Knowledgebase
Can ornamental crabapples pollinate fruiting apples? #924157
Asked February 02, 2026, 7:37 PM EST
I know that apples such as honeycrisp need a pollinator. There are tons of flowering crabapples in my neighborhood so I was wondering if they would work as a pollinator. Will a Royal raindrops crabapple pollinate a honeycrisp? Will a spring snow crabapple pollinate a honeycrisp even though it doesnt produce fruit at all as an ornamental tree?
Bonneville County Idaho
Expert Response
Lindsay,
The short answer is yes, ornamentals can pollinate the fruiting varieties. Now to your specifics. While many crabapples are excellent cross-pollinator trees Springsnow crabapple, will not cross-pollinate other apple varieties. It was breed to be fruitless and the pollen is also basically sterile. I can't confirm whether Royal Raindrops will pollinate Honeycrisp, but it does pollinate many other varieties. If it is more than about 100 feet from your Honeycrisp it won't do as good a job as you would like. Most importantly they need to be in full bloom at the same time.
