I'm not familiar with the growth habit/vigor of Baltimore Belle. I am aware of the rose, but have never seen it nor familiarized myself with it. Crabapples are typically smaller trees, and I absolutely think there are at least some roses in some circumstances (Kiftsgate comes immediately to mind) that sooner or later most likely would indeed kill a crabapple tree by being so vigorous in their growth that they'd shade/smother the crabapple to death. I think if I was interested in having Baltimore Belle grow among the branches of a crabapple I'd pay particular attention to the likely ultimate size of Baltimore Belle and the ultimate size of the crabapple I was planning to use for it.

There are a lot of half-truths in this thread, and some plain misinformation sprinkled in. First, the idea that certain fertilizer types promote root growth is a fallacy. If anything, fertilizing a new transplant, or one that has been in its permanent home for just a year or two or three, will actually retard root system expansion. One way to think of this is that the roots are "looking" for nutrients, so a heavy-handed approach where too much of these nutrients are placed in the root zone actually causes less growth, not more. Then, there's the staking of young plants: Tree saplings develop something called reaction wood in response to being buffeted by the wind. Stake it tightly to some rod or stick and you've eliminated the opportunity for this to happen. Doesn't mean no stakes ever, but especially any items tied tightly so the trunk can't move around are to be avoided...and anything used must come off after the first year. Then there's the idea that somehow by pruning, we can mold the plant into a shape it's not otherwise genetically programmed to adopt. While there's a dab of truth in this one, it is the wrong road to take. Somebody up above at least stated the obvious-that young plants need all the foliage they can have to produce their food via photosynthesis. And that same process causes chemicals called auxins, developed in growing shoot tips, to send signals to the roots to grow. Constantly messing with this process just confuses things. Very basically stated, if you want a tree that produces mostly an upright growth habit, select a species or cultivar of a species which is genetically programmed to grow in that fashion. Trying to beat a horse into an elephant is bound to cause frustration, and the same applies here in the plant world. Now this is not at all to say one should never prune their trees. I myself have pruned perhaps a half-million plants in my time! But there are proper techniques here, just as one wouldn't try to carve a turkey without a clue what they are doing. Very generally, a moderate program of "raising up", which simply means removing lower branches can be done, but gradually please. If one is impatient and tries to do this all at once, the very likely response by that plant is to sucker like mad. Basically, when plant parts are removed, the plant responds by trying to reestablish those plant parts. So go ahead and take all kinds of branches off your tree....and the tree will simply start a bunch of new branches. We call those new branches suckers, and many of them will grow right straight up through the tree canopy, rubbing against other more well-placed branches, or throwing the crown balance off, or competing with the main leader. These are all undesirable outcomes. Pruning trees is not simpleton stuff. Why anyone would undertake it without knowing what they're doing is beyond me, except for the monkey see-monkey do factor. Let's not do our gardening by that method! +oM

It could work for a while........a very short while :-) First, a 10' tall support structure is not going to provide very much support for a wisteria vine. These are rapidly growing, BIG woody vines that will easily exceed 30-40' in no time at all. You could convert it into a standard or tree form but prepare to do a lot of pruning to achieve that result. Second, wisteria climbs by twining, twisting stems. As these stems mature and thicken, they produce a lot of torque. An established wisteria can twist metal piping and bend it like it was a toothpick and rip anything smaller than a 4x4 right out of the ground. I have seen it take down an entire deck, partially due to the twisting pressure on the supports but also because of its weight. Finally, dead trees of the size of a persimmon become very brittle and start to break apart if left in place. The added weight of a wisteria vine will just accelerate this and your support will not remain very supportive for very long. Have you considered something of a smaller scale and a little less aggressive and rampant? Maybe a clematis or honeysuckle?

Thanks Ken, the thing you see at the bottom was just plastic wrap for protection of the trunk from the Florida sun. To be honest I feel as I’ve been pampering them and thought that it may not help in the long run as I would like them to be hardy. I’ve since removed the trunk covering. Just some more background, I planted one blood orange, a eureka lemon and a red navel. the blood orange and lemon are thriving and have already displayed vigorous new growth. They are planted south of our home and receive close to 10 hours of happy sunlight. We have sandy soil and I usually shove my hand about 3-4 inches in the dirt around the drip line to verify wetness and or dryness. If dry i do a deep watering from the hose on shower setting for about 15-20 minutes being careful not to drench the foot of tree. For fertilizer I added organic citrus tone from espoma(sp?) At around 5 weeks in. The red navel is the youngest but tallest of the three as it was in a smaller gallon container when purchased. The buds at the base of some of the mature leaves look as if it’s on the precipice of shooting out, however there is still no movement or new growth. Here is the new growth on both the eureka and blood orange. (Purplish leaves are the lemon)