Can I grow a fruit tree in a pot?

A container is a small, hot, fast-draining root zone that runs out of both water and nutrients much faster than the ground. Fruit trees tolerate that surprisingly well provided the rootstock is dwarfing and the routine is consistent. Where it goes wrong is almost never the tree and almost always the watering, or a peat-free multipurpose compost that dried out once and never rewetted.

What you'll need

• Tree on a dwarfing rootstock
• Pot 45cm diameter or more, with drainage holes
• Loam-based compost (John Innes No. 3)
• Pot feet or bricks
• High-potash feed
• Water butt or reliable tap
• Slow-release fertiliser (optional)
• Fleece for blossom (optional)

Step by step

1. Pick a rootstock that suits a pot.Apples on M27 or M9. Pears on Quince C. Plums, gages and damsons on Pixy. Cherries on Gisela 5. Figs are the exception — they want a restricted root run and are the easiest fruit tree in a pot there is. Citrus is always in a pot in the UK.
2. Start with a pot big enough to be the tree's home for years.At least 45–50cm across and as deep. Terracotta looks right but dries fastest; a glazed or plastic pot holds moisture better. A pot under 35cm will never support a cropping tree.
3. Use loam-based compost, not multipurpose.John Innes No. 3 holds water and nutrients, has weight so the tree does not blow over, and does not collapse into dust after two years. A mix of about three parts John Innes to one part peat-free multipurpose gives a little more air.
4. Raise the pot on feet.Free drainage matters more in a pot than anywhere else. A pot standing flat on a paved surface sits in its own water in winter and the roots rot.
5. Water on a schedule you can actually keep.From bud break to leaf fall, check daily in warm weather. Push a finger in — if the top 5cm is dry, water until it runs from the bottom. Inconsistent watering while fruit is swelling causes splitting and fruit drop.
6. Feed from bud break to the end of summer.A high-potash liquid feed, such as a tomato feed, weekly through the growing season, or slow-release granules scratched in each spring. There is nothing in the compost by the second year.
7. Top-dress every spring, repot every second or third winter.Top-dressing: scrape off the top 5cm of compost and replace with fresh. Repotting: tip the tree out in winter, tease and trim the outer roots by a few centimetres, and put it back with fresh compost. That is what keeps a potted tree cropping instead of stalling.
8. Protect the roots in a hard winter.Roots in a pot freeze far harder than roots in the ground. Move pots against a house wall, wrap the pot — not the tree — in fleece or bubble wrap during a severe spell, and take it off again afterwards.
9. Thin the crop hard.A small tree with a heavy set exhausts itself and gives poor fruit. Thin to one fruit every 10–15cm on apples, and to a fraction of what sets on a young tree.

Tips

• Figs crop better in a pot than in the ground in the UK, because a restricted root run pushes them from growth into fruiting.
• A dwarf tree in a pot is easier to net against birds and easier to fleece against a frosty night than anything in the ground — a genuine advantage for cherries.
• Group pots together in summer. They shade each other's sides and dry out more slowly.
• Rainwater is better than tap water for blueberries and useful for everything else, since it carries no lime.
• If you go away in summer, arrange watering or fit an automatic drip system on a timer. One missed week in July can cost the crop and sometimes the tree.

Common mistakes

• Using multipurpose compost on its own — It is too light, dries out too fast, blows over, holds no reserve of nutrients and is difficult to rewet once it has dried. Loam-based compost solves all of it.
• Potting a small tree straight into a huge pot — The unoccupied compost stays wet and sours. Move up in stages, roughly one pot size at a time, until the final container.
• Leaving a potted tree in the same compost for years — It becomes a solid root plate with no nutrients, water runs straight down the sides, and the tree stops growing. Top-dress annually, repot every two or three years.
• Buying a tree on MM106 or St Julien A for a pot — It will be permanently starved and stressed rather than usefully dwarfed, and will crop badly. The dwarfing rootstock is what makes container growing work.

Questions people ask