Crabapple Trees

[deerhunter5555]

Has any one had any success with planting crabapple trees for deer. I'm going to plant regular apples and was thinking of planting crabapples as well. I thought maybe the crabapples would be a little more disease resistant and easier to care for.

[GSP]

They are GREAT habitat. The fruit is just one issue. They provide some excellent cover for small game and deer. Plant them in a small area and let'um go. You will actually create more of a quality bedding area vs: foodplot. I have about a 1/3 acre plot of them, you can always kick something out of there

BTW, you can't kill them things if you tried!

Edited by - gsp on 02/27/2002 4:34:48 PM

[KYhunter]

Crabapples will be great. I also never realized how many different varieties there are. I would get semi-dwarf(as opposed to dwarf). Couple tips- makes sure the types you get bear fruit(some are just flowering). Different types ripen at different times. Some are self-pollinating and some need a male and female. I have a study done in SE Ohio that showed crabapples to be the most in digestive tract, eventhough the biologists did not realize there were that many crabapples around.