Gardening Question from Julie:

I just planted a Dorsett Apple tree a few weeks ago. I live in Florida & I am very excited to have this tree. However I just found out I need 2 Apple trees to pollinate. I am on limited space & really only have room for one tree. How far away can the 2 trees be for success? Could I give one to my neighbor?

Answer from Pat:

‘Ein Shermer’ is a good pollinizer for ‘Dorsett Golden’ and ‘Anna’ is good too though sometimes blooms on a different schedule than ‘Dorsett’. Give your neighbor one of these two varieties or give her both grafted onto one tree. Another solution for you is to have a branch of both of these trees grafted onto your tree and grow three varieties on one tree. Usually if there is another tree within a block all will be well. Next door should be fine. Another solution is for you to have your tree grafted with branches of ‘Anna’ and ‘Ein Shermer’. If there are no bees in winter when the flowers bloom, hand pollinate with a sable brush for better fruit set. For years I grew a ‘Dorsett’ as an espalier next to ‘Anna’ since I had no room for a big tree, and I hand pollinated between the two trees in years when bees weren’t there. Later ‘Anna’ died. My ‘Dorsett’ kept on bearing a pretty good crop of apples and it still does today. I don’t think there are any other trees in my area. ‘Dorsett’ is a chance seedling of ‘Golden Delicious’ that was found in Bermuda. ‘Golden Delicious’ is close to being self-fruitful. In my opinion so is ‘Dorsett’. (It’s full name is ‘Dorsett Golden.’) So you could just wait and see. You could also plant another tree right next to the one you have and grow two in one hole, pruning them to fit your space. People sometimes plant three trees in one hole. You might discuss this idea with members of the “Rare Fruit Growers” organization in your region and see what they think about using that technique in Florida. It is often done here in California but might have negative aspects in a wetter climate.

Photo by Starr Environmental