Any tips or recommendations when growing fruit trees in containers? Last Sunday, I purchased three bare root trees and planted them in 20 gallon nursery containers: Pluerry sweet treat, plum (beauty, satsuma, elephant heart, shiro), and apple (cosmic crisp, honeycrisp, gravenstein, chehalis, sunrise magic). The goal is keep them in containers long term. Would love to hear about your experiences! I’m in Puyallup, WA (8b).
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I grow all my fruit trees in containers, so feel free to tag me if you have any questions!
Depending on your climate, with containers you’re going to need to be on top of:
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Moisture control: good free draining mix, good layer of mulch/chipping, drip irrigation if needed in dry spells
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Nutrients: winter compost, top dressing, and regular feeds through the growing season
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Growth: containers will limit this a lot, but my advice is to do what I do and avoid winter pruning (which stimulates vigorous growth) in lieu of summer pruning and, whenever possible, training rather than pruning
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Pests: pretty easy with containers as you can move them apart, or even replace the soil, if needed, but pests can take a heavier toll so need a more assertive approach than in-ground trees
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Support: honestly, I live in what’s basically a wind tunnel on the coast and I don’t stake my containers; that’s me, and that might not be you, but I find careful positioning of the trees matters more, and avoiding cropping too early, but you’ll get a feel for things
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Thinning: extra important in the first 2 years to let those roots get established
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Exposure: again this’ll depend on your climate, but since container trees’ roots get colder and hotter than those in the ground, you’ll just want to keep an eye on how your trees are growing, if they seem happy, etc, otherwise they may need swaddling (around the containers only, really, I’d think) for anything acting more sensitive, in the winter, and possibly sun protection in super hot spells (again, only if they’re being really reactive)
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Pollination: plant plenty of native pollinator-friendly plants to encourage bees and such, and don’t be afraid of hand pollinating as reassurance too
I think that’s a good roundup as far as I can think, do let me know if you have any particular concerns. 
All the best,
Ari
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Im going to try some of these. I saw a post on fb of a guy growing in them… probably figs and some brambles for me.
$10 each (made in USA ?)
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Love this wooden planters, where did you get them from?
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Thank you for the very insightful advice! How large are your containers and do you repot them after a period of time? Or continually prune?
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Thanks! I made them from leftover fence board.
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They’re pretty small pots - I think my largest is 22" or 24".
This photo is from a month ago when I did some field grafting and before I topdressed and remulched, but gives you a rough idea.
I use dwarfing and semidwarfing rootstock and go heavy on top dressing to compensate. I’ll probably repot at least my biggest tree this upcoming winter (it’ll be its third year in that pot) and go up a couple inches in diameter. That tree is just under 6’ from the soil surface and happy in that pot, and since it’s on semidwarfing stock, keeping it a bit compressed helps to restrict growth too. I’m likely to cut back the leader in the summer too, and from here focus maintaining that size.
I use the patio trees partly for sun shade for our otherwise scorched living room windows in the summer, hence keeping them a bit taller than your usual patio tree, so how you grow them depends a lot on how you want them to look, how big you want to keep them, etc.
If I had a nice big patio like yours, I’d probably have some fun making a mixed partial fence of espalier or trellis, or a border of stopover trees with the bigger ones as centerpieces
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Awesome, thank you! I’ll definitely consider those ideas 
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Not ideal by any means… but proof that where there is a will there is a way.
Looks to be plastic totes… a t-post and some string.
I’d look first before you buy. Shipping weight a little under 4lb, can’t be all that “heavy-duty”. I have 6 gallon buckets that weigh a little over 3lbs empty and I wouldn’t consider those heavy duty.
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I already have them and been using them.
I bought some different ones from walmart and tractor supply as wicking tubs for blackberries years ago… they were not in the same league as these. All of those have been eat up by the sun and became brittle and junk.
Im super happy with these as muck tubs. If not for growing trees in containers they do all that i ask of them hauling and transfering and even storing water etc. I have one under a leaky gutter that does a good job also.
It looks like Home Depot picked these up too… im going to look at them next time i go.
Hey Jake from Statefarm! I’m down the street and around some corners. Growing all of my stuff in pots as well until further notice. Was wondering if you have an update for us on how things are going
That’s a decent price for a pot that size. I can get 25g nursery pots here for $7 or $8 each so I just go that route. Although I am not the biggest fan of grow bags, I think they are the best price for large containers especially since they ship so easily. You get the benefit of root pruning as well.
I have some trees going on their third years and 20-25g seems to be the minimum that you want for a decent harvest. My 15g trees filled in too quickly and the fruit didn’t seem to have reached its peak. Fruit was a bit small and not really that sweet. The 25g ones did great, though. Full sized fruit and great tasting.
Hi Melon, I ended up planting them in-ground in February 2025. I was struggling to keep up with watering pots so I redesigned my landscape and found the space lol.
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Just a tip for people looking for containers… If you’re near a good landscape contractor, you may ask if they have any old pots they don’t need. VERY few of them actually grow their own stock and just have to throw them away after planting. You’re likely to find lots of free containers ranging in sizes from #15 or #25 on up #100 or even #300.
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Very true! I got a truck load of pots from a restoration nursery (replanting areas with natives). They charge $20 for whatever you want to take from their discard pile - just charging to deal with the hassle I expect. I wasn’t looking for big pots, but needed a lot of tree pots for planting up seedlings, plus pots up to 5 gallons for some figs, etc. I’m sizing up. It is hard to see in the photo, but there are about 350 3x9 anderson band pots in the bottom, plus a dozen 3x8 stewe tree pots and a few smaller 3x6 anderson pots. There were even some 3 gallon root pruning pots. They had some 10-gallon and 15 gallon, but just a few so I left those for others. A more general purpose landscaper will definitely have a lot of larger pots.
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What a find!!
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How have they worked out for you? Any photos of your trees in them?
Most so far are storage for trees to plant.. so im using them as muck buckets for now.
I put incoming trees in them and pile them up with woodchips… when i plant the trees there are gazillions of tiny feeder root shoots ready to go.
I have also been using them in the chicken coop alot.. so im not sure if/when they will be used other than they are now.