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What Apple Tree is Self-Pollinating?
There are many apple trees that are self fertile or in other words don’t need a cross pollinator in order to bear fruit. This list of our favorite seven varieties can help answer your question of what apple tree is self-pollinating. However it is still a good idea to plant your apple tree next to a cross pollinator since the tree will then have larger and more abundant fruit. In fact, Dolgo which is the last on this list of self-pollinating apple trees is also a great pollinator for others. As a crabapple it has a long flowering time and can thus pollinate many other apple varieties.
1. Empire
Cornell University developed this Empire apple tree in New York state (“The Empire State”) in the 1940s from its parents, Red Delicious and McIntosh. It is a McIntosh type apple with great disease resistance, better color and also flavor. The flesh is creamy white and crisp and makes a great dessert apple. You can keep it in storage for a long time or make cider with it as well. Similar to the McIntosh and Cortland apple trees, the natural home of Empire is the north-eastern United States. Moreover, this apple doesn’t bruise easily or discolor, making it perfect for you and your lunches.
- Growing Zones: 4-7
2. Braeburn Apple Tree
Braeburn apple tree is considered to be a seedling of Lady Hamilton and Granny Smith which was discovered in the early 1950’s in New Zealand. The fruit is beautiful and large with a green-yellow base color and red orange stripes. Moreover, the fruit is refreshingly delicious, crisp, firm and not too sweet. Additionally it will store well for about 3-6 months in cold storage. The tree has medium vigor and is extremely precious.
- Growing Zones: 5-9
3. Golden Delicious
The Golden Delicious apple tree is well known not only for having well-keeping apples, but also for their diverse uses because of their juicy, sweet and honey-like flavor. In fact, you can use golden delicious apples to make desserts, apple sauces, soft apple cider as well as to eating them fresh! Additionally the fruits tolerate late frosts and keep well in cold storage for up to five months. However this tree is not very disease resistant.
- Growing Zones: 5-8
4. Fuji
The Fuji apple tree is well known not only for producing apples with very long shelf life, but also for being a great apple of choice for eating fresh. In fact, according to the US Apple Association it is one of the most popular apple varieties in the United States. The Tohoku Research Station in Fujisaki, Japan, developed this variety in 1930 at and named it Fuji after Fujisaki. Additionally the fruit is crisp and sweet and has a good yield every year.
- Growing Zones: 4-8
5. Crispin (Mutsu)
The Crispin apple tree (also known as Mutsu) is a very versatile apple variety with many uses. In fact, it is great for eating fresh due to its juicy sweet flavor as well as baking and making pie because it holds its shape very well. Moreover, it is also used for making juice and cider due to its sweet, juicy, and sharp flavor. Crispin apples are large in size with green colored skin and cream colored flesh. Its origin goes back to the 1930s, where the Aomori Research Station in Kurioshi, Japan crossed Golden Delicious and a Japanese variety called Indo. Its name was “Mutsu,” but in 1968, people changed it to Crispin for the European and American markets.
- Growing Zones: 4-8
6. Cortland
Cortland apple tree produces excellent apples for dessert, cooking, drying, making cider and eating fresh. In fact, it has a slightly strawberry like flavor and you can taste a hint of white wine in its flavor! Moreover, it is great for salads since it doesn’t brown fast when the flesh is exposed. Cortland is medium to large in size and has a crimson red color with white flesh. In fact, It is one of the first McIntosh crosses, between McIntosh and Ben Davis.
- Growing Zones: 4-8
7. Dolgo
Dolgo crabapple tree is an early blooming beautiful flowering variety and a good pollinator for other apple trees. In fact, you can make apple jellies, sauces, pies, butters and cider due to its crisp, juicy, sweet-sharp, and lightly bitter flavor. It is small in size and has a bright red crimson color skin with yellow flesh. Furthermore, Niels Ebbesen Hansen developed Dolgo at the South Dakota Experiment Station in 1987 as a seedling of Siberian Crab. The Siberian Crab is a stock he imported from Russia to the United States. Above all, this tree is resistant to scab, powdery mildew, cedar apple rust, and fireblight.
- Growing Zones: 3-8
What Apple Tree is Self-Pollinating?
My dad inspires me with his love for trees and his conviction that growing them is one of the best things we can do for ourselves and the ecosystem. That’s why he started to provide all types of trees so everyone could enjoy them accessibly and feel empowered to grow them. Feel free to discover some of these apple trees by growing them yourself!
