Normally, fruit trees begin to produce fruit soon after they become old enough to bloom freely. This will vary and is dependent on the type of fruit, the variety and the rootstock. Many other factors will influence how much fruit a tree will produce. The home gardener should evaluate certain factors, if their fruit trees are failing to produce fruit. Blossoms on fruit trees need to be pollinated to bear fruit.
Some trees bear fruit through self pollination and are called self-fruitful.
Other fruit trees require pollen from another variety because they cannot produce fruit from their own pollen. We call these self-unfruitful and to pollinate adequately, two or more varieties must be planted near each other. Self-unfruitful tree fruits include most apples, pears, sweet cherry and Japanese and American type plums. There are exceptions with any given tree fruit type. With the variable weather conditions during the spring, fruit pollination was erratic.