Best Fruit Trees/Plants for Containers

[armstrongben82]

Hi All,
I did a couple of searches and did not find a discussion like this, although I'm certain one must exist, so I sincerely apologize if I'm posting something that's already been covered.

What are your favorite/the best options for types of tropical (or subtropical) fruit trees and plants to grow in a container?
Ideally they could handle conditions inside a house for at least the winter months (with supplemental light and humidity). I would EXclude citrus just since it's so common and obvious. Also, these would be manageable (i.e., no 100 gallon containers, etc.). Finally, these would be plants that would actually be capable of producing fruit that actually tasted good, and not just grown for the novelty or challenge of flowering/fruiting.
So, does anyone have a top 5, top 10, top 20 . . . . ? 

Really looking forward to everyone's thoughts. Thanks!

(p.s. happy to delete this if someone points out a discussion like this that already has been posted.)

[K-Rimes]

Pitanga, jaboticaba, basically all eugenia can live in pots for very long periods of time. I find they produce much more when they get rootbound. Guava / psidium are also good bets. Golden berries produced well for me till the pots got infested with ants

[solow]

Fig tree, suitable to grow in pot.

[Daintree]

Funny you should ask!  I am having a greenhouse tour tomorrow for local Master Gardeners, and just did up a list for them!

Here is a partial list of what I am currently growing in pots (I took out the grasses, citrus, and small or non-fruiting things - like bougainvillea...).  Nothing is bigger than about 25-30 gallons. 

Most of these are or have been fruiting or blooming in my tropical greenhouse.

Cheers!
Carolyn


Annona muricata - Soursop
Annona reticulata - Custard Apple
Bixa orellana - Annatto
Caparis spinosa var. inermis - Caper
Carica papaya - Solo papaya
Carica pentagona - Babaco papaya
Casimiroa edulis    - Sapote, white
Chrysophyllum cainito - Caimito
Cinnamomun zeylanicum - Cinnamon
Clausena excavata - Pink wampee
Cnidoscolus aconitifolius - Chaya, spineless
Coffea arabica - Coffee
Cola acuminata - Monkey cola
Eugenia brasiliensis - Grumichama
Eugenia neonitida - Pitangatuba
Eugenia uniflora - Pitanga
Feijoa sellowiana - Pineapple guava
Ficus carica - Fig
Glycosmis pentaphylla - Gin berry
Hylocereus undata - Dragonfruit
Jacaranda mimosafolia - Jacaranda
Morinda citrifolia - Noni
Musa acuminata    - Banana
Opuntia ficus-indica - Tuna
Pachira aquatica    - Malabar chestnut
Passiflora edulis - passion fruit
Piper nigrum - Pepper
Plinia cauliflora - Jaboticaba
Psidium guajava    - Guava, Mexican red
Punica granatum - Pomegranate
Rollina deliciosa - Biriba
Sclerocarya birrea - Marula - male and female
Solanum abutiloides - Dwarf tamarillo
Solanum betaceum - Tamarillo
Solanum sisymbriifolium - Sticky nightshade, vila-vila
Spondias dulcis - Cas mango
Syzygium jambos - Rose apple
Tamarindis indica - Tamarind
Theobroma cacao - Chocolate, forastero and trinatario

[swincher]

Here is a partial list of what I am currently growing in pots (I took out the grasses, citrus, and small or non-fruiting things - like bougainvillea...).  Nothing is bigger than about 25-30 gallons. 

Most of these are or have been fruiting or blooming in my tropical greenhouse.

Cheers!
Carolyn

That's quite a list! How many square feet is the greenhouse? And how high? I've been trying to decide how much stuff I can reasonably squeeze in my 300ish sq ft greenhouse and it seems like the answer is "not as much as I wish!" 

[armstrongben82]

Daintree that is awesome! That's a huge and amazing list! My wife and I are closing on a house soon and I am going to build a greenhouse. May I ask how big is your greenhouse and how do you heat it?

[socalbalcony]

Funny you should ask!  I am having a greenhouse tour tomorrow for local Master Gardeners, and just did up a list for them!

Here is a partial list of what I am currently growing in pots (I took out the grasses, citrus, and small or non-fruiting things - like bougainvillea...).  Nothing is bigger than about 25-30 gallons. 

Most of these are or have been fruiting or blooming in my tropical greenhouse.

Cheers!
Carolyn

Wow, that's an amazing list, do you have any pictures/videos/youtube/instagram?

Cheers.

[driftwood]

Papaya is a great one. You can get dwarf varieties or just keep a regular variety small. Pitanga is another good one. I heard annona spinescens stays pretty small

[armstrongben82]

Papaya is a great one. You can get dwarf varieties or just keep a regular variety small. Pitanga is another good one. I heard annona spinescens stays pretty small

I have four waimanalo dwarf papaya trees in containers right now. The largest are around 7 feet and 2 of them have several buds finally. I started them last year from seed so it will be interesting to see what the quality of fruit will be (if the flowers actually stick around and get pollenated).  My two pitanga trees are very small still (maybe 24 inches tall) but had several flowers already (no fruit yet).

[containerman]

What about dwarf avocado trees such as Wurtz ( Little Avocado ) ?

I grow several varieties of Avocado's, peaches, nectarines, pluots, citrus , pomegranate all in containers. I also have these varieties in ground as well. All of my container trees are bearing fruit with the exception of my younger avocado trees. My mature ones in containers bear fruit.

[brian]

It seems like you can grow almost everything in containers.  The only things I have in containers that are clearly unsuitable are some lemons and oranges on vigorous rootstocks.  I have annonas, sapotes, citrus, eugenias, and much more in containers and they seem quite happy.

[armstrongben82]

What about dwarf avocado trees such as Wurtz ( Little Avocado ) ?

I grow several varieties of Avocado's, peaches, nectarines, pluots, citrus , pomegranate all in containers. I also have these varieties in ground as well. All of my container trees are bearing fruit with the exception of my younger avocado trees. My mature ones in containers bear fruit.

I am very interested in growing Wurtz avocado, unfortunately it can be difficult to source them here in Wisconsin without paying ridiculous money.

[K-Rimes]

What about dwarf avocado trees such as Wurtz ( Little Avocado ) ?

I grow several varieties of Avocado's, peaches, nectarines, pluots, citrus , pomegranate all in containers. I also have these varieties in ground as well. All of my container trees are bearing fruit with the exception of my younger avocado trees. My mature ones in containers bear fruit.

Your user name containerman is awesome, haha.

I too have pluots and plums in 25 gallon, loaded with fruit, but I can't imagine putting them into 45 gallon for next year... Just gonna put them in the ground in Fall.

[swincher]

It seems like you can grow almost everything in containers.  The only things I have in containers that are clearly unsuitable are some lemons and oranges on vigorous rootstocks.  I have annonas, sapotes, citrus, eugenias, and much more in containers and they seem quite happy.

I would think it's just a matter of how much work you're willing to do to keep them happy. For some things that may mean annual or biennial root pruning and of course pruning the tops at the same time. Basically large-scale bonsai techniques. But for other stuff probably very little work?

[swincher]

What about dwarf avocado trees such as Wurtz ( Little Avocado ) ?

I grow several varieties of Avocado's, peaches, nectarines, pluots, citrus , pomegranate all in containers. I also have these varieties in ground as well. All of my container trees are bearing fruit with the exception of my younger avocado trees. My mature ones in containers bear fruit.

What size containers do you use for the mature avocados? I bought a few 5 gal avocado trees last fall and transplanted them to 15 gal, but as I was putting them in the ground this summer it was clear their roots were already circling. Seems like they'd need a pretty big container to avoid root issues.

[K-Rimes]

It seems like you can grow almost everything in containers.  The only things I have in containers that are clearly unsuitable are some lemons and oranges on vigorous rootstocks.  I have annonas, sapotes, citrus, eugenias, and much more in containers and they seem quite happy.

I would think it's just a matter of how much work you're willing to do to keep them happy. For some things that may mean annual or biennial root pruning and of course pruning the tops at the same time. Basically large-scale bonsai techniques. But for other stuff probably very little work?

The trees that want to be big, even on dwarf rootstocks - apples, pears, stone fruits, figs, and so on - they're very little work till you get them to their maximum pot size, in my case 25g, then you start to really have to deal with them and root prune. I have some large feijoas in 25 gallon pots and I had to root prune one of them really hard this year, literally just took a wood saw and cut off half the root ball, but it came back firing.

Eugenia and jaboticaba are the majority of my collection in pots because they really don't mind and I rent where I'm at. Lately I've been giving up on the thought of buying property and am just putting trees in the ground anyways, even though I know I won't take them with me. The eugenia and jabo can go a decade in pots so I'm not terribly stressed about waiting that long to put them in the ground.

[Daintree]

My website is super outdated (like several years!) but there are a bunch of pictures there.  I am hoping this winter to re-take photos and get things more up to date.

It is Daintree-Arboretum.com

It is 700 sf.  Started out as 300, but once I moved my plants in from the sun porch I realized I had bought too small of a kit.  So I slowly added a "stick-built" addition, until I ran out of room (ie - I hit the patio!).

Yes, height is a problem!  I am in the city and am limited by our building code.  My roof height at the peak is only 10 ft 2 inches.  I have had to get rid of things that have an untrainable nature and an aggressive vertical growth habit.  Add in the height of the pots, and that makes for some heavy pruning.

I could not dig down and plant in the ground, because the main thing that keeps everything from being cooked alive at 3,000 ft high desert/no-clouds-all-summer is that it is shaded by our huge 70 year old maple tree.  So the whole yard is full of roots that I wasn't willing to sacrifice.  We have the tree pruned every few years to make sure it won't come down on the house or greenhouse!

And, as always, come visit if you are ever near Boise Idaho!

Cheers,
Carolyn

[Santa Maria 9b]

Wax Jambu, Papayas and Garcinias are my favorite trees to grow in pots.

Wax Jambus produce lots of fruit even from a tiny size, but they take lots of pruning to keep in check.

Garcinias have a slow growth rate and a crazy taproot, but they never complain to me about being rootbound.

Papayas fruit in a year and make good use of the greenhouse space while the Jabos and Garcinias are still small.

[W.]

I had always heard/read that Annona squamosa (sugar apple) was the best Annona for container growing, so it is interesting that Carolyn (Daintree) is growing A. muricata and A. reticulata in her collection but not A. squamosa.

I agree with everyone else that, in general, jaboticabas, Eugenias, and Psidiums make good container plants. You still might want to evaluate them on a species to species or cultivar to cultivar basis; some of them get bigger than others. Grumichama (Eugenia brasiliensis) can get relatively large. Dwarf grumichama (Eugenia itaguahiensis) is harder to find and, accordingly, more expensive but will only get about 10 ft. tall at maximum. Plinia coronata can also get relatively large (and other than the Restinga variety, takes forever to fruit) so you might want to avoid that particular jaboticaba. Psidiums vary in size, as well.

Also, I do not care whether citrus is common and obvious, how dare you exclude citrus!

[K-Rimes]

I have some isan indigo custard apple in pots and they don't seem to mind it at all. Cherimoya does seem to lag a bit once it gets big, nothing like having it in the ground.

Indeed, dwarf grumichama is really small and stays small. Man it grows slow. It is accelerating now that it's in 5 gallon but sheeeesh, it's really not much of a grower at all compared to the larger type. I probably need to up pot my big grumis... Speaking of which.

Indeed, some of the jaboticabas that need a lot of time are not going to do well being in a pot for something like 20 years... I just grafted them all onto sabaras and have big cocktail trees. I have a 15 year old sabara that is just about to blow up with flowers. They are mostly excellent for pot culture, me thinks.

Papaya was mentioned here too and indeed, I planted seeds last year and already flowering. I top them when they get about 4-5' tall and they don't get much taller than that.

[armstrongben82]

I had always heard/read that Annona squamosa (sugar apple) was the best Annona for container growing, so it is interesting that Carolyn (Daintree) is growing A. muricata and A. reticulata in her collection but not A. squamosa.

I agree with everyone else that, in general, jaboticabas, Eugenias, and Psidiums make good container plants. You still might want to evaluate them on a species to species or cultivar to cultivar basis; some of them get bigger than others. Grumichama (Eugenia brasiliensis) can get relatively large. Dwarf grumichama (Eugenia itaguahiensis) is harder to find and, accordingly, more expensive but will only get about 10 ft. tall at maximum. Plinia coronata can also get relatively large (and other than the Restinga variety, takes forever to fruit) so you might want to avoid that particular jaboticaba. Psidiums vary in size, as well.

Also, I do not care whether citrus is common and obvious, how dare you exclude citrus!

  I am ashamed of myself lol. I seriously love citrus and have several!