Fruit Tree Thread

Richie

Richie

Richie

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How do.

I thought I would start a thread to do with the owning of fruit trees including growing, pruning, etc.

My garden isn't huge - about 60m² total but some of that is patio, some is a shed and some is a wildflower patch which leaves about 45m² of lawn as well.

Because of this, I decided to go for a couple of dwarf/patio fruit trees and grow them in pots.


Apple
Red Falstaff on an M27 rootstock. Designed to be kept around 6 feet high and 6 feet spread so suited for small gardens and can be grown in containers.

I chose this one due to it being Self Fertile as well as having good disease resistance and suited for the North i.e. frost hardy.

It arrived a couple of months ago in a transport pot:

PXL-20230608-184813283-2.jpg


The lower branch was unfortunately damaged. I attempted to see if I could save it but, given it was also pointing down, I pruned it off at the trunk I repotted it a day or so later into a proper pot.

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It's sprouted a bit and seems to be doing well. It has since grown a 2nd branch on the main trunk as you can see (hoping another will sprout in the other direction to balance it out a bit):



Pear

Concorde on a Quince C rootstock. Again, designed to be kept around 6-7 feet high and 6 feet spread so great for small gardens and can be grown in containers

I also chose this one due to it being Self Fertile and frost hardy like the apple

Arrival at end of May with the apple:

PXL-20230608-184816154-2.jpg
<Initial image>

2 months after repotting out of the tiny transport container into a proper and final pot;

PXL-20230805-072508384.jpg


Again, this is doing well.



Any fruit tree growers here? Share yours along with questions and advice which I definitely will need as it's my.first time growing fruit trees albeit mini ones.
 
I started off with a potted fig tree and repot every couple of years until it's at the size I want. Quite hardy.

Also added dwarf cherry, pear and plum trees over the last few years and they're still establishing.

Fruit bushes are a good shout, have several 3-4 year old potted blueberry bushes and getting a decent haul of fruit off them. Super hardy and survived the uber frosts we had last winter and very little maintenance.
They need ericaceous soil so easy to manage in their tubs.

As with anything in pots, need to keep on top of the watering and fertilising.
 
gort said:
As with anything in pots, need to keep on top of the watering and fertilising.
Click to expand...

I haven't had to water mine since I potted them with the amount of rain we've had.

I have one of those moisture meter probe things and the lowest is ever got to was just going into the "moist" zone before it rained again overnight and it was fully in the "wet" zone again (yeah there is a joke in there somewhere).

Potted with John Innes 3 and an inch of mulch (which you can see in the photos) so it doesnt dry out too quickly.

I plan on getting a couple of wheeled plant caddies so I can bring them into the house wall for Winter and give them a bit of protection.
 
I planted a few over years with varying degrees of success. Almond tree, flowered beautifully and grew huge, but nuts were never right so it got chopped down this summer. I planted a yellow plum tree, and thats been brilliant, best plums ive ever had, its huge and i cant reach most of them lol. My apple tree has been poor so that got chopped down this summer aswell, very few apples and didnt look in great health. Im not very green fingered so i just put them anywhere in the garden without really checking the correct positioning.

My mother planted a fig plant and a grape vine, figs are great and grapes are tiny but sweet.

Im going to sort the lawn and rest of the garden in autumn, and im going to put a pear and cherry tree in, and do it right this time so hopefully get some nice fruit. The plums were awesome, i must have given away 10 asda bags of plums to friends and family last summer.
 
We had two apple trees and they were already mature trees when we moved in over 20 years ago. We got them removed 3 years ago. At first the idea of having a crop of apples every year appealed.

However, having a large crop of apples (only 2 trees remember) soon became a real pain to manage due to the sheer volume of apples produced. We were making chutney by the bucket load. We then started to advertise the apples for free to people and we had almost zero interest. We binned hundreds of apples every year.

In the end we got them taken down. I feel bad about removing mature trees (just me lol) but my advice to anyone wanting fruit trees is be careful what you wish for. You could be creating a monster :)
 
If you select the correct size of tree for your plans then it shouldn't be an issue TBH.

I went for patio size for physical properties and also crop size... I'll give any extra fruit to family if there is any.

I dont expect any fruit until 2025 at earliest TBH as they are only 12-18 months old when I got them
 
Haven’t got the best picture, but our mandarin tree is doing well (I half expected it to die by now, but it’s growing rapidly). Just bought a soil water meter to better assess whether it needs watering - turns out it is far wetter below the surface than I expected. Also picked up some citrus feeder. Fancying a lemon tree next.



Eventually it may need a more powerful grow light since a 5-6ft aquarium is going to go to the left of it, probably meaning the blind will need to come down. Will then have to adjust the light position away from the tank as much as possible.

Have just bought a banana plant (not a tree apparently) for nearby.
 
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I am slowly getting my dad to let me loose on his apple and pear trees, he has just them grow wild pretty much, and they need some tlc
 
@Richie I'd put some sort of support cane on that apple tree, as it looks quite skinny and top heavy.

I'm tempted to do similar, as I've no more room for a fruit tree, but could have one in a pot on the patio.

Late autumn last year I grew a lemon 'tree' from a leftover lemon. Growing completely indoors, it's about 6-8 inches tall now - I actually need to repot it into something bigger as I suspect it's getting pot bound by now.
 
Semple said:
@Richie I'd put some sort of support cane on that apple tree, as it looks quite skinny and top heavy.
Click to expand...

It's caned already, just you can't see it very well in the image (you'll see the green clip which has a big hole for the trunk then a small hole to clip onto the cane)

Haze said:
I would use something thick than a cane, would stake it
Click to expand...

I might do that. It's survived strong winds already and I plan on moving them against the house wall in Winter for more protection.
 
I've actually just bought some stakes to support some tall growing shrubs/hedges, they're steel coated in plastic, so much stronger than bamboo canes and should also be much more durable.

I would probably also look at getting some frost fleeces while they're young. Last thing you want in the early stages of growth is frost burn.
 
Unless you have lots of space figs and grapes are best kept in pots as they grow large and the figs become difficult to protect from birds, at least you can prune vines quite hard

CaptainRAVE said:
Haven’t got the best picture, but our mandarin tree is doing well (I half expected it to die by now, but it’s growing rapidly). Just bought a soil water meter to better assess whether it needs watering - turns out it is far wetter below the surface than I expected. Also picked up some citrus feeder. Fancying a lemon tree next.



Eventually it may need a more powerful grow light since a 5-6ft aquarium is going to go to the left of it, probably meaning the blind will need to come down. Will then have to adjust the light position away from the tank as much as possible.

Have just bought a banana plant (not a tree apparently) for nearby.
Click to expand...
Citrus can go outside in the summer I have calamondins they sit outside from may till late october basically just avoid any frost as they won't tolerate it lemons are hardier and will tolerate up to -7 apparently but I wouldn't risk it personally their biggest need is for feed and a citrus formula its feed, feed, feed basically if the leaves start to turn pale or even yellowish its lack of feed
 
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Anyone have recommendations for fertiliser specifically for potted apple/pear trees?

They were potted with blood,fish&bone in May along with John Innes No3 compost so should be ok for this year but I'm wondering what would be best going forward.

A lot of places are mentioning 10-10-10 NPK whilst others are advising different.

I see MG do Fruit&Citrus stakes but I'm not sure if they'd be suitable for potted Apple and Pear
 
Anyone know if this is something to worry about on my pear tree? (main pic then close up):

PXL-20250427-121048565-MP.jpg


PXL-20250427-120206032.jpg



I can lift the bark slightly (didnt want to pull it too much) Hoping it's not the start of canker? :(


EDIT: I should add - the pear variety is Concorde which is meant to have good resistance to Canker. I am hoping its just a bit of split bark which will heal itself.
 
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