and "apple-crabs", which are hybrids between them and generally intermediate in size. I don't know whether such a scheme is used very widely, but I have often thought that it was a useful distinction.
I'll definitely watch for the Hey Jack to show up amid the HOS scions!
Reinettes.
On crabapples, I'm ignorant about this so looked it up. Interesting article about the various types of crabs. I recall that in the PRI (Purdue Rutgers Illinois) program that brought many tasty disease resistant apples, the disease resistant species was mainly Malus floribunda, which are decorative crab apple trees
I cut about 15 scions from the "hey jack," tree today, I'll put them in the refrigerator tonight.
It is looking like I won't make it to the propogation fair this year, otherwise I'd say we could meet up there. Perhaps I could bring them to someone in my area (east or south Clark County WA) who is going? I was also planning to bring some Miss Jessamine apple scions as usual.
davem said
I cut about 15 scions from the "hey jack," tree today, I'll put them in the refrigerator tonight.It is looking like I won't make it to the propogation fair this year, otherwise I'd say we could meet up there. Perhaps I could bring them to someone in my area (east or south Clark County WA) who is going? I was also planning to bring some Miss Jessamine apple scions as usual.
I split my time between Battleground and west side Vancouver. Planning to attend scion exchange unless something stops me. Happy to take your scions there. I dont know how to private message here.
I have some scions to give away too if anyone wants them. Pawpaw NC1 and Sunflower, Yates and Nikitas Gift persimmons, and Northpole apple.
DanielW said
I split my time between Battleground and west side Vancouver. Planning to attend scion exchange unless something stops me. Happy to take your scions there. I dont know how to private message here.
I have some scions to give away too if anyone wants them. Pawpaw NC1 and Sunflower, Yates and Nikitas Gift persimmons, and Northpole apple.
That would be great Daniel. I work in Hazel Dell right next to I-5 so it sounds like that area might work. If you use Facebook messenger you can reach me: https://m.me/dave.miller.7545
Dave I livenear there and use the Hazel Dell fred meyer a couple times a week. Im not on facebook. I posted a question on the forum as to whether its possible to private message someone on the forum.
It is possible for members on the growingfruit.org forum to private message one another. I am on there as bear_with_me.
Hi guys,
Sorry to hear that you can't make it this year davem. I hope that you and Daniel can work something out to make the scions available. I've got Hey Jack on my "intended acquisition" list. Still trying to figure out my rootstock purchases and scion acquisitions for this year. Had intended to order some rare apple cultivars from the national germplasm collection this winter, but can't do so because of our president's "hissy-fit" which has shut down so many important branches of the government. 
Tim
John S said
Yes, get them to us and we can get them labeled and ready to be used. Thanks for doing that!
John S
PDX OR
There is already a label for "Miss Jessamine". Often I will give them to one of the volunteers while I am waiting for the doors to open. One year I had someone who really wanted Miss Jessamine scions but they never found them, because they were in line ahead of me and only made one pass through the apples 🙁
I know of 5 people who want "hey jack,", that will leave about 10 scions for general consumption.
I stopped tonight and cut a nice bag of scions from the "hey jack," tree. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it to the propogation fair this year but hopefully I can get them down there somehow.
Last weekend I cut a bunch of "Miss Jessamine" scions to go to the event also. I am thinking more and more that the parent apple may be Opal.
Speaking of Opal, a couple of years ago I grew some Opal seeds and got 6 seedlings. Last year I took cuttings and grafted them onto my mature trees. I think they all took. So maybe next year I will have some new varieties to try.
Somehow I managed to lose track of the scions I got years ago. I think I failed to connect the name with the scions at a time when a lot was going on.
In any case, I'd like a couple scions if convenient.
Did I already ask if that is seedless, and whether they get codling moth or apple maggot?
Seems like they would be great for pickling.
I think you gave me fruit and they were even prettier in person.
jafar said
Did I already ask if that is seedless, and whether they get codling moth or apple maggot?
I want to say they do have seeds but I really don't remember. I have never seen any kind of pests on them. The fruit is quite firm, and ripens late which may explain the lack of pests.
I'll set aside some scions for you. Send me a PM if you're going to be down this way sometime.
Idyllwild
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
John S
1 Guest(s)