How to cultivate a small fruit tree in the bucket - types and care

How to cultivate a small fruit tree in the bucket - types and care

Fruit types and types suitable for pail culture

Of course, not all types and types of fruit are suitable for keeping in pots. Large fruit trees, for example, have no place in a cramped planter. Just like fast-growing species and varieties, late-bearing species are not suitable for keeping in pots, as they usually have to be prepared for winter before the fruit ripens. Some apple varieties can be refined on a very weakly growing base, as can peaches and apricots. A pear for the pot, on the other hand, should be refined on a quince base. Prepared in this way, these varieties are particularly suitable for a bucket culture:

  • Apple: 'Discovery', 'James Grieve', 'Rubinola', 'Goldparmäne', 'Alkmene' and others
  • Pear: 'Bunte Julibirne', 'Clapps Liebling', 'Williams Christ', 'Gute Luise', 'Alexander Lucas' and others

also read

  • Ideal for the small garden - raise the fruit tree to the bush
  • Can you keep a fruit tree small?
  • How to properly plant a fruit tree - location, soil, planting distance

The so-called ballerina or columnar fruit trees are also an elegant solution, as they hardly have any side shoots and therefore the fruits are almost attached to the trunk.

Pot trees properly and care for them

Of course, the fruit yield from a fruit tree grown in a tub cannot be too high. But the tree compensates for this primarily with its decorative effect. You can buy suitable wood from a tree nursery (sometimes called “dwarf fruit”) or grow it yourself.

Pot the fruit tree in a bucket

It is best to use normal potting soil for potting, although you must of course not forget about drainage. The roots are cut back so that they have plenty of space in the pot. Initially, a vessel with an upper diameter of around 25 centimeters and a height of around 25 to 30 centimeters is usually sufficient (ie a container for around 10 liters of soil). The next few years will be transplanted into 20 liter containers. Place hardy fruit trees close to one another in the cold season and shower them with protective leaves.

Fertilize the potted tree properly

To meet the nutritional requirements, give a slow release fertilizer in the spring according to the instructions for use or fertilize the fruit pots with a liquid complete fertilizer every two to three weeks during the main growing season until the end of June. In addition, fertilization should be carried out once in March / April at the time of budding.

Tips

If you place the potted fruit trees largely protected against rain, fungal diseases such as scab or rust will not even occur.