[egbert]

I am thinking of getting one or two fruit trees for the patio - am I right in thinking you can get small trees for pots . .

How much care do they need, and any suggestions for good types to get - sweet apples, pears, peach maybe? Which ones produce lots of fruit to eat?

A silly question, but do they have to be repotted into lager pots all the time or do you just put them in one pot and that limits growth?

We do have an established garden so no more room for trees in the ground - we have a plum tree, cooking apple and crab apple (what are crab apples for?) but no tasty fruit.  

[norcalorganic]

Not sure how well you would do trying to keep a tree potted. Well established fruit and nut trees can send roots down upwards of twenty feet. You'd need a big pot, for starters. Keeping the tree dwarfed might also help to circumvent some of the issue of rooting space, but will (obviously) negatively affect yields. You'd need to dress the soil with necessary amendments periodically as well, as a finite quantity of nutrients will be contained within the pot. Beyond that, your choice is limited only by climate.

[scattybiker1972]

try minorette trees or cordons grow ok in pots.there are many patio trees now .certain training forms restrict growth too il go out tomorrow to get the web site of the people who sent me mine i was very impressed.reasonable price lots of unusual/old varieties. well wrapped in parcel and i got quad trees from them to have lots of differant fruits on less  tree space          

[Fleecewife]

I have a minarette apple with two varieties on planted in a half barrel.  It produced brilliantly the first couple of years but less well last year so I will repot it before spring, back into the half barrel but with fresh soil.

I keep it well pruned and give it far more water than you would think - I empty the bowl I have scrubbed the tatties in onto it most days except in winter.  That gives it some nutrients as well as water as the tattie plot soil is very well manured and there is always some to wash off. 

It produces lots of rosy red apples (I think the bottom variety is Falstaff) which my many grandchildren find irresistable  so not many get the chance to ripen fully    The tree plus barrel is now so tall that I can only just reach the top apples but it won't grow much taller than that.

[norcalorganic]

Wonder the yield difference between a minarette variety and a standard variety potted on dwarfing rootstock?

[silver swan]

Crab apples are predominantly for pollination of other fruit trees. Often they are grown as decorative specimens. For those of us with designs on a prize at the local agricultural show in the Domestic  section, they can make excellent crab apple jelly. 

[Fleecewife]

Wonder the yield difference between a minarette variety and a standard variety potted on dwarfing rootstock?

I was quite surprised by just how prolific the minarette is, but they are expensive to buy, especially with more than one variety grafted on.  In fact I wouldn't bother with more than one variety again, as the top one doesn't grow nearly as well - in fact I might just cut it off, as the apples are not so tasty either.  For how productive they are, I think it's all in the pruning, so you should be able to make your own minarette (probably just a sales gimmick) from a standard variety as you say - just create a lot of spurs close to the trunk. 

[lazybee]

We do have an established garden so no more room for trees in the ground - we have a plum tree, cooking apple and crab apple (what are crab apples for?) but no tasty fruit.  

The main use for crab apples (in our house) is for jam making as they are high in pectin. Strawberry is very low in pectin. If you boil down some crab apples use the extracted juice to set the jam.

[egbert]

Thats excellent - thanks for the help guys 

I find it quite amazing you can get different fruit from one tree. Will go look into this in more detail now I have a starting place.
 

[Fleecewife]

Thats excellent - thanks for the help guys 

I find it quite amazing you can get different fruit from one tree. Will go look into this in more detail now I have a starting place.
 

I think you might even be able to get pears and apples on the same tree - or did I dream that