Pollination for Apple Trees

[patandchickens]

Did you perhaps read it in the Stark catalog? LOL

Okay so there is no reason to be rude

Look, I'm sorry, I was making a JOKE, ok? Because that's exactly what the original poster said from the Stark catalog.

To anyone offended by my comment about Red Delicious and there being better things to grow, I apologize.


Pat

 

[tcnjer]

Ok I'm new to this. My husband planted two apple trees. He did not notice it said "pollinator required". It specifically states to use Anna, Golden Dorsett, or Golden Delicious. So does this mean we simply find an apple tree that is pollinated; or do we need to have it graphed?

Any advice is appreciated. Thank You Tc

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum! Glad you joined us!

Do you know what varieties you planted? Was it just one or was it two different varieties? You do need a different variety to pollinate most apple trees. Even the very few that will self-pollinate produce better if there is another variety there.

Dont get too hung up on exactly what varieties you have or what the recommendations are for pollinators. Like Pat said above, all you need is another variety of apple tree that blooms at the same time. Even a crab apple will do. Thats what a lot of commercial apple orchards do, just plant crab apples as pollinators. These dont need to be side by side either, just within a few hundred feet. Bees will carry pollen from one to the other. Maybe a neighbor has one?

 

[secuono]

I know this is an old thread and adding to the problem.
But why not a red delicious?!
Hearing that they produce more apples than I could ever know what to do with is perfect! I can feed the farm animals all those apples, freeze a bunch more, find a way to dehydrate and store them, ect.

Lowes cards list a ton of trees that will work, I think at least 10 or more on any variety.

What was the thread mentioned for pollinator list/bloom times? I can't find it.

 

[tcnjer]

Hello,

Thank you so much for your reply.

To answer both; The trees are red delicious. Also we do raise rabbits and plan on obtaining chickens and possibly a goat next year. (All things take time).

Crab apples..huh? I will definitely look into that, they may work on the slope areas. I have not any sold locally, but I am definitely going to check out the Arbor Day foundation.

Thank you both for your help and God Bless.

Tc

***for any readers that are interested, this is the web site I found for the Arbor Day foundation:

arborday.org

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

this is one of my favorite sites about apples. a lot of times i'm searching on here for info on the different ones i've come across for sale so i know what others i will need to have around to pollinate it with. also there is a section that can tell you what local orchards have for trees they pick from, so you can give them a taste test before you find it for your own yard if it is a type you've never eaten before. http://www.orangepippintrees.com/pollinationchecker.aspx?v=1133

Cox's Orange Pippin seems to be a common pollinator for a lot of apples i've noticed during my research. it could be that it is a type with a long bloom season. Yellow Delicious is also listed as a good pollinator for RD, and a parent tree to a lot of different varieties.

 

[Nyboy]

I had a old tree come with my house . I could count on one hand the number of apples it produced. I figured it was old and worn out at end of its life. I planted some crabapples for their spring flowers. Couldn't believe have many apples the tree had last fall.

 

[MontyJ]

I have a young Mac that just flowered for the first time last spring. Only a few blooms and only one apple (which grand daughter picked for me...about 2 months too early ). I had a wild apple tree growing on the back of the property that bloomed at the same time as mine, so I knew I had a pollinator. That is, until the county came through installing the city sewer. They cut down the wild tree which completely infuriated me since it was not in the way. What made me even madder is that the tree was completely gone. One of the workers hauled it off (they claimed they ran it through the chipper...yeah right, an 8" diameter trunk through that chipper? I don't think so. They left the big wild cherry for me, but took the apple.

Anyway, that left me with no pollinator. So, I bought a Fuji last fall and planted it. The Mac bloomed heavily this year, but I thought I had no hope for apples since the Fuji won't bloom for a few years yet. To my surprise, about 25% of the blooms were pollinated and are making apples. The nearest apple trees that I know of are about 1/4 mile away. I won't get a ton of apples, but at least I will get something. Unfortunately, by the time I noticed it was making apples it was too late to spray for worms. Looks like I'll be cutting apples up for sauce this fall.

 

[897tgigvib]

Welcome to the forum TC!



TC, you could do a walk around your neighborhood just to see what apple trees are already around. I read through the older posts in this thread. If you can't find any other neighborhood Apple trees it might be a good idea to plant a pollinator. The full dwarf apple trees are pretty small. There are some orchards south of here that have dwarf apple trees planted in the middle of every other row of full sized trees.

Somewhere back there the poster was saying that the pollinator had to also be a semidwarf. That is actually nonsense. The variety doing the actual flowering makes the same pollen if it is on a full dwarf, semi dwarf, or standard size rootstock. just the quantity of available pollen. But, varieties recommended as pollinators get recommended because for one, they bloom at similar times, and two, pollinator varieties make plenty of pollen. So, having an extra full dwarf pollinator, or 2(!), will fit in easily, plus get you more kinds of apples to enjoy.

Full dwarf Apple trees seem to cost more...
No reason for that that I can think of...

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

yeah, i haven't figured out why it costs more for full dwarf vs semi dwarf vs standard when you are buying trees ready from a supplier. all the places i've seen that sell rootstock are charging the same price for the rootstock regardless of the size tree it will produce. most of the dwarfing rootstock also make the trees produce fruit quicker so they aren't sitting in their pots or in the field as long as a semi dwarf or standard tree. maybe it is the higher demand on suppliers for the smaller trees.

when i figured out how much it cost me to graft my fruit trees this year i realized i only spent on average of $7/tree. depending on how vigorous the scion grafted to Bud 9 (dwarf) rootstock will depend if it takes only 2 years or more before it starts producing fruit. other rootstock could take more time than what i used to graft.

something to remember too about any fruit tree regardless of it's advertised size, you will still need to prune it yearly.