All varieties of apple trees require some cross-pollination for fruit set. Even though some varieties are listed as self-fruitful, they will set fruit more heavily and more regularly if they are cross-pollinated. Flowering crabapples (see variety list below) have become popular pollen donors because they generally have longer bloom times than apples and are easily cared for.
Good Crabapple Pollinizers:
- Crimson Gold – Blooms midseason to late
- Indian Summer – Blooms with King bloom of Reds
- Manchurian – Blooms early to midseason (linked to certain postharvest rots)
- Mt. Blanc™ (x6114 cv.) – Blooms late
- Mt. Evereste™ (permute cv.) – Blooms early to midseason (scab resistant)
- Snodrift – Blooms midseason to late
- Whitney Crabapple
- Wickson Crabapple
There are some apple varieties that cannot be used as pollinizers:
- Baldwin
- Gravenstein
- Jonagold
- King
- Mutsu
- Winesap
Apple Bloom ChartClick to enlarge image |
Pollen Compatibility ChartClick to enlarge image |
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Resources
- Adams County Nursery, Inc (PA) – has an extensive Pollen Compatibility Chart (Accessed: 1/19/17).
- C&O Nursery – website has a nice tree fruit Maturity Chart (Accessed: 1/19/17).
- VanWell Nursery – website has Pollination Information (Accessed: 1/19/17).
- Willow Drive Nursery – catalog contains bloom time and compatibility charts (Accessed: 1/19/17).
- Orange Pippin Fruit Trees has a fruit tree pollen compatibility checker tool (Accessed: 1/19/17).