Self Fertile Apples UPDATED: 144 Cultivars

We all know that most apples are not self-fertile, and often need another apple tree nearby in order to produce fruit.  Often, the other tree must be a different variety.  What happens when you want an isolated tree, or large spacings?  Pick a self fertile variety.
Here is a list I have gathered of 5 dozen 12 dozen self fertile varieties.  Undoubtedly there are others.

SELF-FERTILE  APPLE  VARIETIES:

Acklam Russet
Anna
Astrachan Crab
Beverly Hills
Braeburn
Braeburn Hillwell
Beakwells Seedling (Cider)
Brownlees Russet
Brown Snout
Buckley Giant
Chehalis
Christmas Pearmain
Cox, Self Fertile
Cox's Orange Pippin
Court Pendue Plat
Crawley Beauth
Dorsett Golden
Earligold
Eddie April
Empire
Exquisite
Fuji
Fuji Red
George Cave
Golster
Golden Delicious
Golden Spire
Gordon
Granny Smith
Granny Smith, Greenspur
Grimes Golden
Jonared
King
Michelin (Cider)
Newton Pippin
Pettingill Apple
Pine Apple Russet of Devon
Pink Pearl
Red Devil
Red McIntosh
Red Rome
Red Spy
Red Windsor (Red Alkmene)
Redsleeves
Reverend Morgan
Royal Jubilee
Saint Averred
Saturn
Scrumptious
Sierra Beauty
Snow Fameuse
Spartan
Spitzenburg
St Everard
Summer Rambo
Sunset
Sweet Coppin (Cider)
Winston
Wolf River
Yellow Delicious

EDITed to add: You may still get better results with another tree, but it is not required.

EDITED 4-27-14: Today I have added another 19 varieties, including 13 that I found in England.
Go to 4-27-14 post to see the new additions. jp

EDITED 14 Nov 15 to add a merged listing of 144 species

Interesting, but why not graft a branch of something good to something else good and have a self fertile tree with two varieties? 

Dan

Last year I looked into an apple tree with 4 varieties grafted on it.  A great idea for limited space planting, or just for the variety.

woohooo!  thank you!

Thanks a lot. It’ll help me a lot.

i have a few of them and didn't realize they were self fertile, cool beans, but I have so many apple trees it isn't like it much matters..here.

I do remember though many years ago there was a transparent growing nearby and that was the only apple tree at the time, and it always had apples so they are likely self fertile as well, unless of course there was one hiding I wasn't aware of.

thanks for the list you ol rusty dog.  im in the midst of planting some apple trees. i bought two gavensteins  which are pollen sterile according to tag.  i wasnt paying enuff attention to it.  now i gotta take one back and swap it out. 

your list has helped me immensly.

While the list indicates varieties that do not need a pollinator, "more is better" still applies.  A single tree may not attract many pollinators, where an orchard certainly will.  A packet of "Insect attracting flower seeds" is well worth its price: you get lots of pollinators, and a wide variety of beautiful flowers to enjoy.  Most packets include annuals and perennials.  From my experience, the annuals generally reseed themselves quite well if you just leave them alone to 'do their own thing'.

so are you suggesting planting these type of flowers around the base of the trees?

Yes.  Broadcast some good insect/butterfly attracting flowers around the tree plantings.
A few million pollinators will certainly increase fruit yield, regardless of fruit variety.

Ok, question time.... I'm not much of a gardener.... I put in a pear and an apple tree a few years ago. The apple should be ok as there is a crab close by that seems to be blooming about the same time. The pear tree I am not so sure about, it is blooming right now and there are bees around it. Time will tell if there is another tree close by. Should I find that it is not producing, I would need another tree. So my question is.... I am guessing that any pear tree that is the same variety would be a clone. Does this mean I have to get something of a different kind? Could I just graft a different branch on? The yard is not too big and I would prefer diversity. I'm fine with metal/wood or whatever, but living things are new to me. I'm just learning.

Like apples, many pears need another variety "near by" to pollinate.  I don't yet have a big list of self-fertile pears, but do know the following (European) pears to be self-fertile:
Bosc, D'Anjou (red), Fanstill, Flemish Beauty, and Kieffer.
The lists for Asian Pears I've seen seem pretty evenly divided.  Half do, half don't.
If you find that you do need a pollinator, grafting would probably work for you.  Just make certain that the two flower at about the same time.

thanks, I have several of those growing here and didn't realize they were self fertile...but they do bear well

I am bumping this thread, as I have a bunch more self-fertile varieties to add to the list:

ALKMENE
EGREMONT RUSSET England 1872
JONATHAN New York late 1700's
PINK LADY Western Australia
WHITE PEARMAIN England 1200 A.D.
WINTER BANANA Indiana 1876

And, some more that I found in England:

Annie Elizabeth
Devonshire Quarrenden
Ellison's Orange
Howgate Wonder
James Grieve
King of The Pippins
Lane's Prince Albert
Laxton's Superb
Lord Derby
Stark's Earliest

CRAB APPLES:
Butterball
John Downie
Red Sentinel

John Polk wrote:I am bumping this thread, as I have a bunch more self-fertile varieties to add to the list:

ALKMENE
EGREMONT RUSSET England 1872
JONATHAN New York late 1700's
PINK LADY Western Australia
WHITE PEARMAIN England 1200 A.D.
WINTER BANANA Indiana 1876

And, some more that I found in England:

Annie Elizabeth
Devonshire Quarrenden
Ellison's Orange
Howgate Wonder
James Grieve
King of The Pippins
Lane's Prince Albert
Laxton's Superb
Lord Derby
Stark's Earliest

CRAB APPLES:
Butterball
John Downie
Red Sentinel

I am very curious how you determined that this whole list of apples are self-fertile? If you got them from a book, I wonder how did they determine they were. As long as there is another apple tree within 300m there can be good pollination.

Another thing to consider for those planting a limited number of apples - some varieties have 'triploid' genetics - which means they need a pollinator, but can't pollinate other apple trees. (I say 'can't', but that might mean 'not known to' - or 'only in special circumstances' - their pollen is typically considered sterile.).

A good page about this topic is here: http://www.orangepippintrees.com/articles/triploid-apple-varieties

That page lists the following as triploid apple trees:

*Belle de Boskoop
*Blenheim Orange
Bramley's Seedling
Gravenstein
Jonagold
Crispin / Mutsu
*Ribston Pippin
Newtown Pippin
Roxbury Russet
Winesap
Zabergau Reinette

The stars indicate trees I'm growing - so out of my ten apple trees, three were 'sterile'. When planning my orchard, I had to make sure to plant accompanying diploid trees fairly close to the triploid ones, and those diploids also needed at least one other diploid with overlapping flowering seasons. I also planted a crab that Robert Hart swore by called Gorlden Hornet - which has a long flowering season. I'm training it in a columnar way between some of the other trees.

Though after what Stefan has shared about 300' being an okay distance, I could likely not worry so much, and could have relied on my neighbours' crab apple tree down the street...

Rob Read wrote:Another thing to consider for those planting a limited number of apples - some varieties have 'triploid' genetics - which means they need a pollinator, but can't pollinate other apple trees. (I say 'can't', but that might mean 'not known to' - or 'only in special circumstances' - their pollen is typically considered sterile.).

A good page about this topic is here: http://www.orangepippintrees.com/articles/triploid-apple-varieties

That page lists the following as triploid apple trees:

*Belle de Boskoop
*Blenheim Orange
Bramley's Seedling
Gravenstein
Jonagold
Crispin / Mutsu
*Ribston Pippin
Newtown Pippin
Roxbury Russet
Winesap
Zabergau Reinette

The stars indicate trees I'm growing - so out of my ten apple trees, three were 'sterile'. When planning my orchard, I had to make sure to plant accompanying diploid trees fairly close to the triploid ones, and those diploids also needed at least one other diploid with overlapping flowering seasons. I also planted a crab that Robert Hart swore by called Gorlden Hornet - which has a long flowering season. I'm training it in a columnar way between some of the other trees.

Though after what Stefan has shared about 300' being an okay distance, I could likely not worry so much, and could have relied on my neighbours' crab apple tree down the street...

300m or yards approximate so not just your immediate neighbour but a few over.

I am very curious how you determined that this whole list of apples are self-fertile?

These listings are from a collection of nurseries that produce (and sell them).
Many nurseries will not tell you that an apple variety is self fertile...after all, they would rather sell you a pair !

Many of the varieties, I gathered from multiple sources, so it is not just one source making the claim.
Some of these varieties are several hundred years old, so if the claims were erroneous, that would have been determined long ago.

There is a self-fertile apple list at the Oregon Home Orchard Society (http://www.homeorchardsociety.org/growfruit/apples/self-fertile-apples/) that includes a list of information sources.

HOS has a great grafting workshop and has a scion fair ( entry fee and you buy rootstock; scions, hundreds of varieties, are free).

Great. Thanks for posting that. The listing adds quite a few that I hadn't listed.

And a couple of others to add to the lists:

Akane
Liberty

UPDATE

I have merged several lists together into one list of 144 varieties of self fertile apples.
This is the largest listing available anywhere on the internet !
Don't forget that these will do better if there is another compatible species near by.

Acklam Russet
Advance (Laxtons) *
Akane
Alkmene
Allington Pippin *
Anna
Annie Elizabeth *
Arthur Turner *
Astrachan Crab
Baukro *
Beakwells Seedling (Cider)
Belrene *
Beverly Hills *
Bismarck *
Braeburn
Braeburn Hillwell
Beakwells Seedling (Cider)
Brownlees Russet
Brown Snout
Buckley Giant
Butterball (Crab)
Charles Ross *
Chehalis
Christmas Pearmain
Cortland *
Cox's Orange Pippin *
Cox Queen
Cox, Self Fertile
Court Pendue Plat
Crawley Beauth
Cybele® delrouval -Self Fertile Dabinett
Devonshire Quarrenden *
Dorsett Golden
Earligold
Early Victoria (Enmeth Early) *
Eddie April
Egremont Russet *
Ein Sheimer
Ellisons Orange *
Emneth Early (Early Victoria) *
Empire *
Epicure *
Exquisite
Falstaff *
Falstaff, Red *
Fiesta *
Fortune*
Fiji *
Fuji
Fuji Red
Gala *
George Cave
Gladstone *
Gold Spur
Golden Delicious
Golden Spire
Golster
Gordon
Granny Smith
Granny Smith, Greenspur
Greensleeves *
Grenadier *
Grimes Golden
Herefordshire Russet *
Howgate Wonder *
James Grieve *
John Downie
Jonared
Jonathan *
Keswick Codlin *
King *
King of the Pippins *
King Russet *
Kingston Black (Cider) *
Lady Lambourne *
Lady Sudeley *
Lanes Prince Albert *
Laxtons Superb *
Liberty
Lired (Roosje) *
Lord Derby *
Lord Lambourne *
Marston Scarlet *
Maxton *
Michelin (Cider)
Millers Seedling *
Monarch *
Mother (American) *
Newtown Pippin *
Newton Wonder *
Northern Spy *
Opal *
Orleans Reinette *
Peasgoods Nonsuch *
Pettingill Apple
Pine Apple Russet of Devon
Pink Lady (Australia)
Pink Pearl
Red Sentinel
Red Devil
Red Falstaff *
Red McIntosh
Red Rome
Red Spy *
Red Windsor (Red Alkmene)
Redsleeves
Reine des Reinettes Rouge *
Reverend Morgan
Reverend W Wilks *
Rival *
Royal Jubilee
Rosamund *
Rote Golodparmane *
Royal Jubilee
Saint Edmunds Pippin *
Saint Edmund's Russet
Saint Averred
Saturn
Scrumptious
Sierra Beauty
Snow Fameuse
Spartan
Spitzenburg *
St Edmunds Pippin *
St Everard
Stark's Earliest
Sterling Castle *
Stoke Red (cider) *
Strummer Pippin *
Summer Rambo
Sunset
Superb (Laxtons Superb) *
Sweet Coppin (Cider)
Tydemans Early Worcester *
Wagener *
White Pearmain
White Transparent *
Winston
Winter Banana
Wolf River
Worcester Pearmain *
Yarlington Mill (Cider)*
Yellow Delicious
Yellow Transparent *

* Denotes a variety that is 'partially self pollinating'. It will produce more fruit with another tree nearby. The tree may be the same variety. Or, some trees are, and some aren't.

St Lawrence is another self-fertile variety. It is an offspring of Fameuse.

Summer Rambo is listed here as self-fertile. Are you certain? Every other site I've seen and info about the Summer Rambo indicate it's a triploid.

Is anna self-fertile cultivar?

hakuna matata wrote:Is anna self-fertile cultivar?

According to posts in this thread, yes...

All About Apples!!!

Recently we had a poll on the most popular homesteading crops and apples came in 4th place (out of nine!)

My King did not produce apples until I planted an early blooming diploid nearby. I understand that there are two types of King. Mine here on the northern California coast is a large apple, often water cored and ripens in early October.  Another variety ripens a month later.