These trees are beautiful in the spring, but late summer they are such a mess. The apples are never ending and such a mess. I love the privacy they provide and just want them to stop producing the apples. any help?
2006-09-07 03:33:14 · 6 answers · asked by mptodora 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Garden & Landscape
There is a spray called fruit eliminator which can help. The active ingrediant is Floral which is a hormonal growth regulator. I believe that the tree needs to be sprayed with this in the spring when it is in flower. Check the label to make sure of this. What the spray does is keeps the fruit (which is the center of the flower) from fully developing.
Mechanical methods such as pruning are typically highly ineffective as the fruit and flowers on crabapples occurs throughout the tree and not just on the previous years growth.
Another possibility is consider a new hybrid crabapple which the fruit persists on the tree well into the December through February timeframe. This gives the beauty of the flowers without the mess of the fruit because the fruit are typically eaten by animals throughout the winter and what is left dries up to about the size of a raisin. The best cultivars for this would be Adams, Purple Prince, Donald Wyman, Centurion. There are also sterile crabapples which do not produce any fruit such as Spring Snow.
Hope this helps!
2006-09-07 04:46:21 · answer #1 · answered by rickluml 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Rick gave you good advice. It is the nature of flowering crabs to produce fruit; it's the price you pay for the beauty of the blossoms in spring.
Sadly, shoppers don't ask the right questions when looking for flowering crabs. As Rick says, there are fruitless varieties. There are also many shapes and sizes. Most homeowners think only of color when they shop - not for qualities like mature size and shape and disease resistence. So...rake up the fruit and accept your lovely tree for what it is.
2006-09-07 18:05:09 · answer #2 · answered by keepsondancing 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know if you can buy any plant "birth control", but a simple way is to trim off the flowers when they appear.
Though that would reduce your enjoyment of them as they bloom in the spring.
2006-09-07 10:39:32 · answer #3 · answered by Salami and Orange Juice 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Apart from cutting the trees down, I know of no way of stopping the fruit.
You could try taking off the blossom but that is one of their main attractions.
2006-09-07 10:38:32 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Prune after flowers bloom. You get the beauty but not the fruit. Good luck.
2006-09-07 10:56:45 · answer #5 · answered by reynwater 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Rick's right. Follow his advice.
2006-09-07 14:30:44 · answer #6 · answered by college kid 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋