Question 1

What is a pollination group, and do I need two fruit trees?

Accepted Answer

A grouping indicating **when a variety flowers**, used to work out which fruit trees can pollinate each other — and for many fruits the answer is yes, you need a compatible partner, though not always one you have to plant yourself.

**Why it matters.** Many fruit trees are **self-incompatible** — their own pollen will not fertilise their flowers. They need pollen from a **different variety** of the same fruit, flowering at the same time, close enough for insects to travel between.

**How pollination groups work.** Varieties are assigned to numbered groups by flowering time, from earliest to latest. **Varieties in the same group flower together**, and **adjacent groups overlap sufficiently** to pollinate each other. Two groups apart generally will not overlap.

So an apple in group 3 can be pollinated by another variety in group 2, 3 or 4.

**The categories you will see:**

**Self-fertile** — sets fruit with its own pollen and needs no partner. Most peaches, apricots, nectarines, sour cherries, and some apples and plums. **Even self-fertile varieties usually crop better with a partner**, which is worth knowing.

**Partially self-fertile** — will set some fruit alone, considerably more with a pollinator.

**Self-sterile** — requires another variety. Most apples, most pears, many sweet cherries and some plums.

**Triploid** — the complication. Some varieties, including several well-known apples, have three sets of chromosomes and produce **sterile pollen**. They need a pollinator **and cannot pollinate anything in return**, so a triploid needs **two** other compatible varieties to pollinate each other as well as it. This catches people out.

**Incompatibility groups** apply additionally in sweet cherries, where certain varieties cannot pollinate each other regardless of timing.

**What if you have no room for two trees:**

**Neighbouring gardens count.** Insects travel readily, and a crab apple or any apple within a reasonable distance will do the job. In built-up areas, an apple frequently has plenty of partners.

**Family trees** have several varieties grafted onto one rootstock.

**Crab apples** are excellent universal pollinators with a long flowering season.

**Grafting a branch** of a compatible variety onto an existing tree.

Question 2

Why is my fruit tree not producing fruit?

Accepted Answer

Most commonly pollination, and the usual culprit is a factor most people do not know applies. Pollination groups. Many fruit trees — particularly apples, pears, plums and cherries — are not

Question 3

How does pollination actually work?

Accepted Answer

Pollen has to physically reach the stigma of a compatible flower, germinate, and grow a tube down to the ovule — and almost everything about how a flower looks and smells is an adaptation to getting

Question 4

Which plants actually help pollinators?

Accepted Answer

The label "pollinator friendly" is applied loosely, and several popular choices do very little. What matters is accessibility, nectar and pollen content, and season. What makes a flower genuinely

Question 5

Why is my courgette plant flowering but not producing fruit?

Accepted Answer

Usually pollination, and often simply timing. Courgettes, along with cucumbers, pumpkins and squash, carry separate male and female flowers on the same plant, and both need to be open at once for

Question 6

What are the best fruit trees for small gardens?

Accepted Answer

For small gardens, consider dwarf apple, columnar trees, figs, dwarf peaches, and citrus trees. These options maximize yield while minimizing space.

Question 7

What is a rootstock and why does it matter for fruit trees?

Accepted Answer

A rootstock is the root system a fruit tree is grafted onto. The scion — the variety you actually want, such as a Cox or a Bramley — is joined to it, and the rootstock determines much of how the tree

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