Fruit trees in patio tubs

sarah222

Has anyone any experience of these? A friend has bought an apple and a pear and 2 large half barrel style planters. Will this work, will they get fruit. I actually liked the idea but wondered if practical. I have large strip of garden down side of house that seems to go to waste every year and often just gets strimmed and weed wacked as hubby calls it lol Was thinking as it very sunny down there could stand a row of small fruit trees and utilise the space. It is very settled but sunny at present altho we have snow I have daffs in pots along there and they doing ok and once ready will move into view. Has anyone tried this with trees? If yes with what and what varieties? Any success or just a good looking tree?

TallGirl

Not grown fruit trees in pots it gets quite windy here so would worry about them toppling over and not getting enough water.

I bought 4 cheap maiden fruit trees and planted them all ( plus a gooseberry and a black current along an 8 meter strip. ) Have you looked in to cordons or espalier trained trees that might be more space saving than pots.

Air_Cooled_75

I was wondering this too. Have bought a cheap Stella cherry tree and am umming and ahhring about putting it in a large pot. I think I've read they aren't as productive though. I'm thinking about putting it in the front which is very sunny but not very sheltered.

Yorkie1

It will probably partly depend on which rootstock it is on - the smaller ones / minarettes stand a better chance of not getting too potbound, but it won't be as happy as if it was in the ground.

1940sGal

You can get dwarf fruit trees that go perfectly on the patio in pots. They provide plenty of fruit, too. See them all the time in the little catalogues that come with my copy of Gardner's World.

Mojisola

1940sGal wrote: »

You can get dwarf fruit trees that go perfectly on the patio in pots. They provide plenty of fruit, too. See them all the time in the little catalogues that come with my copy of Gardner's World.

Have you ever seen good reviews from people who have bought these? The only ones I've seen have been disappointed in their trees. Maybe only the unhappy ones comment on them or maybe the trees just don't do well.

Leif

I imagine a fig would be a good choice, but pots are quite expensive. I paid over £20 for a pot in which I put strawberries, not worth it except as decor. A tree pot would be a lot more. I have seen dwarf Medlar which grow to less than 2m max (see BlackMoor). One of those 'expert' books is dedicated to pot plants, and has a chapter on fruit trees. I'm not a fan of those books, but it might be worth taking a peek at that one.

1940sGal

Mojisola wrote: »

Have you ever seen good reviews from people who have bought these? The only ones I've seen have been disappointed in their trees. Maybe only the unhappy ones comment on them or maybe the trees just don't do well.

No to be fair I've only ever seen the trees, never read any comments. That could be the case though. You know what people are like, if they're disappointed they're more likely to comment on it than if they were happy.

sarah222

I have a guy I deliver parcels to (Im a courier) he got some dwarf trees off Bid TV and he has them in pots and swears by them says they are brilliant. I havent been there in summer yet so havent seen them in full glory if know what I mean. We have alot of yard and farm sales around here and half barrells etc are common and go cheap so was thinking of using them maybe I do a bit more research lol

sobie

They are good, but of course your never going to get as much crop of them as a full sized tree. They will need more looking after, watering daily - feeding at least every fortnight etc.

They will normally tell you on the label how many lbs of fruit you can expect. They wont reach maturity for at least three years so it will take that long to have a good crop.

Look out for the following rootstock codes:

For apples:
M27 - extremely dwarf (5-6 ft max)
M9 - Dwarfing 6 -8ft
M26 - Dwarfing - 10ft
MM106 - semi vigourous - 10-13ft

Cherry look out for Giesla 5 - (8 - 10ft)
Pears Quince C
Plum - Pixy

Go to a good garden centre or nursery, They will be able to tell you what their trees are grafted onto and what sort of crop to expect - it will vary from species. Then you need to see if they need to have polination partners. I suspect those people that have had poor results didn't have a polinating partner.

RAS

sarah222 wrote: »

I have large strip of garden down side of house that seems to go to waste every year and often just gets strimmed and weed wacked as hubby calls it lol Was thinking as it very sunny down there could stand a row of small fruit trees and utilise the space.

My orchard is 18 foot long and approximately 15 inches deep, down one side of my garden. I have four apples trees in that. So use the ground, not tubs.

If I was doing it again I would put in 6-8 cordon apples or pears (or even more vertical cordons on M9 rootstocks) They need to be 0.5 metre apart.

This will give you 15-30 fruit per tree, so you need to grow fruit that ripen at different times.

Avoid tip-bearing apples, even though that means you miss the very early varieties. As long as you have some sort of storage, pick at least half your varieties as eaters and cookers that store well; you really do not want 180+ apples and pears all ready to eat in October.

As to which varieties; a lot depends on what you like to eat and how
far north you are. Do you like russets, cox's or braeburn, or granny smiths? Bear in mind that anything with Goldren Delicious as a parent will ripen Novemberish in the north of England.