Do Sweet Sixteen Apples Pollinate Honeycrisp Apples?

Pollination Requirements

• For two varieties, or cultivars, of apple to cross-pollinate, their blooming period must overlap for wind and insects to transfer pollen from one tree to another. Apple trees are divided into flowering groups 1 through 6 that vary from early season blooming in group 1 to late season blooming in group 6. For apple trees to cross-pollinate, they must be in the same or adjacent flowering groups. For example, if an apple cultivar is in flowering group 3, a mid-season bloom, a second apple cultivar in flowering group 2, 3 or 4 must be chosen for cross-pollination to occur.

Sweet Sixteen Apples

• The Sweet Sixteen apple is a large, red apple in flowering group 3 that blooms in mid-season. It is self-sterile and requires a nearby cross-pollinator flowering in group 2, 3 or 4. Sweet Sixteen has some natural resistance to fireblight, scab and apple rust. It only keeps around two months after harvest, so this apple is usually best eaten fresh. It is a sweet apple, described as having a tropical or anise flavor.

Honeycrisp Apples

• The Honeycrisp apple flowers in group 4, so it will cross-pollinate with Sweet Sixteen. It is also self-sterile and will benefit from the cross-pollination of the Sweet Sixteen or other variety in group 3, 4 or 5. Honeycrisp is resistant to scab and fireblight, but has several disease susceptibilities such as cedar apple rust. It is a crisp apple that keeps for up to six months and has the lightly sweet taste of clover honey.

Other Considerations

• In addition to finding cultivars in the correct flowering group, apple trees that are planted near each other should also be grafted onto similar rootstock. If one tree grows much larger than its neighbor, too much shading will be a problem. Also, if the trees are sprayed to control disease, care must be taken not to spray while the blooms are open on either tree so bees and other insect pollinators are not killed.