Apple trees need to be pollinated by another different species of apple in the same pollination group (i.e. flowers at the same time) in order to set fruit.

I don't think that Ballerina Apple is self-pollinating, but it could be a cultivar or hybrid that has been bred to self-pollinate. Having said that, self-pollinating apple trees do benefit tremendously from cross-pollination with another type of apple tree.

So, I think the problem is that there are no suitable apple trees nearby to pollinate it... No Jiggy Jiggy, no babies ;o)

With small trees I like the grafted 'family tree' ideas

I have 6 apple trees and the end 3 are now quite old ballerinas, say 25 years, and do fruit very well but not every year DD. As said above they may need a fruity friend which means better pollination. If you know the name of your apple tree, you can google it to find which variety would pollinate your apple tree. Think about pears, as our 5 mini pears fruit much better than the apples most years.

Hi, there are certain varieties of apple, that only fruit biennially, Derek.

There are other apples like my Charlotte that don't fruit at all. It supports a claire de lune clematis that bloomed its socks off a while back. This is inspite of five other apple trees very near to it. So they can serve a purpose even if there are no apples ever produced!

Trees are lovely....even if they don't do quite whats expected.....