How to care for a crabapple tree

Crabapple trees are often found around homes, schools, and business. They are fairly hearty tree and do not require much care. The home that we moved into six years ago had a small crabapple tree. Over the six years it has grown into a strong healthy flower blooming tree. Things that I have learned in the last six years of taking care of it:

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• fertilizer
• pruners
• bark mulch

1. Caterpillars love the tree. Every year they make a nest. If the little lavas are left in the tree they will consume large amounts of the leaves. As soon as I see a nest forming I cut that portion of the branch off. Sometimes I then burn it in my driveway. Or if it is windy I cart the branch off into the woods.
2. To stimulate plant growth I prune and fertilizer the tree in mid-April. If wait to long to prune you can potentially cutting of flower buds. If you fertilize too late in the season it confuses the tree. New plant growth could continue when it is suppose to be becoming dormant for the winter months. Rule of thumb never fertilize after July 1st especially in the cooler climates.
3. I don’t usually water my tree but rather let God do all the work. I have laid a perimeter of bark mulch 4 feet in diameter all around the tree. The bark mulch seems to hold in a lot of the moisture. The only time it would really need to be watered would be in times of drought.
4. Pull weeds that grow around the perimeter of the tree so that the tree does not have to fight for nutriments.