# Pollination planner

> Enough for a crop: 3 Riverbank Grape seedlings.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/?plants=riverbank-grape:3

Try [two pawpaws](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=pawpaw:2), [two American persimmons](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=american-persimmon:2) or [three American hazelnuts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=american-hazelnut:3).

Every tree and shrub we sell is grown from seed, so no buyer can pick a male, a female or a clone. That matters for fruit and nuts. A tree that comes as separate male and female trees makes one seedling a coin toss, and a tree that cannot pollinate itself sets nothing alone. Add the trees you want and how many seedlings of each. The planner says whether that is enough for a crop, gives the odds, and takes spacing and years to the first crop from each tree's page.

Without JavaScript the trees and counts cannot be changed here: the verdicts shown are for the trees in the address, or the planner's own example. The table below gives every tree's need, the count to plant and the page's own sentence.

![Riverbank grape (Vitis riparia) cluster of blue-black grapes with a white bloom on red stalks among the leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/riverbank-grape-160.jpg)

*Photo: Wasrts, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AFrost_grapes_%28Southeast_Michigan%29.JPG)*

1 species, 3 seedlings in all From each tree's page

3 seedlings · 75% chance of a male and a female

## [Riverbank Grape](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/riverbank-grape/index.html.md): Enough

(*Vitis riparia*)

3 seedlings give a 75% chance of a male and a female at even odds; its page asks for 3, and 5 would give 94%.

35 to 75 ft tall; 12 ft apart; first crop about 3 years after planting.

**Its page says:** Vines are male or female, and only females bear grapes, so plant three or more seedlings for a male and a female.

*Each bar runs over the years its page gives from seed to the first crop: Riverbank Grape about 3 after planting. The faint part before it is the wait.*

*Each bar is the chance of at least one male and one female among that many seedlings of a tree that is either male or female, at even odds. Your 3 riverbank grape seedlings give 75%. It takes 5 seedlings to pass the 90% line, at 94%.*

[When these trees flower](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=riverbank-grape), in the bloom and fruit calendar.

[Put these 3 seedlings on my request list](https://bluewhaletrees.com/list/#items=riverbank-grape:3).

When a tree is either male or female, 5 seedlings give a 94% chance of getting both and 6 give 97%, at even odds. A seedling shows which it is only at first bloom, so keep the extras until then.

On paper this page prints the example alone. Choose trees and the plan prints; the table of every species stays on the web page.

## What each tree needs for a crop

"Plant" is the count that settles it: one for a tree that bears alone, two for one that needs or is helped by a partner unless its page asks for more, and when a tree is either male or female, the count its page asks for or the 5 that give a 90% chance of getting both. Blank where the page does not say whether one tree bears alone, and for a tree that sets little seed.

| Tree | Needs | Plant | Apart | First crop | Its page says |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **[Riverbank Grape](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/riverbank-grape/index.html.md)** (*Vitis riparia*) | Separate male and female trees | 3 | 12 ft | about 3 years after planting | Vines are male or female, and only females bear grapes, so plant three or more seedlings for a male and a female. |

This table holds only the species this address names. Every species' row is in the [whole table](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md) and in its [CSV file](https://bluewhaletrees.com/data/pollination.csv).

## How the verdict is made

- **Each tree's page gives its need.** The need comes from the tree's own page, written from the Forest Service's silvics, the state extension services and the growers' guides. The page says whether the species carries male and female flowers on separate trees, whether it can pollinate itself, and whether a second tree improves the set. Spacing, a partner's distance and the years to the first crop are the page's own figures too. The 62 common natives we do not grow, in the table's last group, take their need and figures from their sources instead (Silvics of North America, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, the Fire Effects Information System and extension pages), and a plan's card for one says "Its sources say".
- **Male and female trees are a matter of odds.** When a tree is either male or female, each seedling is one or the other at even odds and shows which only at its first bloom, years in. So the planner gives the chance that a count includes both: two seedlings 50%, three 75%, four 88%, five 94%, six 97%, seven 98%.
- **A tree already there changes the odds.** With a male within reach, or one tree of your own, a seedling only has to be the other kind. Then one seedling gives 50%, two give 75% and four give 94%.
- **Enough is the page's count, or 90%.** A count is enough when it reaches the count the tree's page asks for, or a 90% chance where the page gives none. It is likely at 75%. Those two lines are the planner's own, not a source's.
- **A tree that cannot pollinate itself needs a second.** The pollen must come from a genetically different tree, which any two of our seed-grown seedlings are. The partner counts within the distance the page gives, or in the same planting where it gives none.
- **Another oak, hickory, plum or crabapple can be the partner.** Where a page accepts another tree of its kind, one in the plan counts. An oak counts only an oak of its own group, red or white, since the two groups do not cross.
- **The odds are a guide, not a promise.** The share of males in a real seed lot is not always half: common hoptree's page notes that its males outnumber females. A lone female can sometimes set a little fruit from wild pollen.
- **Some pages do not say.** Where a page does not say whether one tree bears alone, the planner says so rather than guess.
- **The address carries the trees.** A link copied from the planner opens with the same trees, counts and ticked boxes. The page draws the verdicts for them before any script runs, so a shared link shows the verdicts themselves.

## Common questions

### Do pawpaw trees need a pollinator?

Yes: [pawpaw](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pawpaw/index.html.md) will not pollinate itself, so plant at least two seedlings from different parents. Kentucky State University's pawpaw FAQ calls pawpaws generally self-incompatible, and any two of our seed-grown seedlings are genetically different.

### Do American persimmon trees need a male and a female?

Yes: most [American persimmons](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-persimmon/index.html.md) are male or female, and a seedling shows which only at its first bloom, years in. At even odds, five seedlings give a 94% chance of both, the count the planner calls enough.

### Do you need two trees to get fruit?

Not always: in the planner's table, downy serviceberry, chokecherry and prairie crabapple each bear alone. American plum and American hazelnut need a second, unrelated tree, and a tree that comes as separate male and female trees needs one of each.

### Which oak trees produce acorns the fastest?

Of the oaks we grow, the shrubby [dwarf live oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/dwarf-live-oak/index.html.md), [runner oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/runner-oak/index.html.md) and [dwarf chinquapin oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/dwarf-chinquapin-oak/index.html.md) bear in 3 to 5 years. [Nuttall oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/nuttall-oak/index.html.md) bears from about 5 years, with good crops from about 20, and [white oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/white-oak/index.html.md) from about 20 when open-grown.

### Can a red oak pollinate a white oak?

No: the planner counts an oak only as a partner for an oak of its own group, red or white, since the two groups do not cross. The University of Georgia finds hybrids rare between the major oak groups.

## The table as a file

The files and the citation below name this table *Pollination table: what each tree needs for a crop*. Download it as [CSV](https://bluewhaletrees.com/data/pollination.csv) or [JSON](https://bluewhaletrees.com/data/pollination.json): 506 rows, one for one tree or shrub, ours or a common native we do not grow, with the columns below. It is one of the reference tables on [the open data page](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/open-data/index.html.md). The figures are published under the [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) license: use them with a credit to Blue Whale Trees and a link to this page. Updated 2026-11-09.

To report a wrong figure, use the [support form](https://bluewhaletrees.com/support/index.html.md) and name the table and the row.

### What each column means

- **slug**: the page's address word: the page is https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/ followed by the slug and a slash, with /species/ in place of /plants/ for a common native we do not grow
- **name**: the common name the page uses
- **need**: what a crop takes: dioecious, partner, improves, single, none or unknown. Dioecious means separate male and female plants, partner a second unrelated plant, improves one bears and a second helps, single one plant bears alone, none sets little or no seed, unknown where no source states it
- **group_min**: the fewest plants to set out for a crop. Blank where no count is given, and the planner goes by the need alone
- **group_max**: the most the planner suggests. Blank where no count is given
- **distance_ft**: the distance within which a partner counts, in feet, where the page gives one. Blank where none is given, and a partner then counts in the same planting
- **spacing_min_ft**: the closest spacing between plants, in feet. Blank where no spacing is given
- **spacing_max_ft**: the widest spacing the page gives, in feet. Blank where no spacing is given
- **first_crop**: the years to the first crop as the page states them, counted from seed unless the cell names another start: after planting, from sprouts or after the grass stage. A bracket that opens with first flowers gives the age at first flowers instead. Blank where no age for a first crop is given
- **flowers**: how the flowers are borne: monoecious, male and female flowers on one plant; dioecious, on separate plants; or perfect, each flower carrying both parts. Polygamous where some flowers carry male or female parts only and some carry both
- **kin**: the kind of tree whose other members its page accepts as partners for a crop (white oak, red oak, hickory, plum or crabapple), blank where the page names no such kind
- **note**: the planner's own note for the plant, as the table's last column prints it; for a common native we do not grow, its sources' word
- **in_catalog**: true for a tree or shrub we grow, false for a common native we do not grow, whose row is what the planner's table prints for it from its sources
- **botanical**: the botanical name
- **usda_symbol**: the plant's symbol in the USDA PLANTS Database: the native range table's symbol for a plant we grow, the species record's for a common native we do not grow. It joins a row to PLANTS and to the other databases that carry the symbol. Blank where PLANTS has no record of the plant

### How the table is made

Each row of a plant we grow is its page's own pollination facts, read from the sources its page names, with the Woody Plant Seed Manual's chapter where the page has no figure. The common natives we do not grow are rows too where their sources state a need, as the planner's table prints them, marked by in_catalog false. The files are written from the pollination records and checked against them at every release.

### Cite this page

Copy a link or a reference. A press on a box copies it.

A link, as HTML

```
<a href="https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/">Pollination table: what each tree needs for a crop</a>, Blue Whale Trees, updated November 9, 2026.
```

A reference, in APA style

```
Blue Whale Trees. (2026, November 9). Pollination table: what each tree needs for a crop. https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/
```

## Sources and method

Each tree's need, count, spacing, partner distance and first crop come from its own page, written from the Forest Service's silvics and seed manual, the extension services and published studies. The even odds rest on a count of 1,930 American holly seedlings, 1.03 males to each female, in the Forest Service's silvics of the species. Our article [Why a tree flowers but bears no fruit](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/why-a-tree-flowers-but-never-fruits/index.html.md) gives that count with the subject's other sources. Kentucky State University's pawpaw FAQ gives the rule for a tree that rejects its own pollen: "Pawpaws are generally self-incompatible, so you need two trees for cross-pollination." It adds: "Two grafted trees of the same cultivar will not cross-pollinate." A seed-grown seedling is never such a copy. The oak rule follows the University of Georgia's Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources (Kim D. Coder, Hybrid Oaks of Georgia, 2020). It finds hybrids rare between the major oak groups and frequent within them. An International Oak Society article by Jeroen Braakman (Hybridization in Quercus, 2017) knows of only one cross between oak sections, and none between the red and white oaks. The [growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md) shows how big each tree will be by its first crop, and the [companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md) what to plant between them.

The address carries the pollination planner's inputs, so a link opens it filled in, and Copy link on a result writes one: plants (each plant's slug with its count as slug:count, joined by commas), wild (the slugs with a wild tree of the same kind nearby, joined by commas). For example, [/tools/pollination/?plants=pecan:2,shagbark-hickory:1](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=pecan:2,shagbark-hickory:1).