Royalty Crabapple Tree for Sale - Buying & Growing Guide

Planting and Care

by Mary Van Keuren | Gardener (30+ Years Experience) – last update on November 4, 2022

Planting instructions

Site your Royalty Crabapple in slightly acidic soil that drains well and receives at least six hours of direct sunlight a day. Unpot your sapling and tease out any encircling roots, which can girdle the tree and slowly kill it. Dig a hole that’s as deep as the root ball and twice as wide. Place the tree in the hole, spreading out the roots. Holding it upright and steady, fill in around the roots with topsoil that’s been amended with well-rotted compost or manure, tamping down as you go to eliminate air pockets. Water thoroughly. Apply a two to three-inch layer of organic mulch such as bark chips around the root zone to conserve moisture and hinder weed growth but keep it from touching the trunk to avoid problems with rot.

Watering and nutrients

Your Royalty Crabapple will thrive with an inch of water a week, either from rain or supplemental watering. If you live near the southern end of its range or are experiencing very hot or dry weather, you may need to increase watering, up to several times a week. Fertilize your tree in early spring with a balanced, slow-release fertilizer designed for landscape trees, such as a 5-5-5 formula.

Pollination

Crabapple trees are monoecious, or self-fertile, meaning you can harvest the fruit with only one tree. Your tree will have a heavier harvest, however, if you have two or more planted near each other. Bees, wasps and other small insects are the agents of pollination, transferring pollen from one flower to another.

Pruning

Prune your Royalty Crabapple in early spring before the buds break. Cut out any dead, diseased or damaged limbs, and thin out the canopy so that no branches are rubbing against each other and there is good airflow through the tree.

Pests and diseases

Pests that may appear on your tree include mites, aphids and borers. A healthy tree should be able to resist minor infestations, but if insect pressure is severe, consider releasing beneficial insects such as ladybugs and lacewings, which will attack the pests. Diseases of the crabapple include cedar-apple rust, and, more commonly, fire blight. This manifests as leaves and branches that appear to be burned. Cut them out when you see them with clippers that have been disinfected in household bleach or 70% alcohol.

Harvesting

Harvest your crabapples in the fall when the fruit has achieved a purplish-red color. A good way to tell if they are ripe is to cut one open. The seeds should be dark brown; lighter color seeds indicate the fruit is not quite ready for picking. You can also try biting into one. A ripe crabapple is crisp and firm but not difficult to bite.

Achieving maximum results

One option for your crabapple tree is to plant it in a container, which makes it a useful choice for decorating a patio or deck. Crabapples take well to container growing, and it’s not hard to care for them. A pot-grown crabapple won’t get as large as one grown in the ground, because its roots are constrained by the size of the pot, but it should be able to thrive. Choose a container that is roughly twice the size of the root ball with good drainage in the bottom. Use a good-quality potting mix, planting as per our directions above. Keep in mind that pot-grown plants may need additional watering and feeding to keep the soil refreshed.

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