This is the other option for anyone who wants to keep their fruit trees small and compact, although this is not for those who don't like a bit of good old hard work as the larger the tree is the harder it is to repot.
To bonsai a tree it will need regular pruning as well as root pruning, it is usually done with potted specimens but can also be done with trees in the ground by cutting through the surface root with a sharp spade, this is good for trees like figs and will reduce the height and spread of the tree.
Many grafted fruit trees are suited to container growing and even large trees like sapodillas and black sapotes will happily fruit for many years in a pot if grown with care. To succeed first of all you will need to start with a good quality potting mix, a mix based on composted pine bark is a good start or you can make your own potting mix with equal parts of coarse sand, compost and composted pine bark. Remember that potted plants will use up the nutrients in the mix so they will need regular feeding and repotting. When the tree is repotted this is the time to trim back the roots and the top comparatively, so if you take a third off the roots trim the canopy back by one third as well. The mix can be tailor to suit your tree, blueberries will thrive in an acidic azalea mix, and figs will love a sweetening handful of lime on the top of their mix.
What size pot will you need? The larger the better, but remember the larger the pot the heavier and more difficult it will be to move and work with. The bonsai bags are an excellent option, they come in several different sizes so you can move the pts size up as your tree grow for the best result start with a 15L bag, let your tree grow into this size and then pot it up into the next size 25L and then on to the 35L. This is a good choice to grow a tree to about 2m. The bonsai bags have handles on either side making them easy to move, they can be placed inside a decorative pot and disguised with a layer of straw mulch. This method means that the tree and the pots can be moved separately.
Fruit trees need a sunny position to crop well, in warmer weather it is important to monitor the moisture levels in your pot to make sure it does not dry out, some potting mixes can be hard to rewet once they dry out, so keep your pot moist, but not wet. In hot weather a potted fruit tree may need a drink every other day, ease of the watering in cooler weather. Never sit a potted plant in a saucer of water, all tree roots need oxygen to breathe and remain healthy, sitting a potted avocado in a saucer of water will kill it in no time at all.
Feeding is vital to reduce the frequency of repotting which becomes more difficult as your tree become larger. For hungry trees like citrus regular applications of a complete NPK fertilizer are essential. Foliar sprays are also important and will benefit your tree during the warmer months. Despite producing delicious fruit some trees do need to be treated with caution. It is wise to wear a long sleeved shirt and gloves when pruning and repotting as some trees can be very irritating to the skin, the sap of figs will burn the skin and the foliage of acerolas is covered in tiny stinging hairs which are also very irritating.
The best thing about potted fruit trees is the amount of fruit that can be cropped off a small tree in a small backyard.
As kids we had a seedling Avocado Tree which took 15 years before it fruited and then straight after that with a big downpoor it died. This is why Grafted Avocados are best. You can usually get fruit within 3-4 years and the Secondo Avocado Tree is known to give crops in 2 years.
Now I mentioned that they are "fuss pots" and that is why I am not just using any pot but the King of all pots so I can give their root system maximum drainage and room to spread it's roots. Avocados like water going past their roots but it can be fatal if their roots are immersed in water. The Secondo which is a staff favourite at Daleys is pictured above. I am also growing in an identical pot the Wurtz Dwarf Avocado Tree (very top photo). My bet is that the Secondo will out perform the Wurtz so I think it is a good controlled test. The Secondo and Wurtz are both A-Type varieties and although the Secondo is known to set fruit with no other B-Type avocado in sight you can get an even bigger crop by growing B-Type avocado close by. My choice will be the Sharwill over the Fuete because the Fuete sometimes fruits every second year and the Sharwill every year. The Sharwill usually is flowering when the Secondo is which should enourage good pollination.
My other choice of Avocado which I won't be growing but will someday is the Reed Avocado which is out of this world in size. You could fit 3 Hass avocados inside one Reed and the taste although a little different is still just as good I think.
Avocado Ripening Tip: Place it in a paper bag with a banana or apple and it will ripen quicker.
Another point is that avocado varities don't all ripen at the same time. And like mandarine trees for example where you get early, mid and late varieties by getting a few different varitites of avocados growing you can have avocados ripening for most of the year and what could be better than that? I guess after just planting these avocados I am a bit obssessed with them at the moment.
Think of 125 000 people who love their gardens at one venue and you have one of the top 5 flower festivals in the world happening in Melbourne this week. (2nd April 2008)
Now I understand that flowers look good and smell good but they do shrivel up and die. For those of us with only practical bones in our bodies we often wonder "is there more to flowers?"
So what would happen if you had a small "flower sized tree" that you can grow in a pot or small garden with rich coloured fragrant flowers but after they shrivel up something practical starts to happen. The flowers transform into fruit.
A few pictures for Green Thumb Sunday from my backyard Pot Orchard. My Glenn Mango Tree in pots are nearly ready. (2 years old) This is a dwarf lemon tree in a pot (1.5 years old) - it is keeping small but flowering and fruiting well
I am ready for some lemon grass tea (6 months old)
Washington Navel in some huge clay pots - (6 months old) They look fantastic with 3 oranges on them
If you are in the city, have a small backyard or are renting then growing a mango tree in a pot could be just for you.
The first thing to do is choose a variety: Colder Climates (eg Victoria) - Mango R2E2 Seeding - More Hardy but takes longer to fruit - Mango Nam Doc Mai - Good cropper in cooler climates
Subtropical or Tropical Climates (eg Northern NSW and QLD) - Dwarf Irwin Mango Tree - Resistant to Black Spot - Glenn Mango Tree - Semi Dwarf Variety and My Mango Tree pictured It is also resistant to Black spot - R2E2 Grafted Mango Tree - We have all seen this variety in the supermarket and they are huge, non-stringy and taste great.
Choosing A Pot I would suggest getting one of similar size to the one in the picture. How it works is the smaller the pot the smaller your plant and the sooner it will flower. The bigger the pot the bigger your mango tree and the mango tree may take a bit longer to flower.
Growing Mango Trees in Cooler Climates Now is the best time to get your Mango Tree (Oct-Jan) Or I would suggest as soon as Spring breaks. The longer your mango tree has to establish and harden up the better. Ask your nursery to choose you one that is well established. That way when winter comes your mango tree is settled in. Working out ways to protect your mango tree from frosts while it is young will be your biggest challenge.
Potting Mix - The best quality you can afford.
Mulch - Lucerne is best but Sugar mulch will do to keep moisture in.
1st Year Flowering If you purchased a grafted variety your mango tree will want to flower straight away. You should cut all these flowers off and encourage new foliage to grow.
2nd Year Flowering The pictured mango is a second year mango tree grown in a pot and flowered profusely when Spring broke. There is no way that all the flowers will turn into mango's so I would cut half the flowers off and encourage new growth and the other half perhaps thin out leaving a maximum of 3 flower heads which could produce 5 mango's in the 2nd year.
3rd Year Flowering Your mango tree should be well established by now and you can be the judge.
Pruning your Mango Tree Because it is in a pot it's growth will be bonsaied even if you chose a variety that could normally grow very tall. Nevertheless I am a huge fan of pruning fruit trees because when you prune the tips instead of growing upwards which it does so instinctively it will start bushing out which is what you want.
Fertiliser and Watering When Spring comes on you should start applying the fertiliser and when the fruit starts forming you should give it some water. If possible avoid watering in the late afternoon due to the water sitting on the leaves and developing a fungus.
Summary Mango's have come a long way since the old Bowen's became a huge favourite for Australians upcoming varieties such as the Irwin and Glenn can be grown with much less damage from fungal diseases which required you to be attentive come early spring with your spraying regime. Mango Trees grow very well in pots and allow you to position them to get the Sun in Spring and protection from frosts in Winter.
Julie Woodman who is 40 minutes from Perth has been having great success growing fruit trees in bonsai bags. The idea is that if the roots are restricted your fruit tree stays small and produces more fruit.
Advantages: - Less pruning - higher fruit yields per hectare - mobility
Hints for Bonsai Bag Fruit Trees - Use a good potting mix with some fine bark and humus. - Place course sand or pebbles 25mm deep on top. (Slows down the drying out of water)
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With all the pitfalls Growing Avocado Trees in the backyard is still a favourite of Queenslanders and NSW people with Victorians usually growing the Bacon Avocado Tree which can handle their colder climates.
Think of 125 000 people who love their gardens at one venue and you have one of the top 5 flower festivals in the world happening in Melbourne this week. (2nd April 2008)
s with only practical bones in our bodies we often wonder "is there more to flowers?"
Don Burke knows what I am talking about and this year at the festival he is going to show off 25 Dwarf Fruit Trees from Daleys. So if you are there make sure you say hello.
Use your digital camera to take a picture of a person with a Dwarf Fruit Tree that has fruit on it.
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A few pictures for Green Thumb Sunday from my backyard Pot Orchard.
This is a dwarf lemon tree in a pot (1.5 years old) - it is keeping small but flowering and fruiting well
f you are in the city, have a small backyard or are renting then growing a mango tree in a pot could be just for you.
1st Year Flowering
Julie Woodman who is 40 minutes from Perth has been having great success growing fruit trees in bonsai bags. The idea is that if the roots are restricted your fruit tree stays small and produces more fruit.
