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Dwarf fruit trees are great for pots
and provide you with food too!

You'll understand why dwarf fruit trees for containers are so popular today if you have ever watched someone from a ladder trying to prune or pick fruit from a tree.

The ease with which these tiny fruit trees can be tended, producing reasonable crops of normal-size fruit, means the home-grown orchard is within anyone's reach - and without lifting a foot off the ground!

What has made fruit trees suitable for container growing is lengthy research into rootstocks. A rootstock is a type of fruit tree that is cut down close to its base. A bud or piece of live branch (scion) from the desired fruit tree is then grafted onto it.

All dwarf fruit trees are grafted onto a selected rootstock that, by means not totally understood yet, causes the fruit tree to grow with altered height, vigour or with accelerated maturity (so you get fruit earlier).

Often the rootstock favours a soil type the desired fruit tree would not normally tolerate. This allows you to grow your dwarf fruit trees in places they normally would not thrive - such as in a patio container.

The ease with which these small fruit trees can be cared for and protected means that container-grown dwarf fruit trees can be enjoyed even in cold planting zones where normally they would not do well. For example, you may easily lay a horticultural fleece over the tree or place it in a cool greenhouse to shelter it in winter.

The most important thing is sunshine. While cherries and plums will tolerate some shade, the apples, pears, peaches, nectarines and apricots prefer direct sunlight for most of the day.

Late frosts can harm blossoms and prevent setting of fruits. If your container fruit tree is frosted while in bloom, try to keep it out of direct sun until it is thawed.

There is a huge variety of grafted fruit trees available, many of which are heritage varieties dating back centuries. If you live in the UK, you are in luck. One of the best places to find out about heritage fruit and dwarf fruit trees is at the Brogdale Horticultural Trust . In the US, heritage fruit trees from pioneer days may be seen at the Gibb's Museum of Pioneer Life in Minnesota.

Whatever dwarf fruit trees you choose, growing fruit trees in containers is a highly rewarding experience.

Types of dwarf fruit trees available

Apples

Choose apple varieties grafted on rootstock M27 which is extra-dwarfing. M27 is a tried and tested rootstock developed in 1929 that reliably restricts height to 2m but the plant will need the support of a tree stake.

Choose disease-resistant apple varieties - these are easier to care for, healthier and happier and may be grown organically without too much effort.

Although there are thousands of apples to choose from 'Discovery' is a good choice to start with. This is a beautiful red-skinned eating apple that you harvest in late summer, the fruits will store reasonably well, and the blossom is fairly frost-resistant.

If buying only one tree and you are not surrounded by apple trees in your neighbours' gardens, make sure it is self-fertile. Otherwise buy two or more different varieties of apple tree with over-lapping flowering periods.

Two-year old trees are cheaper and easier to grow on in pots and should bear fruit in two to three years from being potted.

Pears

You will want a dwarf pear tree grafted on either rootstock 'Quince A' (Quince Malling Angers) or 'Quince C'. The dwarfing effect of both these rootstocks is not extreme, so the grafted fruit tree could exceed 3m height in open ground but in a container it will likely remain somewhat smaller.

Some people say 'Quince A' is better, others say 'Quince C'. 'Quince A' is slightly more tolerant of poorer quality soils while 'Quince C' is marginally less vigorous and marginally more dwarfing. It probably depends more on the pear variety you want to grow. Some pears are not compatible with either rootstock so are not available as a grafted tree, and some are better on one than the other. So if you have a particular choice of pear in mind, don't worry about the rootstock and just take what comes.

Pears are quite fussy and not the easiest of container fruit trees to start with.

Dwarf pear trees need several early years of uninterrupted root growth in a large pot if they are to flower and set fruit.

The vast majority are self-fertile, so you need only one pear tree to get fruit. But most set more fruit if they have another pear tree for cross-pollination.

Keep the dwarf pear well watered in its pot - but don't drown it. Daily watering in summer is probably the norm.

Remove some developing fruits if you get very heavy fruit crops.

Plums

You may find plums for container growing grafted on a 'St Julien A' Prunus domestica common plum rootstock that has semi-dwarfing habit, or 'Pixy' which is even more dwarfing but needs a warmer planting zone of 7 to 8.

Plums like moist but not wet soil. Water every day in summer.

Cherry

For container-grown cherry trees look for sweet cherries grafted on rootstock 'G5' (or G12 or G22 may also be offered), which gives you a very compact tree, or for a slightly larger tree, on rootstock 'Colt'..

A fairly reliable choice is the variety 'Stella' (may be listed as Compact Stella), a self-fertile sweet cherry usually grafted on 'Colt' rootstock.

The success of this variety is such that some gardeners have grown cherries in planting zone 3. But they are probably the exception rather than the rule.

Peaches, nectarines and apricots

Genetically dwarf varieties of peach and nectarine are available that grow on their own roots - these make ideal container fruit trees but they are not very hardy, preferring planting zone 7 - 8.

Otherwise look for a variety grafted onto a plum rootstock 'St Julien A' or 'Pixy'. If you are in a planting zone of 7b or below, 'Pixy' is not as good as 'St Julien A', so choose 'St Julien A'.

If grafted, the tree needs to be watered well, as if if were a plum.

A period of cold is needed for good growth stimulation - choose a 'low-chill' peach variety if you live in planting zone 8, and a 'high-chill' peach variety if you are in planting zone 7 or lower.

Plenty of sun and warmth is needed to ripen the fruit, so place the dwarf fruit tree in its tub in a sheltered spot in full sunshine.

Peaches, nectarines and apricots can suffer from peach leaf curl, a fungal disease that causes the leaves to blister and drop off. it is spread in cool, moist conditions after spring rain and as the leaves unfurl. Keeping your dwarf fruit tree watered from its pot while keeping the branches dry can significantly reduce the risk of this disease, so this is another great advantage in growing these fruit trees in pots.

Potting your dwarf fruit trees

Dwarf fruit trees will need staking - not so much to hold the tree upright but to stop it tearing sideways off its rootstock, especially when it starts to bear fruit. Have a tree stake and two or three tree ties ready at the time of potting up - the stake should be long enough to reach the base of the pot but still with enough height above the pot to support the trunk of the tree.

A rigid bamboo cane and some rubber bands from your bits-and-bobs drawer, cut into lengths, is OK for supporting very young trees, but later you will need a more substantial stake and proper tree ties that cushion the tree trunk against the stake.

Insert the tree stake so that it is vertical in the pot and about 2-3cm from the trunk of the tree - a little space is good.

Tie the tree to the stake in two places, about one-third to half-way up the trunk and again near the top (use more ties if necessary on bigger trees).

If using cut rubber banding on a young tree wrap the band around the stake first and tie it tight there, then take the free ends and make slightly loose, but still supportive, figures-of-eight around the tree trunk and back to the stake before tying the band off - this way, you don't end up slicing through the trunk by pulling the restraints too tight and the tree trunk has a little cushioned space to grow without squeezing and rubbing against the stake.

Use a fairly rich, free-draining compost for all container fruit trees. Dwarf fruit trees are quite greedy and need plenty of nourishment to bear good fruit.

A good blend is loam-based compost (2 parts) with well-rotted compost or farmyard manure (1 part) - this should be so well-rotted nothing in it is recognisable, it is dark, crumbly and not smelly!

Add a small handful of lime per 2-gallon bucket of potting mixture if growing cherries, plums, peaches or nectarines.

When potting up your fruit tree, you need to keep the rootstock-fruit tree union above the level of the soil to stop the fruit tree from developing its own roots and becoming weak, but deep enough to prevent the rootstock from developing side bud branches and taking over. A few centimetres between graft and soil should be sufficient.

Top-dress established container fruit trees in late winter with a little fish-based manure gently worked with a small fork into the upper soil in the pot. Mulch with a 3cm layer of fresh well-rotted manure or compost.

Feed your dwarf fruit trees once every two weeks or so in the summer growing season from about May to August with a high-potash food - look for a liquid fertiliser that is specifically blended for flowering and fruiting plants in containers. Pears don't seem to respond to inorganic fertilisers, so use an organic one.

If the fruit tree is under about 5 years of age, pot it into a larger pot every year in early Spring (February-March, depending on planting zone). After age 5 years re-pot the tree every other year until the final container size is reached.

Protect pots and roots from severe freezing by wrapping the outside of the pot with bubble-wrap held with string or tape, or an old hot-water cylinder jacket (this must be intact, else the insulation inside will get wet and freeze, which destroys any insulating effect).

With good care, in a reasonably large pot, a dwarf fruit tree can live for 20 years or longer.

Pruning dwarf fruit trees in pots

Prune your 2-year old dwarf fruit tree in winter/early spring. Cut back the leading shoots at the top half of the tree to just above (about 0.5cm above) a bud about 15cm up from the base of the branch. Prune the lower branches to outward-facing buds about 25cm from the main trunk. This will help develop a nicely balanced conical tree.

Remove weak branches that you don't need to develop for the overall framework.

Prune your established (older) dwarf fruit tree in winter/early spring by cutting back all the previous year's growth to about 15cm - again at outward-facing buds.

Pruning peaches, nectarines, cherries or plums is just the same as for apples and pears (above) only delay pruning until March or early April (depending on whether you are in a warmer, or colder, planting zone). Then in June to late July, cut out any diseased or damaged branches and cut back new shoots that may be getting too overcrowded - removing maybe 4-6 leaves on each.

Don't let your new dwarf fruit tree set fruit in its first year in a pot - rub off blossoms as they appear, or snip off (don't pull) any developing fruits.

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