Below is a table of what vegetable crops will cross-pollinate with other plants.
It should be noted that vegetable varieties will cross-pollinate easily with other varieties of the same plant (eg. Carrot ‘St. Valery’ will cross pollinate with Carrot ‘Scarlet Nantes’). That information is not included in the table because it should be assumed.
| Asparagus | Wild Asparagus |
| Beans | Self-pollinating; very small chance of different species (runner, yardlong, lima, etc.) cross-pollinating. |
| Beets | Readily crosses with any Beta vulgaris species: Swiss chard, leaf beet, spinach beet, etc. |
| Broccoli | Readily crosses with any Brassica oleracea species: Cauliflower, Cabbage, kale, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, romanesco broccoli, kale, collard greens, broccoli |
| Brussels Sprouts | See: Broccoli |
| Carrot | Queen Anne’s Lace, and any subspecies of Daucus carota |
| Cabbage | See: Broccoli |
| Cauliflower | See: Broccoli |
| Corn | Sweet, flour, popcorn, flint, dent, and ornamental corns, teosinte |
| Cucumber | Will cross pollinated with parthenocarpic cucumber varieties. Please note: it is a commonly held belief that cucumbers will cross with squash and melons. This is false. |
| Eggplant | Self-fertilizing |
| Garlic | Self-fertilizing |
| Melons | Cucumis melo species will cross pollinate; honeydew, cantaloupe, canary melon, etc. Please note: they will not cross-pollinate with watermelons and cucumbers. |
| Onion | Note: onions will not cross-pollinate with leeks or chives. Bunching onions and bulb onions can cross-pollinate, although this is extremely rare. |
| Parsnip | Wild parsnip; It is a myth that carrots and parsnips will cross-pollinate |
| Pea | Self-pollinating; will not cross-pollinate with sweet peas. |
| Pepper | Hot peppers and sweet peppers will cross-pollinate |
| Potato | Propagated by tuber; cross-pollination isn’t an issue. (if you are propagating by seed, all varieties will cross with each other) |
| Radish | Wild radish; spring/summer, winter, and seedpod varieties will all cross-pollinate; daikon, wild mustard, wild turnip |
| Spinach | (more info coming) |
| Squash | Cucurbita maxima, C. mixta, C. pepo, and C. moschata will all cross-pollinate |
| Tomato | Self-fertilizing; potato-leaf varieties are slightly more prone to cross-pollination within varieties |
| Tomatillo | Require cross-pollination for fruit, plant one variety at a time to ensure seed purity. Will not cross-pollinate with tomatoes (this is a myth). |
| Turnip | Wild Turnip |
| Watermelon | Citron; will not cross pollinate with other melon varieties. |