It is probably the most stupid question you have heard in months.... But I have to ask, can't find the answer in my books.
For cross pollinating baring fruit trees, do you need fruit baring trees, or are ornamental trees good too, like flowering cherries and such?
Shoot me if you must, but answer first, so I can die smarter! :-)
Christie
Very good question!
I know that flowering crab apples can be used to pollinate regular apple trees. I recently asked someone about sour cherries and sweet cherries ability to cross pollinate to set fruit. Sour cherries are self fruitful but sweet cherries aren't. I was told that better fruiting will result with another sweet cherry but some fruit will result with a sour as a pollen source. So I guess that it depends. Which fruit trees are you growing and which ornamentals?
I have all kinds of orchard fruit; apple, pear, plum, pluot, apricot, cherry, peach, nectarine and also fig, avocado, orange, mandarine, clementine,
grapefruit, cumquat, lemon, blood orange, rangpur lime, pink lemon, and I am probably forgetting a few even.
I have all my cross pollination bets covered, but some of my neighbours have ornamental bloomers ( no idea what they are), and so I wondered if they cross pollinate mine also.
I love fruit trees, and I am curious about it, that's all.
Thank you for taking your time to answer me David!
Christie
Dear Christie,
I'm planting a host of fruit trees as well, in the past I have only planted apples. I hope to grow out seedlings of the peaches I will be growing to see what sort of characteristics the crosses will have (I might be counting chicks before they've hatched!). I've done some grafting so I could always use the seedlings as a root stock to graft onto.
Lovely bee shots by the way.
David
Thank you! My parents are bee keepers, and I love them so much, I remember getting the honey right in the kitchen!
For weeks here, not a single bee! But now we had 2 really good days, and I am so happy to see they are still here!
Keep me up to date, I want to know how your fruit trees come out!! How exciting!!!
Christie
I agree with David - it varies a lot from individual case to individual case. There are some published lists of compatible pollenizers out there on the web (and probably even more in books about orchard growing); you'd need to check individually for each separate cultivar.
For weeks here, not a single bee! But now we had 2 really good days
Thank you Resin! I will try to google a particular fruit tree and ask for pollinators.
I read the 2 threads about bees. Scary!!! Everyone around me sprays pesticides, I am always on the look-out to make them stay away from my yard, and ask not to spray when there is wind. I am strictly organic, and the birds and bugs lovvvvve me for it!!!
Christie
