I have one apple tree standing by itself, it never produces golden apples. I have another side by side with an orange tree, it seems like one in three harvests it will drop one golden apple that is worth a lot. I wonder if the golden apples are a hybrid due to the trees proximity to each other.

What I did was plant 4 apple trees off by themselves in case multiple trees are needed, but all apple is fine, and 1 apple tree all alone, to replicate his setup.

I will put an apple tree next to a pear tree to see if it does the same thing the apple/orange duet does.

I have planted three combinations, apple and orange tree next to each other, two apple trees and an apple and pear tree, so we'll see if any of them yield a golden apple

In the very beginning I planted a pear next to an apple and that apple tree gave me a golden apple. So I planted apple trees everywhere, but still it's only the first tree with the golden apple! Smart cookie to put two and two together!!!

I got my first golden apple today. It was from an apple tree within my orchard of 27 apples, pears and oranges. This apple tree is on the outer edge of the grove with a pear and orange flanking it. There is room between the trees to plant another two trees.

I am waiting for the result of the paired trees which are planted right next to each other so that they are abutting and seemed joined looking from the canapy.

I always plant my flowers with a gap between them. The other thing I do is that I try to spare most butterflies, bees, and ladybugs. Since I started sparing bees, butterflies, and ladybugs, I have gotten a lot more hybrids.