Japanese crab apple

Japanese crab apple: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Small tree about 6 m high with a broad, dome-shaped crown up to 7 m wide and slightly arching twigs.

Leaves

Oval, 4–8 cm, finely toothed, sometimes lobed on vigorous shoots; dark green.

Flowers

Crimson buds opening into pale pink to white, lightly scented flowers of 2.5–3 cm, in April–May.

Fruit

Crab apples of about 1 cm, yellow, sometimes flushed red, on long stalks; birds eat them in autumn and winter.

Trunk

Often a short trunk with a low, wide crown, like an umbrella.

Flowering: April–May · Harvest and fruit: October–November · Plants: March–April and October–December · Pruning: January–February and July

Why grow it?

• One of the most free-flowering crab apples: pink buds and white flowers on the tree at the same time.
• Bees and bumblebees find plenty of nectar and pollen in April–May.
• The small crab apples are winter food for blackbirds, thrushes and other birds.
• A good pollinator for nearby apple trees.
• Very hardy and not very prone to scab.
• A graceful specimen tree with a broad crown that gives shade in summer.

Japanese crab apple: where does it grow best?

• Sun or light partial shade; it flowers most freely in sun.
• Any well-drained soil: sand, loam or clay, acid to chalky.
• Moist but not wet; avoid soil that stays waterlogged for long.
• Give it room: at least 4 m from a house wall and 6–7 m from other trees.

Light

Sun and partial shade

Soil type

Sand, loam or clay

Acidity

Not fussy

Moisture

Normal

Size

6 m tall, 7 m wide

Hardiness

Hardy (to -30 °C)

Goes well with

• Daffodils: Yellow flowers under the crown in early spring.
• Forget-me-nots: A sea of soft blue beneath the pink blossom.
• Hardy geranium: A flowering underplanting in summer, even in the shade of the crown.
• Crocuses: An early ring of colour around the trunk.

Japanese crab apple: when and how to plant it?

Plant in March–April and October–December.

1. Plant from October to December or in March–April. Plant bare-root trees only while they are dormant and leafless.
2. Dig a hole twice as wide as the root ball or roots, and loosen the bottom.
3. First drive a stake into the hole, on the side of the prevailing wind.
4. Set the tree at the same depth as it grew in the nursery; the graft union, the swelling at the base of the trunk, stays above ground.
5. Backfill with soil and some compost, firm it and fix the trunk to the stake with a tree tie.
6. Water in straight away with 10–20 litres and mulch in a circle around the trunk.

Care

Watering

For the first two years, a good bucketful every week in dry spells. After that only in long dry periods.

Feeding

In March, compost or organic feed in a circle under the crown.

Mulching

Keep a 1 m circle around the trunk free of grass and mulch it every spring.

Stake

Check the tree tie every year and remove stake and tie after 2–3 years.

Suckers

Cut off shoots from the rootstock at the base of the trunk straight away.

Tip: Plant it near your apple trees: it flowers freely and for a long time, which means better pollination and more apples.

Japanese crab apple: when to prune it?

Pruning months: January–February and July.

When: In winter, in January–February, to shape the crown. Cut out water shoots in July.

How:

• Remove dead, diseased and crossing branches, and branches growing inwards.
• Keep the crown open so that light and air get in and the leaves dry quickly.
• In July, cut off the upright water shoots on the branches.
• Otherwise prune lightly: hard pruning mainly produces lots of new water shoots.

Caution: Do not prune in spring: you would cut off the blossom.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Grafting

In nurseries, crab apples are grafted onto an apple rootstock. If you want to try, graft a twig onto a young rootstock in February–March.

Seed

Seed germinates after a cold winter outdoors, but does not produce identical plants. Fun to try, but not a way to propagate the tree.

Japanese crab apple: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −30 °C.

• Very hardy, to about −30 °C: no protection is needed.
• The crab apples often hang on for a long time and attract birds to the garden in winter.
• After a storm, check the stake and tie on young trees.
• Winter is the time for formative pruning and for planting bare-root trees.

Diseases and pests

• Powdery mildew: White powder on young leaves and shoot tips. Cut off affected tips and keep the crown open.
• Scab: Olive-brown spots on leaves and fruit. Uncommon on this species; clear up fallen leaves in autumn.
• Aphids: Curled leaves at the shoot tips in spring. Ladybirds, earwigs and tits usually clear them up.
• Canker: Sunken, cracking patches on the branches. Cut out affected branches back to healthy wood, in dry weather.

Through the year

• January: Formative pruning: remove dead and crossing branches. Birds eat the crab apples.
• February: Finish pruning. Plant bare-root trees.
• March: Planting. Spread compost under the crown.
• April: Blossom. Watch for aphids.
• May: End of flowering. Water young trees in dry spells.
• July: Cut out water shoots. Watch for powdery mildew.
• September: The crab apples turn yellow.
• October: Planting. Clear up fallen leaves.
• November: Planting.
• December: Planting. Birds eat the crab apples.

Edible and useful

Fruit (October–November)

The fruits of the Japanese crab apple are small, about 1 cm, yellow and sometimes flushed red, on long stalks. Pick them in October and November, when they are well coloured and starting to soften. Raw they are sour and astringent, but they are full of pectin: cooked, they make a clear, amber jelly, and a juice that helps strawberry or cherry jam to set. Feel free to mix them with windfall apples or the fruits of other crab apples. Always leave a good share on the tree: blackbirds, thrushes and other birds eat them well into winter.

Storing

The little apples keep for a few weeks somewhere cool and airy or in the salad drawer of the fridge. You can also freeze them whole until you have enough for jelly; they go soft when frozen, but that does not matter for cooking.

Caution: Apple pips contain amygdalin, which can release hydrogen cyanide: for jelly and pectin stock they stay behind in the cloth, but never purée or blend the apples with their pips. Only pick from your own tree, not from crab apples in parks and public green spaces, which are often treated, and not along busy roads. Throw away rotten or mouldy fruits. People allergic to apple or birch pollen may react to the raw fruits. Never eat anything you have not identified with certainty.

Eating and using is at your own risk: see the terms of use.

Recipes

• Crab apple jelly (Jelly · ± 4 jars of 250 ml · 1 hr + overnight draining)
• Crab apple pectin stock (Other · ± 500 ml · 1 hr 30 min + overnight draining)

Good for wildlife

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Birds

Berries, seeds or insects as food, or a place to nest.

Did you know?

• Floribunda means ‘flowering abundantly’, and it does.
• A gene for resistance to apple scab comes from this crab apple; breeders have used it to develop scab-resistant apple varieties.
• Because they flower so freely and for so long, crab apples are sometimes planted among the apple trees in orchards as pollinators.