Young fruit trees in the home orchard should begin to fruit once the tree has become established. Several conditions will need to be met before that happens and some of them we can help with. The four big factors are tree health, weather, typical age for the tree to bear and proper pollination.
Fruit trees that are moderate growers will often begin to bloom ahead of faster or slower growing trees. Apples can start to flower in as little as two years, while plums take 3-5 years for example. Sour Cherries are in the two to three year range. Fruit trees purchased from a Garden Center or Retail Nursery are most often at least two years old. Fruit trees ordered from a fruit tree supplier from a catalog may only be one year old and sold as a whip.

Tree health will also influence how soon blooms start to show up. We want a healthy tree, but not one that is overly vigorous, which will delay the formation of fruit buds. For example if you allow leaf diseases to establish before fruiting, that can reduce your potential yield by about 20%. Letting insects feed at will makes that percentage drop even further. Some insects can hurt the tree as well as the fruit. A regular spray program, either organic or inorganic, starting while the trees are young will get you off to a good start.

While we cannot control the weather and climate, siting your fruit trees in the best locations in the landscape can help. Hardy fruit trees actually need a dormant period and later a chilling period to flower each year. Avoiding low-lying spots in the yard help protect the more sensitive flower buds from those late frosts. Soil that drains well avoids root rots too. The most sensitive fruit trees are apricots and sweet cherries. Next in the list are peaches and nectarines. Plums, pears, and sour cherries are second to the top and apples are hardiest. The best trees to start with around here are apples. Once you master those, venture into the less hardy fruit trees. Peaches for example may only provide a crop every few years.

The last condition that has to be met and one we do have control over is that of proper pollination. Apples for example will require to be cross- pollenated. You will need two trees of different varieties blooming at the same time. If you chose a variety that is listed in the fruit catalogs as being male sterile then you will need yet another variety to ensure all three trees can produce apples. Other self un-fruitful trees include pear, American plums and sweet cherries. In the urban communities, a flowering ornamental crabapple can serve as a pollinator for fruiting apples as they are very closely related as long as they are blooming at same time as your fruit trees. Since fruit trees are pollenated by flying insects, that could be the crabapple several doors down.