Apples don't usually fruit the first year they blossom. You may have to wait longer.

More like 7 to 12 years.

This sounds like you have a crab apple,...good pollinator for other
apples.. most likely bees love this one.

Technically a crab apple is just a small apple. I don't know if red leaves and blooms necessarily indicate the size of the apple- I know nothing about breeding but you'll just have to wait and see. There's always a market for ornamental trees that also have edible fruit but of course the odds of yours having decent fruit are very small. Breeders discard thousands for every winner.

I'd go ahead with grafting but leave a branch or 2 of the seedling just to see.

Hman, regular apples are thought to be all or nearly all descended from the wild malus sieversii, and pretty much all the crabs have other malus in there so they are a different species. Some crabs are hybrids of sieversii and some other malus, but very few (none?) are pure malus sieversii.

I have an apple with a lot of red in the leaves that produces huge fruits, so red leaves doesn't necessarily mean small apples.

Scott

i don't know if this is it's first year blooming or not as I just started taking care of the property last year and didn't find the tree until Nov. and by then if it produced last year the deer would have gotten any apples that it would have set.

Scott, so how come I've so often read that the only definition of a crab apple is a small apple? Do I need to try to find my sources? And how come not a single large apple is considered a crab?

You're always great with the research. Can you find me any definition of a crab apple that is specific to the genesis you describe? Just want to make sure before I edit my tired old flesh computer.

I just found a couple of definitions that match mine Scott, doing the google thing- you see what you can do.

>Technically a crab apple is just a small appleThat's the only thing what rings in my head too.

Most often dark red leaves " from seedlings" indicate small apples.

I don't mean to be nosy. I mean, I don't even really know much about apples or crab apples or the difference between them. However, dictionary.com lists this definition for crab apple:

crab apple also crab�ap�ple (krbpl)
n.
1. Any of several deciduous trees of the genus Malus, native to North America and Eurasia and having clusters of white, pink, or reddish flowers.
2. The small tart fruit of such a tree, sometimes used to make jelly and preserves.

Just helping the conversation along.

Brian

Konrad, I didn't know that. I've never grown any apple seedlings and I know you use them for rootstock. Now that you mention it, all the seedling trees I see out there with that coloration have small fruit.

If it wasn't for you I might believe that seedling rootstocks always take 8 to 12 years to come into fruiting.

I thought some apples on seedling rootstocks I planted years ago were mislabeled when they started bearing in 5 years. One of your posts made it clear that such trees can bear much sooner than what's usually written.

If one could find a red flowering, red leafed apple tree- hopefully with red flesh that's tasty and decent sized it would be very valuable.

A bit off topic, but I have seen several apples on seedling (antokova) rootstock bear small crops (2-4 apples) within 2 years of planting, but most do seem to take longer.

Hman, Fedco offers redfield which they state as a red fleshed, red leaved (bronzy, and red and white blossomed. They say the apple is tart but excellent in cider.

Harvestman,

Geneva crab comes pretty close to that...at least the one I have. The apples are way over an inch in diameter. Now the taste...kinda falls down in that category, but I have only two years experience with the fruit and most of it has been damaged by birds.

I just looked at some jars of spiced apple rings my wife made from them last year. Some of the rings are about as wide as the pint jars they are in. Biggest crab I've ever seen....of course I can't claim much experience in judging crab apples.

Chuck

I'm aware of some of the red-fleshed varieties and I'm not at all surprised the pigment shows in vegetative parts as well, but it's good to know. Thanks.

I also know that there are breeders working hard to come up with improved red-fleshed varieties capable of becoming major industry players. You never know- maybe hillbilly has stumbled on the winning lottery ticket.

not sure on the lottery but I use to have a Red Del. years ago it's leaves came out red and stayed that way for about a month..I cut it down as i dont like red del. no flavor. I will let everyone know if the apple is any good .