The Magic of Cross-Polination

Cross –pollination is the term used when one type of cultivar of stone and pome fruit are planted in between another cultivar and then gets pollinated by bees so that we can have fruit to eat or use.

Some cultivars need more cross-polination than others.  For example in the picture above the Suplum plums and African Rose plums are planted in blocks but in some cases you will find that in between 5 or 6 trees of one cultivar 1 or 2 of the other cultivar will be planted.

Bees normally fly straight lines and not across rows and therefore cross- pollinate trees in the same row.