Question: I recently purchased one of your 4-n-1 moderate climate apple trees from a local nursery.  I'm interested in knowing if they're self-pollinating or do I need two?

James, San Antonio, TX

Answer: James, as much as I am sure the local nursery would like to sell you another one, you will not need two.  Not only are three of the individual varieties (Gala, Early Summer Red, Granny Smith) self fertile, they will pollinate each other - including the Gravenstein.  You will not need to purchase another tree unless you want to further expand your home grown fruit collection.  This applies across the board for all our 4-N-1 and 3-N-1 Combination fruit trees.  The varieties are selected so cross pollinization and heavier fruiting will occur within the varieties on the tree.

Remember to keep the tree pruned so each variety grows in balance with each other.  Prune any variety harder that out grows the others so it does not dominate the tree and take over.

Ron Ludekens  4-4-2011