Crabapple trees are typically known to be tough, hardy trees that don’t require much supervision and care to flourish into healthy plants.
However, even a little bit of time and effort is enough to go a long way in encouraging your crabapple plant to turn into a healthy and mature plant. These plants do not require extensive pruning, but the occasional pruning will help them with:
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- Getting rid of dead branches,
- Maintain their healthy shape and structure,
- Avoid the spread of any possible diseases or infections.
Do you have any crabapple trees with the above issues? Then it’s time to prune!
When to Prune Crabapple Trees?
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A healthy crabapple tree – often the result of consistent pruning. The best time of year to prune a crabapple tree is during the later winter or early spring season. This is when the plant is dormant and the new leaves have not yet emerged and begun growing. If you are unsure if you should prune or not, it is safer to just wait a little bit longer so that the winter has subsided and there is no threat of severe cold luring around the corner. However, the small shoots that emerge from the ground near the foot of the tree can be pruned the entire year long. We call those suckers. Don’t worry too much about those. Away with the dead parts and rotten branches!Survey the plant to find out if any parts of it are weaker than the rest. To identify these, you will have to find out where the plant is losing color, going soft or seems more prone to breaking easily. If you suspect that a part of the plant is dead, or dying you need to scrape it using a sharp object to reveal what is underneath. We call this the “scratch test”. If the exposed flesh underneath the wood is a dark black or rancid brown color, then that part is no longer alive and it is safe to get rid of it. Meanwhile, if it is a yellow-green shade, then the plant is still transporting nutrients to this part of the plant and it is very well alive. Leave it as it is. To remove a branch, you need to cut it from its branch collar that holds it together with the parent plant.
Beware of shooters and water sprouts
You will notice that small shoots are growing between some of the thickest branches of your flowering crabapple tree. These are called water sprouts. Meanwhile, the shoots that grow near the base of the tree are called suckers. When you begin pruning, you will need to remove these first because they have the potential to grow into a separate trunk. On the other hand, water sprouts are potentially dangerous because they can encourage the spread of disease throughout your plant. They are located in very sensitive locations on the body of the plant and can easily help in transmitting a disease from one part of the plant to another. To encourage healthy growth, you need to get rid of them!
Source: https://t-tees.com
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