One of our all-time favorites, this apple crab (cross between an apple and a crabapple) blew Luke away when Roger Joy gave him some in the summer 2016. It’s Roger’s favorite apple and he has popularized it around Montana. Since then, we’ve been hooked. W. L. Kerr made the cross between Haralson and Dolgo in 1938 at the Canada Experimental Farm before releasing it in 1952. Not a great keeper because it loses its flavor in storage. We love it when we have a fridge full of Chestnut crab, Martha crab, followed by Kerr Crab. They all compliment each other super well! Kerr is also insect resistant. Its beautiful red skin, yellowish flesh, and distinct flavor will make you wanting more. We like to have people try this to gauge their reaction. Things we have heard after people have bitten into a Kerr: “floral, cinnamon, cherry, grapes, almond, pineapple, and even hoppy”. Apart from eating it fresh, Kerr also makes a beautiful rosé colored cider, pink applesauce, and is wonderful in oatmeal. Plant one of these (or several as you won’t regret it).

In terms of Kerr’s cold hardiness, it suffered zero winter injury at Ed Schultz’ -47F in Gallatin Gateway, and it can probably even survive well into the -50Fs or colder! It likely gets this adaptability to the cold from dolgo although the Haralson ½ of Kerr’s parentage can hold it’s own up to the cold as well given that Haralson also suffered no winter injury during the same -47F frost event at Ed’s.

In terms of our Spring 2025 Kerr inventory, for those who don’t see temps colder than -40F, we have Kerr on M26 for you (this is the limit on M26) whereas if you see temps below -40F, we have Kerr on Dolgo rootstock for you, which can tolerate temps into the -60Fs.