Crab trees are excellent pollinators. Ive noticed the same thing with my 2 apple trees. The one closest to the crab always sets an amazing crop. The one 100 yards away has a much lower polination rate going on.

Here in our yard, in Madison, Wisconsin, the blueberry shrubs were not completely pollinated this spring, and so our crop will be reduced somewhat. I would guess that about 70% of the flowers were well pollinated, and the remaining 30% were either partially pollinated or not pollinated. The green fruit is about 3/16 to 1/4 inch diameter now. It is easy to see the difference between flowers that were pollinated and those that were not. We are having some exceptional weather this year, lots of rain, lots of overcast weather, and very little sun. We do have bumblebees, and they look healthy to me, but they were not very active when the blueberry shrubs were in flower.

Oldryder,

If you plan to plant a few crabapple to help with pollination, wouldn't you want to plant crabapples that are good to eat raw as well?

A few years ago, Lucky P recommended these varieties: Centennial, Wickson, Chestnut, Kerr, Dolgo, Hewes, Trailman, Whitney, Transcendent, Geneva Crab & Almata.

I don't have a lot of space; otherwise, I'd love to try Wickson, Whitney or Centennial myself.

mamaung: thx. for suggestions. I'll look into those options.

MArk

You're welcome.

At this time of the year, it's hard to find out which on-line nurseries are offering them.

Looks like Cummins offers Chestnut and Wickson while Burntridge offers Dolgo and Whitney.

Maybe. others will chime in re. where to buy other varieties.

In a few years, you will tell us which one is your favorite!!!