Our struggle to save, protect and nourish our heirloom Chestnut crabapple tree

My favorite tree is a crabapple tree-a chestnut crab. It’s an heirloom crabapple tree and it's seen its better days. Fire blight and carpenter ants have taken their toll. My worry is that we’ll lose this wonderful old crabapple tree.
Last fall I transplanted two newly grafted Chestnut crabapple trees. They overwintered well!
Now to nourish them (I share my custom fertilizing tips) and protect these babies from those marauding deer (see my recommendations below)!
You can find these deer 'Predator Control Lights' on Amazon. We deploy these in deer sensitive areas throughout our farm. Here’s a pack of four: amzn.to/3P741D2
And this is a pack of twelve-for those of you who a lot of ground to cover: amzn.to/3CtqHFT
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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I’m Theresa. My husband, Dan and I grow organic garden seed and I make gardening videos. I live in Southeast corner of North Dakota on the 46th parallel where we garden in a zone 4. Dan and I both grew up farming and gardening with our families- a tradition we couldn’t give up. And we started an organic seed company-- so we could share our favorite seeds with you!
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[@valerie8217]

Use neem oil to fight ants. It works very well.

[@johneboy83]

There has been one in my families' back yard my entire life and I'm 58 years old. Great producer over the years and still going. I just got my stash sent to me from my brother a couple days ago. Probably a small batch of jelly this year.....

[@TheresaAtPrairieRoad]

So good! Made my applesauce for this year.

[@PlaceJosh]

I love that you love that old tree.

[@TheresaAtPrairieRoad]

My new apple trees made it through the summer without the deer eating them!! YAY! 👏🏻

[@idahogardengirl942]

I hope your efforts pay off!

[@TheresaAtPrairieRoad]

So far so good!👏🏻

[@willbass2869]

I would've thought that using crab leaf mulch around a young (vulnerable) tree increases chance of disease spread.
It's not as if the leaves were composted and subjected to high heat that might purge diseases.

[@TheresaAtPrairieRoad]

Good point! My tree looks very healthy at this point but composting before you apply is good advice! The other option would be to do an anaerobic ferment of the material, strain it and use it as a compost tea. THANK YOU for your words of caution!