Which Fruit Trees Need a Second Variety to Fruit at All

By Growing Home Greens Team · August 11, 2026

Planting a single fruit tree and waiting for it to fruit works fine for some species and fails completely for others. The difference is whether the variety is self-fruitful or self-unfruitful, and it’s worth knowing before buying just one tree.

Self-fruitful: one tree is enough

Most peach, nectarine, and apricot varieties are self-fertile: a single tree, alone, will set a full crop using its own pollen. Sour (tart) cherry varieties are also self-fertile. These still benefit from bee activity to move pollen from flower to flower, but they don’t need a second, genetically different variety planted nearby the way some other fruit trees do.

Self-unfruitful: you need a second variety

Apples, both Asian and European pears, and most sweet cherry varieties are self-unfruitful. Planted alone, they bloom but set little or no fruit, because their own pollen can’t fertilize their own flowers. These need a second, different variety of the same fruit (an apple needs another apple or a compatible crabapple, not a pear) blooming at the same time and within roughly 100 feet, close enough for bees to move pollen between them reliably.

Partially self-fruitful: better with company

Some plum varieties fall in between: a lone tree will set some fruit, but noticeably more with a second variety nearby to cross-pollinate. Treat these the same as the self-unfruitful group if maximizing the harvest matters, even though the tree won’t be a total loss if it ends up alone.

What this means before you plant

Check the specific variety, not just the species, before deciding how many trees to plant and how far apart. A self-unfruitful apple planted alone in a small yard, with no crabapple or other apple variety within range, is a tree that will bloom reliably and produce almost nothing, year after year, for a reason that has nothing to do with soil, water, or pruning. If yard space only allows for one tree, that’s the moment to specifically look for a self-fertile variety rather than assuming any fruit tree will do the job alone.

Sources: Pollinating Fruit Crops, University of Missouri Extension; Pollination Requirements, University of Maine Cooperative Extension; Fruit Plant Pollination, University of Maryland Extension.

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Which Fruit Trees Need a Second Variety to Fruit at All: Some fruit trees produce a full crop alone. Others produce almost nothing without a second, different variety planted nearby. Here's how to tell which is which before you plant just one.

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