The tree.

Closeup of the trunks.

I see no great problem with its location. When I imagine one of them single trunk crabapples there. Yours might require a bit of pruning. I say wait until spring on that if you just moved in. Lets make sure all them trunks are not root sprouts.

I could move it another 2ft or so away from the fence towards the middle of the bed, if that would help. I'm not sure what root sprouts are and how would I be able to tell if they are? Pruning is not a problem for me as I really enjoy it!

Yes, whether or not this plant's location is a problem is completely your call. I see no issue with it. I suspect those stems came from whatever rootstock the original fl. crab-now a dead stub-was grafted on to. Yet it flowers and fruits, so not a bad thing.

+oM

Here is an idea of where it is in the bed. To the left is a Carolina Cherry Laurel Bright n Tight and a Rose of Sharon to the right.

So if it is rootstock taking over, will the berries and flowers stay the same as in the first photo?

Yes, if I'm seeing it correctly, those are the rootstock stems with the fruit hanging on them. Am I missing something?
Perhaps a bigger factor is whether the existing stems are of a type with decent resistance to apple scab, fireblight, and other common diseases of fl. crabs. And that you won't know until next growing season. It flowered and fruited a bit so there must be some vigor to the plant.
+oM

I don't see why you feel the need to move it.

Is it because the branches may rub the fence?

If so, train it as it ages and gets taller so that the branches are above the fence and there will be no rubbing.

There is a dead cut off stem right in the middle with the three other stems growing out of the sides of the middle stem lower to the ground. All three other stems are bearing little clusters of the same fruit. I am happy with waiting and seeing what happens next spring. I do not want to get rid of plants if not really necessary.

Rugbyhukr, I do not want to move it. I have no problem with its current location, but wondered if more knowledgeable people will differ from me. I would rather move it earlier rather than later if that was needed. Seems like it can stay where it is.

This post was edited by Yollies on Thu, Nov 13, 14 at 9:51

I say keep it right where it is and prune/shape it. It's a valuable food source for wildlife, especially birds and it provides winter interest with the gorgeous berries hanging there and smooth trunk.

Surya55, I have been enjoying the birds eating some of the berries. They are small enough that they seem to be able to just pick them off the tree. I love watching the birds in our backyard and have several bird feeders set up. Planning on adding some Viburnum nudums come springtime to add variety to wildlife food available.

Yollies, As most everyone said, that tree is from the root stock. If you choose to keep it that's perfectly fine. Since apples suffer from lots of fungal problems, My preference would be to prune the weaker trunks off. That gives the stronger one more air circulation, which lessens the chances of fungus. Great apples for the birds!

there is no reason to move it ...

if it was a favored.. improved cultivar ... known for fancy flower or fruit ... most likely.. that was the dead middle trunk ...

as such.. its most likely an unwanted.. under-performing understock to the grafting process ... if so .... then dig it out.. and get rid of it.. and plant one of the sublime crabs in the hole ...

my favorite is 'harvest gold' .. see link .. white flowers in spring and yellow apples most of the winter ... during the dark days of winter.. the yellow fruit looks like an astronomy example of the universe ...

as with any tree this size.... there is no hurry .. give it a year ... see what happens ... when it blooms.. drive around town.. most others in your area should be blooming... i suspect you will find ... that yours is an underperformer.. as understock ... and that is why it was used as understock ... [because.. except for its roots.. it has a poor flower show.. and poor apple production] ...

but dont move it.. simply for the sake of moving it.. unless you just want the exercise.. and the experience ... but if that is your dream.. we will tell you how to do it ... when the time comes ...

you would move it dormant ... so if in spring you decide you want to keep it... and want to move it.. you would do it next fall ... when its dormant again ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

So, after reading all the helpful comments, I now plan to give the tree a year to see how it does. I will not move it. Should I cut off two trunks at the base and only leave the thickest trunk? Could that be done now? Or should I rather leave it with three trunks? I would like to give it a fair chance to impress me over the next year.

wait until it flowers ... then make your decision ...

i once had a crab that water-sprouted below the graft.. and had white and pink flowers on different trunks... it was in a weird unneeded space.. so i left it ... like 100 feet down the driveway ...

ken

Having 'not-so-pleasant experience with my former neighbour, I would have one concern: if the branches hanging over the fence bear fruit that would drop on their side - would there be complains?
My former neighbour just didn't like anything hanging over her fence & birds sitting on the trees making a mess
She constantly broke off (not pruned, not asking me to take care off) any branch she didn't like, even reaching on "my side".
Yet she had no trees/plants of any kind, just a lawn full of weeds (mostly white mustard & thisle).

Could that be a future problem?
Rina (-just being careful)

Rina, I know what you mean. I've had a neighbor once who would throw my tree's pinecones back over the fence if they fell in her yard. And she had weekly garden services. My current neighbor shouldn't be a problem. We've run in to each other walking our dogs. And she has a redbud that messes seed pods all over the place. They are at a lower level than us, and the area behind our fence is at the top of the slope. To steep for them to see or use the area close to the fence much.

I would consider moving it away from the fence but wonder how big is your yard? Do you have plenty of room left in the yard? To expand the garden bed also, have a play area etc. Which direction is south?

If that were my tree, I would start pruning it by cutting out the shorter trunk of the three trunks entirely because it has been whacked and will never look right, and also the big and little stub sticking up from the base. Also any dead or broken branches.

PS, I have many crabapples on this lot including little thickets of wild crabs out back that make assorted size and color of fruits, but there are a couple trees the birds like the most which make fruit like yours - bright red about 1/4 inch diameter. This year was a terrible year for crabapple production in my yard, but on a heavy year there are small flocks of Robins, Cedar waxwings, Bluebirds, finches, etc. on the big tree. They LOVE it. I've got some pics but they're upstairs on the desktop.

If your tree is liked by the birds as much as mine are, there will be NO fruits left on the tree to drop on the neighbors side! ALso I like your bird bath.

Terrene, you are looking North if you face the back fence. The yard is a small rectangle, about 14x 16 yards, with lawn between the house and the bed. I would rather have a larger lawn area and smaller bed for the time being. My children are still younger and enjoy playing on the lawn. It is the perfect shape for soccer games. I will increase the bed size once they are not as interested in backyard games anymore.

The bird bath was in the garden when we moved in. Love watching the birds and occasional squirrel drink water. I have only seen Mockingbirds eat the berries so far. They have eaten most of the berries off the tree. I have seen smaller birds picking around in the tree, but not sure if they've actually eaten any berries.

Hi Yollies, thanks for more info. I would say if you move it a few feet from the fence it would probably grow better over the years, not jammed up against the fence. But it's not that bad where it is. Either way you have some garden bed space underneath, and it's good that the bed and tree face south, they will get plenty of sun and the plants will tend to grow in that direction anyway.

I dug up a pic of a Cedar Waxwing on my big Crabapple with the perfect red berries - this was early December 2010, it produced a prolific number of fruits that year and attracted a constant stream of birds for weeks. They picked it clean! Near zero fruits on the crabs this year, which is a bummer because that means less birds to watch.

{{gwi:470270}}

Forgot to mention that this tree was in the shade of a maple tree for the most part of the day when we moved in. We had the Maple taken down at the end of summer. Next summer will be the first summer that the Crabapple will be in full sun. That would probably help it to perform better too, I hope.

Yollies, whatever you do is completely up to you, but consider this: The tree is kind of a morphodite-not sure if that term even gets used anymore-by which I mean, you would not purposely produce a three-stemmed flowering crab (usually) just as you would not purposely destroy the grafted scion (top part) and leave just rootstock stems growing. Yet this is exactly what you ended up with through serendipity. Why not just leave it well enough alone, save for any minor pruning which may be deemed desirable, and enjoy as is? Please take this in the friendly manner in which it is proposed, but I think you're overthinking this rather insignificant issue. You didn't sign up for this plant but you got it.....now just either enjoy it for what it is, or if it's really bothersome to you, now or in the future, remove it. I'd personally definitely NOT go through the significant bother of moving this somewhat goofy thing! That is, if you really want a fl. crab of more normal structure, there's lots of them at the nurseries, of nice small transplantable size. Why go though so much work for this thing?

+oM