Apple Tree Pollinating ?

[PaulZone8b]

We are in SC Zone 8B and wanting to get a couple apple trees going. I heard you have to have 2 or more different varieties to cross pollinate eachother. I had 3 red delicious germinate and 2-3 inches and growing and still waiting on Granny Smith and HoneyCrisp to germinate. Will either of those 2 GS or HC work to pollinate the red delicious and vice versa ? I read you need to plant them both within 12-15 ft of eachother too.

 

[Chuck]

Yes they will if they have similar blooming times which is affected by their chilling hours. Each of the 3 varieties will have a canopy of 15 feet at maturity so I would plant them about 20 feet apart.

 

[PaulZone8b]

Thanks Chuck ! OK, what is chilling hours? Do I have any control over the process ? Anything I can do to help them pollinate? How many years to maturity (roughly) or getting fruit ?

 

[Chuck]

Thanks Chuck ! OK, what is chilling hours? Do I have any control over the process ? Anything I can do to help them pollinate? How many years to maturity (roughly) or getting fruit ?

Chilling hours are the cumulative number of hours below 45F. An apple tree must have enough chilling hours to complete its dormancy period. A Granny Smith requires about 400 hours. IF, IF there has been about 400 accumulated hours of temperatures below 45F the tree will come out of dormancy and start to bloom if you have a little warm spell. A Honeycrisp requires 800-1000 chilling hours. IF,IF there has been 800-1000 accumulated hours of temperatures below 45F the tree will come out of dormancy and start to bloom. Red Delicious requires 800-900 hours. You have zero control over this process. You must have varieties that are compatible with your climate AND each other. I do not know anything about your climate but it appears that the three varieties you chose are not all compatible. The Red Delicious and Honeycrisp are compatible with each other but not compatible with the Granny Smith. IF,IF your climate does not have 800 - 1000 hours of temperatures below 45F the Red Delicious and the Honeycrisp are not compatible with your climate. I hope you can make sense of what I said, it does get a tad complicated.

 

[PaulZone8b]

Thats great info Chuck! Thanks again. Yes, makes some sense, so the HC and RD are better suited for each other. We are open to a few other varieties (Fuji, Gala to name a couple) so I will see if I can find their chilling hours to see if they match the red delicious too.

 

[PaulZone8b]

I fould this map...so it looks like SC is about 600 hrs of chill...so I need to be looking at apples in that range.

 

[Chuck]

Thats great info Chuck! Thanks again. Yes, makes some sense, so the HC and RD are better suited for each other. We are open to a few other varieties (Fuji, Gala to name a couple) so I will see if I can find their chilling hours to see if they match the red delicious too.

The first thing you have to do is find out the average number of chilling hours for your location and then start looking for trees.

 

[Chuck]

I fould this map...so it looks like SC is about 600 hrs of chill...so I need to be looking at apples in that range.

For best results DO NOT GO BY THE AVERAGES IN AREAS such as in the graph. Go by LOCATIONS such as your local weather can provide.

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

When you mention germinate. Did you start from seed? Are you aware that the seed from a certain apple will not give you the same apple? The seed is usually cross pollinated which means the seed itself will be another variety.

If you germinate from seed you lose all the disease fighting abilities from a reliable proven root stock.

Just an FYI.

MOD

 

[Chuck]

After reading the above post from MiniOrchard I went back and reread the OP opening post. What I posted still remains but as @MiniOrchardDude stated, it you planted from seeds there is no way of knowing what you will get but I can guarantee you it will not be the same as the parent plant.

 

[PaulZone8b]

Ahh, did not know that. So its a waste of time buying a Pink Lady in the store and germinating to plant to get pink lady fruit then is what you are saying.... So the only way to get 100% pink lady fruit it buy a pink lady from a tree nursery ?

So if I buy a Pink Lady and a Granny Smith from the nursery (since they have lower chill hours that I need in Coastal SC) and they will pollinate each other....then the PLady tree will produce Pink Lady apples and the GSmith tree will produce GSmith apples. Correct ?

 

[Chuck]

Correct. the GS is a great pollinator for Pink Lady and vice versa.

 

[PaulZone8b]

So to confirm...buying a GSmith in the grocery store, germinating that seed...will not produce a GSmith apple. Same with Pink Lady. The apples themselves (since they have been "cross" pollinated by another variety, the fruit coming from that seed will NOT be the same apple as the original apple I ate from the grocery store.

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

Yes. The nursery will graft a pink lady scion from a pink lady tree onto a rootstock. In addition it will be faster to fruit since they are usually 1-3 years old depending on the nursery. Even faster on a dwarf rootstock. I used to like the bigger trees but now I prefer 1 year old trees as they are easier to shape at a lower height. I already have fruiting trees so that another reason for the younger trees. I can wait since I will still have fruit.

MOD

 

[cpp gardener]

You CAN use your seedlings as rootstock for other varieties though. You can even graft multiple varieties on the same rootstock. You can have apples most of the year if you choose the right varieties and multi-grafting lets you have more different kinds in the same space.