University of Illinois Extension
Choose apple trees for size and pollination
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[January 26, 2022]
January is not too early to start to plan for
a new home orchard or to consider replacements for aging fruit trees
in an existing home orchard. There are several different kinds of
fruit trees to consider, apple, cherry, peach, pear, and plum. |
Since we are in the northern portion of Illinois,
apple is likely the main fruit tree grown in back yards because it
is the hardiest. For the home orchard, apples are a good starting
point. Once you have got a good handle on apples, expanding out to
other fruit trees will be easier.
When you shop the fruit tree catalogs or visit with your favorite
retail garden center to find out what cultivars or varieties they
will be carrying this spring, homeowners should consider dwarf
apples as yard space can be limited. Dwarf apple trees are naturally
smaller than their full-sized siblings, are much easier to train,
prune, and maintain.
Apple trees are dwarf because they are naturally so or because fruit
tree growers graft or bud them to a dwarfing rootstock, limiting the
overall size of the tree. If they are naturally dwarf, then the
apples listed will be a “spur-type” tree. There are many examples of
spurs available to us – Empire, Red and Yellow Delicious, Macintosh,
Rome, Winesap, and Early Blaze are a few.
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It should be noted that the catalogs will list a mature size,
considerably smaller than the full-sized version, yet the ultimate
size of your dwarf tree is really up to you. If you start to train
your trees too late or do not prune correctly, that dwarf apple tree
will be much larger than you wanted or expected, yet still much
smaller than a full-sized tree.
Another very important key to selecting your apple trees will be
pollination. Fruit tree catalogs will suggest which apple varieties
will be the best pollinators for the varieties you wish to grow.
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It is critical that you have two different varieties blooming at
the same time for a strong fruit set. Apples are for the most part considered to
be “self unfruitful,” meaning that pollen from other flowers on the same tree or
from another tree of the same variety will not pollinate itself.
A possible exception to this rule is if you have an ornamental flowering
crabapple in bloom at the same time, then pollen from the flowering crabapple
will pollinate the apple tree. So if you live in an established subdivision and
you or a neighbor has a flowering crab apple in the front or side yard or an
apple tree of a different variety that blooms at the same time, you do not have
to plant a second apple tree for pollination purposes, which will free up space
in your backyard.
Further compounding the pollination story is that there are trees containing
sterile pollen. You will get apples from that tree, yet the pollen sterile tree
cannot serve as a pollinator for other apple trees. Read the tree description
and pollination needs carefully before ordering. Ask plenty of questions at the
garden center before making a purchase.
Want to know more about home orchard planning and maintenance? Check out this
five-part blog series.
https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/over-garden-fence/2021-01-25-fruit-trees-have-place-even-small-yard
[SOURCE: Richard Hentschel,
Horticulture Educator, University of Illinois Extension]
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