You need some raccoons. They'd clean that up in no time.

Some of the best jelly I've ever had is really tart crabapple. And, if you don't care for it, the jars make wonderful Christmas gifts for the people who last year, gave you violet scented candles. (No disrespect to scented candle aficionados)

Hee hee.. raccoons. I think I'll pass! It's just this summer that I'm FINALLY able to enjoy being rid of the bunnies!

A friend told me that robins like to eat the crabapples, but robins only visit my yard in the spring. I read that robins really like fruit, so maybe they hang around when there are other fruit trees in the area. And I don't have any.

Hmm. And I'm not much of a cook. But I would certainly be very happy to donate all that fruit to anyone who wants it.

That would be the downside of crabs - the fall cleanup. The fungal problems these trees often have will appreciate it if you leave the fruits on the ground so they can have a base from which to attack the tree next year.

Dan

Ohh. I didn't know crabapple trees had fungal problems..the fungus attacks the roots?

No, foliage and fruit. Fireblight, scab, blights...

Dan

Alicia,
I think that tree is beautiful. That spring color makes a little raking in the fall worth it. Once you accept that they are shorter lived and more problem prone you can just enjoy them for what they are, ornamental!
2 years ago I had what I think was a fireblight ooze on an ancient peach (tree was here when we moved in 20+ years ago, cut most of it down and it is now suckering, the roots on this thing are unbelievable!) and this year the golden del. apple downwind of the peach has an ooze. Last fall my mare backed herself into this apple tree for a butt scratch and cracked off the interior top half of the tree. Gave a nice opening for disease. I'm thinking I should just rip it out, as it is purely a Charlie Brown tree now. Sorry to go off on a tangent, I really appreciate the pictures of a pretty crabapple tree!
Barb

One of our dogs loves apples... Better that he eats them than goose poop. Which I have got to constantly stop him doing when we go for walks. When I left work today the geese were munching away at the crab apples.

Along with TreeBarb, I second that your tree is absolutely beautiful in spring, and well worth the effort of having to rake up the crabapples in fall! If you don't want to use them, you could always offer the crabapples on FreeCycle, or (you're in the Metro Denver area, aren't you?) there's a site called the Denver Plant Exchange where there's ALWAYS somebody that will take whatever you have to give away!

When you're out raking up the crabapples, just keep thinking about how beautiful it's gonna be next spring!

Skybird

Posted by treebarb Z5 CO (My Page) on Mon, Oct 11, 10 at 11:56

"Alicia,
I think that tree is beautiful. That spring color makes a little raking in the fall worth it. Once you accept that they are shorter lived and more problem prone you can just enjoy them for what they are, ornamental!
.... I really appreciate the pictures of a pretty crabapple tree!
Barb"

Thank you Barb!
I didn't realize that they have a short life! It must be about 14 years old now. Here's how it looked when I first saw it in 2006:

And this is from 2008.

I've had Arvada Tree Service out 2 times since I moved in, and I think it's looking better. Is there anything else you know of that will help it last longer?

How long is their usual lifespan? Do you know?

Out here you should expect a lifespan of ~25 years-ish. You definitely see neighborhoods that have 35 y.o. but after that a sharp decline. Not the best tree for the plains, but nice while they last.

Dan

Alicia,
I think you are using a good tree service. It's harder to find them than you would think, so keep a good relationship with them. The tree forum has many posts from people who weren't happy with the job their tree service did. Did Arvada tree service treat or prune out the limbs on the right side of the 2006 picture? Those limbs look like goners, but in the after pictures they look healthy. I'm curious how they handled that. The only other things I can think of are keeping a wide swath of mulch around the tree, a couple of feet from the trunk, but keep the mulch a few inches away from the trunk of the tree. It looks like there were some pavers around the base of the tree in the 06 photo, which I think generally is not a good idea. To clarify, if the pavers were put in when the tree was planted that's probably ok, the roots will find their way around (under) them, but plopping pavers over an existing root system is not a good idea. Water during times like the last 2 months here.
You should know before taking advice from me, that I've only been planting trees for 5 years and have made some really embarrassing mistakes while learning. Most of what I've learned has come from folks like Dan on the tree forum.
Your tree is in it's prime and you are taking good care of it. Like Dan said, you can plan on getting another good 5-10 years from this tree and then you can plan for it's replacement.
Take advice from Skybird and Dan to the bank and know what I say comes mostly from books I've read.
Dseiber, your post cracked me up. A good description of the cycle of life. Goose cr@@ makes the world go round!
Barb

Treebarb, I'm so relieved that I lucked out with my tree service! Yes, they cut off that dead branch, as well as the suckers all around the base of the tree. I took another shot of the yard yesterday from the same location as the one from 2006.

2006

Yesterday

It's still not as healthy as the rest of the tree, but it's looking better, I think.

Jeremy, wow, your situation sounds familiar! I don't know which is worse... all over the sidewalk, or all over the grass!

As an urban forester, we are trained and reinforced and CEUd and written to and told and complained to that crabs by pavement is an awful idea. If you see them over traffic areas, that is a landscape architect's doing, not an urban forester.

I wish our backyard was that big. I'd have 2x the veggie garden I have now, minimum.

Dan

Yeah, the lot is about 9000 sq ft. total. One of my FAVORITE things about the yard is no neighbors to the north or the east sides of the fence! You can sorta see the new evergreen bed on the north side of the back yard. At some point, I would like to extend the flagstone out a few more feet to the right. My veggie plot is behind me, from where I stood taking the pictures.

It sure seems like it would make sense to not plant crabapple trees near pavement, after all the work it's caused me. My house was built in 1932 so I'm not sure how long the trees have been there, but likely before anyone was thinking about urban forestry. Wish they had though!

Some of the talk about how they only last 25 years or so makes me wonder how old mine are. They appear to be holding up the steep 45 degree slope of my front yard, so I would have guessed they've been there as long as the house, but perhaps not. They're probably 30-40 feet tall.