How to Grow Crab Apple

Crab Apple is a most delightful spring flowering hardy small to medium sized tree with blossoms in white, pink or red followed by small, green, gold or pink apples often used for making jam, jelly and decorations.Compact varieties of crab apples are ideal for home gardens and crab apples add stunning autumn colour in shades of yellow, red, orange and purple. Suitable to be grown in all climates except in tropical regions.

Full sun

Regular watering

Well drained soil

Suitable for all climatic zones

How to grow crab apple in your garden

Step 1

Choose a sunny spot with well drained soil. Enrich the soil with Yates Dynamic Lifter Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser. In areas with heavy or clay soil, to help improve soil structure and drainage, add gypsum and mix in well.

Step 2

Dig the planting hole twice as wide and to the same depth as the root-ball. Remove the shrub from the container, gently tease the roots and cut away any circled or tangled roots.

Step 3

Position in hole and backfill with soil, gently firming down. Water in well.

Step 4

Mulch around the base with organic mulch like bark chips, sugarcane or pea straw, keeping it away from the trunk.

Step 5

Water deeply, once or twice a week, depending on weather conditions.

Growing tips

Avoid pruning crab apples, which helps retain their lovely original shape. Remove any dead or over crowded branches during winter. Prune trees to shape and size.