Can I keep bare roots in pots and keep them there until I can taste the fruits and confirm I really want to put it in the ground(2 years)? Any downsides to doing this?
2 years is optimistic for most varieties
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What kind of fruit and what kind of rootstocks?
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All stone fruit. Citation is a dwarfish rootstock anyway. You have a chance for things like peaches that could have flowers and bloom on the second year.
Are your trees planted bare root or bought in pots. Potted plants can give you fruit the same year you buy them.
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Planning to buy them bare root this December. Most citation trees I have put in the ground have fruited for me first/second year. I just want to taste the fruit make sure I like it before putting it in the ground.
Where are you located?
Also, sometimes, it takes a few years before a tree could be mature enough to produce good quality fruit. Patience is often needed. Not that I have much 
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What is the largest pot size you are willing to tend and water for years?
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Why not just plant them. If you like the fruit, you have an established tree. If not, top work or dig and start over. It seems like no matter what, you’re no worse for wear and are likely ahead in th game by planting immediately.
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@LarryGene Will be hooked up to a drip. 20 Gallon is the max i can do…
@mamuang Bay Area California
Oh, didnt know that!
Difficult to dig it out in my clay soil but the key benefit I see is - Lets say, I have 10 20 gallon pots with drip. Each year, I can try 10 varieties. I can plant say 3 I like the best, keep the undecideds in the pots longer, try more varieties in the pots… So what ends up going in the ground are only varieties I really like. Also if some of these trees come with any disease I am not spreading it in my soil.
So if I want to try 10 white nectranies and pick the one I like best it will take 10 years, with the pot tests only 2 years… or at least thats my reasoning! Does that make sense?
So, Where does the ten year number come from?
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@jaypeedee one each year, land is limited here for me. so I cant put all 10 in the ground… 1 a year…
Sorry - I may not be doing a good job at explaining my thoughts…
The good part of your plan is that in your zone you probably woudn’t have to haul those heavy pots inside for the winter
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@ltilton - Totally - it will be left on a concrete patio with drip. I would move it either to plant it or give it away (if I don’t like the variety)
There are a lot of GF members in CA including the Bay Area. I know @Stan grows tons of fruit including apricots.
Hopefully Stan and other people in your state will chime in to help you narrow your choices and save you time.
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Stone fruit trees didn’t do well for me in pots, they tend to die in the middle of summer, probably due to soil getting too hot in the pot (despite pots being shielded from the sun). However, I’m in Tracy, so your experience might be better in a cooler part of Bay Area. Apples, pears, figs, and pomegranates do fine in pots for me. Also, I’m not sure you can get the same quality of fruit from a potted tree as from a tree planted in the ground. In my opinion, the best way to try many varieties is by grafting (also much cheaper).
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I would not grow one tree with just one variety, especially stone fruit because the harvest period is only 2-3 weeks in most cases.
I’m not sure about you but I’m greedy and would like to have many varieties that ripen successively over a few months ideally. I have limited space too and opted to plant the tree in the ground and graft other varieties to it later.
And if you are really interested in nectarine or peach, be prepared to spray or live with the leaf curl disease every spring. I am almost going to give up on these in my no-spray yard.
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