About five years ago I planted a Honeycrisp and a Pink Lady apple tree (along with several other fruit trees). Neither have grown very much since and the PL looks like it may now be dead but several suckers seem to be growing from the root area. What variety would be a good companion for the HC?
Unfortunately, this spring it warmed up very early, fooling my trees (apple, peach, cherry, plum and pear) into a very light bloom, then we got freezing temps for a week and they didn’t set or bloom after that.
I may not have chosen the best location for this “mini orchard”, as I have a large windbreak of cedar/arborvitae to the west and north.
Hopefully next spring will be more productive.
Golden Delicous and Macintosh (including their sports and mutants) are very good partners.
Honeycrisp is probably much more self-pollinating then its given credit for. Mine is the last to bloom after Gravenstein, Winesap, Stayman and Braeburn which are mostly poor pollinators. Honeycrisp tree is loaded this year. Does seem to have a problem with being biennial. All are mature trees.
I have though about adding another pollinator tree. Maybe the Grav is not getting enough pollen. Just no need to thin though. So maybe it is a good thing.