Elaine: You are 100% right. Pollinator variety will affect seedling but not fruit flavor.

The Fruitnut

Well, thank you, Fruitnut. He was convinced that cross pollination affects the flavor of the fruit. I didn't want to disagree, but I'm sure I gave him a cross-eyed look! I was telling him about the 12 trees I had just planted using the high density method (four in one hole) and he was curious how the fruit was going to taste with the different varieties planted that close.

The same theory holds true even with veggies and flowers too, right? My logical brain says it can only affect future generations, not current production.

Thanks, Elaine

Just to confuse you Elaine, cross pollination will affect corn. If you plant sweet corn near field corn, pollination of the sweet corn by the field corn will cause starchy kernels on your sweet corn. Likewise, planting "super sweet" corn near other types of sweet corn will cause both to become starchy. And colored Indian corn near sweet corn causes the normally white or yellow kernels to become colored.

This is because the kernels are the seeds,not the fruit, and the storage tissue of the seed is a genetic combination of the maternal plant and the pollen source. The fruit of a plant is entirely maternal; therefore it has no genetic component from the pollenizer.