With the advent of a host of miniature rootstocks that now covers most types of fruit tree it has never been easier to cultivate fruit trees in pots. Specialist grower Adam Frazier shares his 20 years experience on what to grow and how to grow in pots.
Apples, pears, plums, cherries, figs and even lemons. If you don’t have a large garden, growing your own fruit and fruit trees might seem like an impossible dream but if you have any sort of patio you can start living the dream.
As your trees are restricted to containers they are going to need love and attention to bear the best fruit. Add a good feed or fertiliser which is high in potassium in spring and summer.
You’ll also need to water your patio fruit trees daily, so keep a careful eye on the containers particularly during the growing season and hot weather.
Choose a size of container that is right for the crops you are growing. Most fruit trees on miniature rootstocks will require a container not less than 18 inches in depth and circumference. Resist the urge to over-pot by using extra-large containers. If the container is too big the compost will go stale and airless before the roots have a chance to penetrate it.
Remember that during the summer even if it has rained it may still be necessary to water by hand because the area of compost exposed to the rain is relatively small and the foliage canopy often stops most the rain from penetrating. Plants and trees in pots need more water because the compost heats up much more than the soil in the ground does.
Apples
Apples on the M27 rootstock make picturesque naturally miniature trees that look like perfect scaled down miniature orchard trees. Crops can be very heavy – up to 30lbs per tree when fully established, and they yield early in life too, often from the first season. A good choice would be ‘Limelight’, ‘Greensleeves’, ‘Saturn’, ‘Redsleeves’, ‘Red Falstaff’, ‘Hereford Russet’ and ‘Red Windsor’.
Pears
There is one number one choice for a pear tree on the patio and that is ‘Concorde’. It is a naturally compact little tree that is self-fertile and heavy yielding. Its flavour is sweet and moreish and the many fruits ripen from early October.
Plums and damsons
Most gardeners consider the concept of their very own dwarfing ‘Victoria’ plum – considered the queen of all plums – in a pot on the patio as the ultimate gardening joy. ‘Victoria’ itself ripens mid-late August; ring the changes with the useful little ‘Opal’ which ripens much earlier from late July.
Cherries
The new ‘Gisele’ 5 rootstock has revolutionised the growing of cherries. The first reliable and genuinely dwarf/miniature stock for cherries has ensured that these most delectable of fruits are brought into the realms of patio growing. ‘Gisele’ loves being cultivated in a pot!
Peaches and nectarines
These fruits were just made for the patio. Not only are they rather attractive with early large rose pink blossom but they are naturally compact as well and probably at their best when grown in containers. There is a preconception that they might be tender but they are entirely hardy. Peaches and nectarines are precocious, almost invariably yielding the first summer following planting.
Mulberries
Very slow growing trees of character, they adapt very well to container growing. The large fringed leaves are attractive and turn to rich golden amber in the autumn and the trunk becomes fissured and textured as it ages. As the fruits of mulberry trees will attract the neighbouring blackbird population like a magnet the trees are much easier to keep an eye on when grown close to home.
Figs
Love being restricted in a container and crop more heavily because of it. They are so attractive with their attractive large lobed leaves, extremely easy and undemanding, and will crop virtually from the word go. ‘Brown Turkey’ is always considered the most prolific.
