For decades, apple growers have used Manchurian crab apples to pollinate their fruit. Tree fruit researchers are searching for new pollinizer trees as alternatives to the Manchurian crab apple, such as this one at a Boring, Oregon, nursery. (Courtesy Stefano Musacchi/WSU) The crab apples bloom early, and Snowdrift apples bloom a little later. Between the two, orchardists figured they had their bases covered. Now, a Wenatchee, Washington, researcher says there is more to it. He is searching for new pollinizer trees to give growers more genetically precise alternatives, specifically those that resist rot. “Think about the biology of your pollinizers,” […]