Prairifire Crabapple Tree for Sale - Buying & Growing Guide

Planting and Care

by Mary Van Keuren | Gardener (30+ Years Experience) – last update on October 7, 2022

Planting instructions

Site your tree in soil that drains well and receives at least 6 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, and place the tree in it, spreading out the roots. Holding the tree upright and steady, fill in around the roots with topsoil, tamping down as you go to eliminate air pockets. Water thoroughly. Apply a 2- to 3-inch layer of organic mulch such as bark chips to the root zone, but keep them from touching the trunk to avoid rot problems.

Watering and nutrients

When newly planted, water your tree every few days until you start to see vigorous new growth appearing. Then, you can cut back to once-a-week watering for the rest of the first year. Once the roots are established in subsequent years, you should only need to water your tree when you are experiencing very hot or dry weather. To determine if your tree needs water, check the soil 2 inches below the surface. If it’s dry, give your tree a drink. Fertilize in early spring before bud break with a fertilizer that’s designed for landscape trees and shrubs, such as a 5-5-5 formula.

Pollination

Prairifire crabapple tree is pollinated by insects such as bees and is self-fertile. That means that you’ll be able to have fruit even if you only have one tree. Your tree’s output will increase, however, if you have more than one tree planted in proximity to each other.

Pruning

Prairifire crabapple doesn’t need a great deal of pruning. Monitor your tree for dead, diseased, or damaged limbs, and trim these out whenever you see them. Other than that, there is no need for maintenance pruning or shaping, as the tree will naturally assume a pleasing rounded canopy.

Pests, diseases and animals

Prairifire crabapple is more disease- and pest-resistant than other crabapples and a tree that is well cared for should be able to fend off minor infestations of insects such as aphids, scale insects, or borers. If you are having problems with pests on your trees, consider releasing beneficial insects such as ladybugs and lacewings to control them. Diseases that are common with crabapples include fire blight, powdery mildew and cedar apple rust. However, Prairifire is unlikely to experience any of these.

Harvesting

Although crabapples are edible, the trees are not often grown for their fruit, which is tart and not very tasty when raw. It can be used in cooking, but avoid eating the seeds, which, like apple seeds, are toxic. Harvest when the fruits turn a bright red and start softening in early winter. One way to tell if they’re ripe is to cut one open. If the seeds are brown, the fruit is ripe.

Achieving maximum results

Knowing how to use your Prairifire crabapple tree in the landscape is one way to achieve maximum results. To begin with, consider using it as a specimen tree — either alone or in a grouping of three or five — in your front yard. The shaded area under the trees can either be underplanted with shade-loving perennials such as Japanese forest grass or astilbes, or you could create a small rock garden. With its petite size, this tree is appropriate for smaller urban gardens, where it could light up a backyard with color. It would not look out of place in a cottage garden or in a garden with Asian influences. A properly spaced line of trees on either side of a long, winding driveway would look spectacular in spring.

Compare Similar Products