Table of Contents
We grow a good range of self fertile sweet cherry trees that do not need to be pollinated. However, more than half of our range, including all the earliest cropping cherries, will need a pollination partner to bear fruit.
Use our pollination tool to quickly find partners for a given tree.
See pollination tables for other fruit trees.
Pollination Groups:
Pollination groups represent flowering periods, and trees will cross pollinate with other trees in their own group and adjacent groups, e.g. a tree in Pollination Group C will cross pollinate with trees in groups B, C, and D
Cherry Tree Pollination Table
| Name | Harvest | Pollination Group | Fertility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Rivers | Early | A | Self Sterile |
| Celeste | Early | B | Self Fertile |
| Knight’s Early Black | Mid | B | Self Sterile |
| Merton Glory | Mid | B | Self Sterile |
| Amber Heart | Early | C | Self Sterile |
| Merton Bigarreau | Mid | C | Self Sterile |
| Petit Noir | Mid | C | Self Fertile |
| Van | Late | C | Self Sterile Excellent Pollinator |
| Colney | Late | D | Self Sterile |
| Lapins Cherokee | Mid | D | Self Fertile |
| Bigarreau Napoleon | Late | D | Self Sterile Poor Pollinator |
| Penny | Late | D | Self Sterile |
| Skeena | Late | D | Self Fertile |
| Stella | Late | D | Self Fertile Excellent Pollinator |
| Summer Sun | Late | D | Self Fertile |
| Sunburst | Late | D | Self Fertile |
| Sweetheart | V Late | D | Self Fertile |
| Vega | Late | D | Self Sterile |
| Kordia | Mid | E | Self Sterile |
| Morello (Sour Cherry) | Late | F | Self Fertile |
Pollination group letters are interchangeable with numbers: group A = group 1
Insects (Mainly Bees) are Vital for Pollination
Bees and other insects carry pollen between flowers: even self-fertile trees need them to move their own pollen around their flowers, so an orchard is an ideal place for a beehive, and to encourage wild bees.
In exposed, windy locations, or at high altitude above about 800ft, bees find it hard to fly, so it is even more important to provide habitats and windbreaks to help them out; also, it’s best to stick to reliably self-fertile varieties that make the most of limited pollinators.
How close do pear trees need to be to cross-pollinate?
The closer they are, the better, but anything within 500 feet / 150 metres should be fine.
Can Cherries Pollinate Plums or Apples or Pears?
No, cherries won’t pollinate plums or any other fruit tree.
The Cherry Plum tree, Prunus cerasifera, is not a plum-cherry hybrid.