What Are the Pollinizers Used in Apple Trees?
Apple is one of the most popular fruit crops grown in hilly regions of India such as Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Uttarakhand. To produce good-quality apples and achieve higher yields, proper pollination is very important. Unlike some other fruit trees, most apple varieties are self-incompatible, which means they cannot pollinate themselves effectively. They need pollen from another compatible apple variety to set fruit. The trees that provide this pollen are called pollinizers. Understanding which pollinizers to use and how to plant them is essential for every apple grower.
1. What Are Pollinizers?
A pollinizer is a variety of apple tree that produces pollen compatible with the main apple variety planted in the orchard. When honeybees or other pollinators move between flowers of different varieties, they transfer pollen, which helps in fertilization and fruit set. Without proper pollinizers, the apple flowers may bloom beautifully but fail to produce fruits or give only a few undersized apples.
2. Why Pollinizers Are Necessary
Apple trees are mostly cross-pollinated, meaning they need pollen from a different but compatible variety. For example, if you grow only one variety like Red Delicious, it may not bear much fruit because its pollen may not be suitable for its own flowers. That’s why farmers plant two or more varieties that bloom at the same time and can pollinate each other. This ensures a good fruit set and uniform production every year.
3. Common Pollinizer Varieties Used in India
In India, several apple varieties are grown, and each main variety has suitable pollinizers. Some commonly used pollinizer combinations are:
For Red Delicious and its strains (like Starking Delicious, Top Red, Vance Delicious):
Use Golden Delicious, Gravenstein, or Gala as pollinizers. These varieties bloom at the same time and provide good pollen compatibility.
For Golden Delicious:
Use Red Delicious, McIntosh, or Jonathan varieties as pollinizers.
For Royal Delicious:
Suitable pollinizers are Granny Smith, Gala, or Golden Delicious.
For Early Varieties like Tydeman’s Early Worcester or Early Red One:
Use early-blooming types such as Lord Lambourne or Jonathan.
These combinations help ensure cross-pollination and a high percentage of fruit set.
4. Planting and Arrangement of Pollinizers
In an apple orchard, pollinizer trees should be properly distributed among the main variety trees. The general practice is to plant one pollinizer for every 8 to 9 main trees. Some farmers also plant rows of pollinizers after every three or four rows of the main variety. This layout allows bees to easily carry pollen from one variety to another.
Using bee hives during flowering time also improves pollination. Usually, 2 to 3 bee colonies per hectare are recommended to ensure enough pollen transfer.
5. Points to Remember
Always select pollinizers that flower at the same time as the main variety.
Avoid using varieties that have overlapping flowering periods but incompatible pollen.
Keep pollinizers healthy and well-maintained; unhealthy trees produce poor-quality pollen.
Conclusion
Pollinizers play a crucial role in the success of apple orchards. Without them, even the best apple varieties may produce very few fruits. By selecting compatible pollinizer varieties like Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, or Gala, and ensuring proper orchard layout with good bee activity, farmers can achieve excellent fruit set and higher yields. Proper pollination management is truly the key to a profitable and healthy apple crop.
