Acer:

We would all like to keep things simple, and if there were a certain tree that practically eliminated "fuss" we would all be growing it. Any apple tree, and nearly all fruit trees, require a certain minimum level of care. This care does not necessarily mean frequent spraying with toxic chemicals, but it does mean figuring out ways to achieve the same objectives by other means. Some people use a non-toxic crop protectant called "Surround"; others, like me, prefer to use chemical sprays early against the worst insects, then bag the apples in sandwich bags to protect them for the balance of the season.

Whether or not this would be a good kid's project depends on the kids. Are they interested enough to do some study and learn to care for a tree, or is that going to fall to you? Are the kids mature enough to take on this responsibility?

Hardiness is not an issue for you. In Western NC you can grow just about any apple tree you want. And buying a tree grafted on a size-controlling dwarf rootstock takes care of the confined space requirement, although most fully dwarfed trees require some external support such as a post or strong steel stakes because of their limited root structures. Ease of picking is a feature of dwarf trees, but with a larger, semi-dwarf tree you might eventually have to use a ladder. Very few apple trees are even partially self-fertile, but there are usually enough other apple trees or decorative crabs in the neighborhood to take care of pollination.

Grimes Golden is a wonderful old apple with fine flavor, but lacks any red blush. It is also subject to moldy core because of its peculiarly open calyx end. But it would still be a good choice for your climate. Gala is another highly flavored apple that is fairly easy to grow and has a nice color scheme, with the newer sports nearly all red.

Apple trees can make pretty attractive landscape specimens if they are pruned and protected against the most serious apple diseases like fireblight, cedar apple rust, mildews, and scab. You won't necessarily see all of these diseases, but it is more than likely you will see some of them. Insect damage on apples is almost a given where you live unless some form of protection is found.

I encourage you to plant an apple tree, but there are no simple apple trees designed for kids. I can't tell you how many hours I have spent "fussing" over my trees, and you could argue that I more or less know what I am doing.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Honestly, I'd grow a small fruit (strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, or raspberry) before I'd try apples for a kid's project. In general, they have less insect problems, and are easier to grow (pruning blueberries, for example, is much easier to do correctly than pruning apples, IMO) than apples. Also, small fruits tend to bear fruit in fewer years than apples do.

Have you thought of a flavorful crabapple tree? They are ornamental for landscaping, put on a big show in the spring. On the right rootstock, they would fill in the space in your landscape without getting too big. The fruit are small- kid sized, and abundant, so they can be shared with the whole neighborhood. Whole Foods had some crabapples last fall that were fully as delicious as their best apples, perhaps more so. An apple expert suggested they might be the Wickson crabapple. The Centennial crab is supposed to be good eating as well. The apple trees Pitmaston Pineapple, Pixie, Pixie Crunch are also small apples that are very sweet, but regular apple trees might need a little maintenance in your area, as Jellyman suggested. He really knows what he is doing.

I'll second the motion for the edible crab, and Centennial is a good one - small tasty apples, not too tart, and in my orchard, has been relatively productive and disease resistant. I don't do any sprays and minimal pruning, and it has been a 'winner' for me - good quality fruit with minimal disease/pest damage.
It's so old now that I don't recall what rootstock mine is on(it came from Edible Landscaping Nursery), and at 12+ years is still less than than 8 ft tall, but hasn't required staking - and about the only pruning it's experienced, after the first year or two, has been collection of scions to graft new trees or to share with friends.

lucky-

How many years did it take to start fruiting?

Do crabs come on dwarfing rootstock?

How soon it will bear depends on where you order it from. In the book Apples for the 21st Century, the author rates Wickson as "Very Good to Best" in quality, with Centennial Crab a third in quality. He reports that Wickson crabapples may have a sugar content as an unusually high as 25%, which makes them a natural for hard cider. Last year, I ordered Wickson as a bench graft from Greenmantle nursery, on M111 dwarfing rootstock, and after a year of growth, it is 2 feet tall. Disappointed, I ordered another Wickson from Vintage Virginia Apples last fall, also on M111 rootstock, and they sent a good size tree, 64" tall, with 4 good sized branches, and it is breaking dormancy now with three bloom clusters. I ordered a Centennial Crab also last fall, and Raintree sent me a 34" tree, with around 6 very small branches, on another dwarfing rootstock, M7, with no blooms at all. Trees of Antiquity sells a larger sized Wickson crabapple, but they are sold out for the season.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vintage Virginia Apples

Hmm. I have no recollection of how long it took to begin fruiting - probably 3 years or so. Has been pretty reliable, except for last year, when the Easter freeze nuked virtually everything. Centennial also worked well for my dad, down on the zone 7/8 interface at Auburn, AL - so it can take some heat.
While they've not yet fruited for me, Wickson and Chestnut crabs frequently get rave reviews for flavor and fruit quality - someone proposed that instead of 'edible crabs', which carries a somewhat negative connotation, that we should call them 'lunchbox apples'. I agree.
Centennial's(DolgoXWealthy) half-sib, Kerr(DolgoXHaralson) crab, is another nice one, though the fruits are a bit more tart than those of Centennial.
I've seen mixed reviews on Whitney crab - some good, some not so good. And it seems there are two varieties named Whitney, so it may depend upon which one you get.
'Callaway', which is an ornamental crab selection with good disease resistance for the Southeast, is a favorite for fresh eating in my family - it produces heavy crops of tasty 1.5" crabapples borne in big clusters - often bearing so heavily that, over time, it assumes a semi-weeping habit. It's nice to fill your pocket with these tasty little morsels and munch away on them.

I second the vote for Wickson Crab- it bore the second year for us on Bud. 9 and has quite a nice zing. I'd love to try cider made from them. I big tree of them in the front yard would be breathtaking.

Applenut

Do you have to spray crabs? How are they with diseases?

Interesting stuff. May try to find something or even buy one local if i can.

Frank:

Crabapples are apples, like any other apple, and are subject to insects like plum curculio and codling moth, and diseases like scab, fireblight, and cedar apple rust.

Crabs may be a little easier than large-fruited apples, but it is a matter of degree. The question with crabapples, as with any other apple, is how are you going to use them, and if you don't use them immediately, how well do they keep in refrigeration?

Anything that I grow that cannot be used for applesauce and juice had better be able to keep well in the refrigerator for at least a couple of months. That said, some of these crabapples might be wonderful for sauce or juice.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Frank,
I don't spray anything. Period. No time or inclination to do so. It's necessitated me abandoning or removing well over 3/4 of the 50-60 apple varieties I had at one time.
The crabs produce reasonably blemish-free fruit - not totally perfect by any stretch of the imagination - but clean enough that I'm not bothered by the occasional fruit with an OFM/codling moth larva or PC scar. My three or four edible crab trees don't produce more fruit than my family will eat.
Kerr will keep reasonably well under refrigeration, but Centennial not quite so long - and Centennial tends to go mealy if you let them stay on the tree too long.
I've made pies and jelly with both; good - fruit from some of the red-fleshed crabs really adds to the appearance & tartness of the jelly. Applesauce? I dunno - never made it with the lunchbox apples.

So, Lucky, what apples DO you find survive and bear without any spray? Happy for your recommendations.

The list here is very small. And again, let me reiterate - I don't do ANYTHING for my apples other than some minimal pruning. I have a NEGLECT management system.
Winners here are: Centennial crab, Kerr crab, MonArk, Gold Rush, Lodi(its parent, Yellow Transparent would be better) - but it gets hit pretty hard by codling moth - but it's the first apple of the season, so I'm willing to eat around the spots - heck you've gotta eat 'em fast anyway, 'cause there's about a 15-minute window when they're at their prime, just before they go mealy.
Arkansas Black might be good(after several months in the fridge) if any could ever survive the onslaught of the big European hornets which core them all out, leaving only an empty shell hanging on the tree.

With just one small apple tree, you might want to mix up a dormant solution, and instead of spraying it, just paint it on the tree with a paint brush, wearing plastic gloves. Easier on your lungs.
Crab apples seem to bloom and set a lot sooner than regular apples. Below is a picture of a new Chestnut crab benchgraft trying to bloom.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:69828}}

I stumbled upon a red-fleshed tart crab apple in one of the City Parks here last Fall. It was delicious! Might it have been a Dolgo? Tree seemed about 15-20' tall.
I am looking for an heavily productive edible crab (for eating out of hand and making jams/ pies/ jellies, not so much cider) that will grow to about 10' for my little urban yard. Sweet and tart. Disease resistant. Decorative tree. If possible, similar to the red-fleshed one I stumbled upon. Is there a variety that meets all of the above criteria?
Can you also recommend some nurseries? Raintree has some varieties, but not all the ones that have been mentioned above. Has anyone grown Evereste?

CV. Etter 16-32, also known by the trademarked name Thornberry Crab, is blossoming for the first time for us here. Gorgeous, huge pink-purple blossoms. The apples are pink-fleshed and sweet/tart, said to resemble the taste and color of raspberry ice cream. Do a google search for the name.

Applenut

To the best of my knowledge, Dolgo is not red-fleshed, but rather, an elongate apple, red skinned with yellow flesh.
Applenut, I've got Thornberry in my collection - on MM106, has been in the ground for 10+ years, with nary a blossom yet.

Got my Centennial, mail-order, years ago, from Edible Landscaping Nursery, in Afton, VA.

Greenmantle nursery has several red fleshed crabapples, called the Sweetmeat crab hybrids. The website is a delight to read, with interesting information on EtterÂs hybridization of apple trees. I asked the owner to recommend a red fleshed apple that was the sweetest (some can be very sour). He suggested the Rubaiyat as being one of the best reds, and the Muscat de Venus as being one of the best crabapples, although it doesnÂt have red flesh. They were only available as bench grafts. He doesnÂt wrap his scions of the graft in parafilm tape, so they die more easily than other nurseries. IÂm on my third Rubaiyat, with no buds yet, trying to get one to live. The Muscat de Venus has leafed out, and looks like itÂs going to make it.
Kuffelcreek Nursery offers the Etter 16-32 Crab as a bench graft, as well as several other crabapples, but are sold out for 2008. All the bench grafts IÂve ordered from there live, and grow big the first year. The Dorset Golden I bought from there is fruiting its second year from a benchgraft.
Trees of Antiquity offers two red fleshed crabapples, which sound like the sour kind ("makes good pickles"). TheyÂre sold out also.

Maybe I was wrong about the red flesh. Actually, I'm not so crazy about the red flesh, as much as the taste, sweet sour, and ease of growing. Luckyp, applenut and altadenamara thanks! I will check out those sites. Still looking for the 'best' crab apple.

Lucky:

Thornberry 10+ years without a blossom? Are you sure you have the right tree? I have it on Bud. 9, but I can't understand how even a seedling rootstock would take that long for a crabapple to blossom. Maybe it's time to apply the hammer handle to the trunk to rough it up a bit (it worked on the cherries for me).

I wish I had a huge tree of it, as the blossoms are absolutly beautiful. To add to the sensory experience, all the neighborhood orange blossoms are going nuts, and the aroma is incredible; one of the sweetest on earth.

Hey look what I found! I guess the variety is unknown. Check the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: NEw York TImes article on the crabapple trees of Riverside Park

It's interesting to read about all these crabs, but breeders have also been crossing crabapple genes into regular apples to make them more disease resistant. Liberty, for example, is a red apple resistant to apple scab, cedar apple rust, fire blight, and mildew. I haven't tried it myself.

Here are some more disease-resistant apples. Note that they're still succeptible to insects.
http://extension.missouri.edu/explore/agguides/hort/g06026.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: Liberty apple