I’m in zone 6 and I’m thinking of putting a few trees in containers about 3ft from the eastern side of my house so they’ll only be getting 6-7 hours of sun in the morning. I’m worried it may decrease their brix and flavor.
I read that some fruit trees respond by giving fewer fruit and others by giving the same amount of fruit but lower quality. Figs seem to be in the former group so maybe I could plant some and protect them during the winter but I’m curious about other types of trees too.
Maybe just thinning and leaving half as much fruit as I would on any full sun tree still give me high quality stone fruit? Does anyone have any experience in similar situations?
Thin heavily and I think you’ll get good fruit. For trees in pots thinning enough is hard to do. Get to what seems right and then take off half again. That may still be too many.
I’ve gotten good figs in low light conditions. Berries are also adapted to lower light conditions.
You also can prune such that there is not much blockage of one limb by another. For example espalier will do that, or just keeping things very sparse. 6-7 hours is really pretty good, pruned and thinned well you will get great fruit.
This little (8ft x 8ft) wild american persimmon is growing roadside at the base of a larger treeline… that faces west… it gets no direct sun until the last 3 hours of the day… getting only hot late evening sun.
Yet it produces a decent crop yearly and the fruit is delicious. It was by far my fave last year.
I would think that a persimmon would do great in 6-7 hours of morning sun… followed by some hot evening shade.
Raspberries & Hybrids (like Loganbery), gooseberries, clove currants, would love such a location. Goumi need 6 hours min summer sun to fruit well.
I only have experience with stone fruits (plums and montmorency cherry) in full sun in my orchard.
Using reflective ground cover or placing reflective material around your trees can increase the areas that need more sunlight via reflection and also increase the
intensity.
People in northern climates and areas with lots of cloud cover use reflective material to optimize what sunlight they do recieve.
I had no idea fruit in pots required even further thinning than in-ground trees of the same size. I’ll be doing that. You answered a question I didn’t even know I had. Do figs also need thinning or they adjust the yield based on available sunlight?
I love this idea. A trellis would look perfect there and would be pretty easy to do. I haven’t trellised trees yet but I’ve done it for grapes and raspberries so it shouldn’t be a problem.
Looks great. I’ve been thinking of trying to grow persimmon for a while.
You didn’t mention specific varieties but I looked into it and it looks like there are at least 3 very high quality persimmon that are cold-hardy in zone 6: NB-02 Zuma Kurma, Kassandra, and Inhcon.
Only Kassandra seems to be available in the EU for international shipping but I’ll check again in a month when the nurseries restock.
I have several varieties of raspberries and currants in the ground but they somehow don’t feel like the right kind of plant to grow in pots. I can’t quite put my finger on why I feel that way.
So far it looks like I’ll try persimmon, figs, cherries, and probably a mulberry. I’m considering other stone fruit too but I’m not sure I want to extend the growing season knowing how much care they need. The row is about 40 ft long so there should be enough space for everything.
Thanks for the awesome tips, guys. They were really helpful.
I have grafted a few hybrids to my own wild rootstocks here… and several americans.
Hybrids… JT02 Mikkusu, Nakitas Gift, Kasandra, Journey. I had a Zima Khurma that took and lived one season… and then died after leafing out this spring.
I am in zone 7b here so all of those should work for me.
I have heard it said that JT02 Mikkusu is one of the more cold hardy hybrids… it is supposed to be quite large and delicious too.
All my grafted trees are 1 or 2 years old… no fruit yet. Cant wait. Maby next year.
