I love our two columnar apple trees. These are dwarfer than dwarf trees, bred to do well in containers or on patios. These two trees are 7 or 8 years old and have been in the ground a few years. One has red apples and one has yellow, and both are yummy. At this stage, the most important thing you can do for your fruit trees which need pollination is to make like a bee. Unless you have lots of bees and other helpful insects around, go out there with a little dry paintbrush, or a Q-tip, and go back and forth between the blossoms of the two trees. It’s incredible what a huge difference this makes in the amount of fruit that you get. Do it a few times so you get the early blooms and the late ones. Apple crisp, here I come.

Two columnar apple trees blooming in a bed of forget-me-nots

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Here’s the thing about apples: they must have cross pollination to set fruit. And even if there is another apple tree nearby, if the bees aren’t out doing their thing, you may have to help nature along. Here in Seattle where sunshine is an occasional thing (“sun breaks,” anyone?) it will definitely increase your harvest to get out there and help.

How? Take a clean, dry, soft artist’s paintbrush, or even a Q-tip, and brush the pollen carefully on a bunch of flowers on Tree A. Then go to Tree B (a different apple variety) and brush some more. Back and forth a few times should do it. Of course for a big tree, you can only do so much, but for dwarf backyard trees, you will make a huge difference.

We have two trees of the “columnar” type. They’re a super skinny, super dwarf size, good in containers, and both can be hand pollinated in just a few minutes. Go back in a few days when more blossoms have opened and do it again. You’ll be glad you did.

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