Should i dig up this plant and repot it

Oh thats interesting, i only use peat free compost , can you recommend a brand of compost ?

Similarly someone mentioned use potting soil but can you recommed a specific brand where 50 L won't cost too much

It is in a 50/50 compost soil mix

I think i will just use the toolstation garden stake

 

You can grow apple trees in small pots and have them produce a few fruits as long as you can keep up with the watering during the flowering and fruiting stages.

I have grown them in pots with as little as 2-3 litres of soil and they produced some very nice apples.

A bigger container means less work.

Most apple trees which are grafted onto commercial rootstocks will produce a smaller tree than if growing on their own roots.

The most dwarfing rootstocks will focus more energy into fruit production than into mass and height increases so will stay small which is why they are recommended for growing in pots.

However, through root constriction from pot size and pruning, you can keep a tree small and it will still produce fruit even if it is growing on its own root system. This is basically a bonsai technique.


Here are some apple trees I am growing:





Here is a step-over in training:









The containers are grocery delivery boxes lined with strips of compost bags at the sides and with landscape fabric or metal/polypropylene mesh at the base.

Capacity is about 35L (guesstimate from the amount of soil used).

The boxes can often be found discarded near communal bin areas and on the side of the road. Grab a few before the bin men make their rounds and send them to landfill.

The soil mix used:

50% top soil (or loamy garden soil)
40% spent multipurpose compost
10% sharp sand


This mix will afford you a grace period of about 2-3 days between waterings on hot days before the tree becomes stressed enough to abort fruit.

 

Compost; look for a John Innes No 3.
If I need soil to mix with compost for large pots I generally dig it up from a corner of the garden.
Hopefully the Toolstation stake will be stiff enough.

 

Thanks this is interesting as i was a bit annoyed at having to buy a 50 L pot in the first place for something thats supposed to be a patio plant. Im not even sure where the 50 L pot idea came from in the first place. I did not want it to grow too big. It also takes a lot of water to water the thing . I might put it in a smaller pot at the end of the year as i really dont want it to grow too tall. In fact today i cut off the top 10cm and think i will stop feeding it.

Maybe i will just water it

 

Maybe you should just get rid of it.

It sounds like its just a complete PITA.

 

I don't think it's worthwhile having it. Apples - along with most other woody shrubs or trees, need a lot of attention in a container, and you have to commit to that if you want them to succeed. It isn't an easy process if you can't plant them in the ground.
Compost is no use. That's the first thing you have to understand with potted shrubs/trees, and we've all said it regularly.
You don't need to buy 'proper' tree supports either. Roofing battens will do the job. Just saw the end off at an angle. I'd use 2 in that container to keep it vertical, with an additional horizontal piece - making an H shape. Then a proper rubber tree tie to attach it, if you don't have something soft but strong to use instead. That will prevent it rocking and moving, if it's in a site that gets wind from more than one direction, but the soil mix is what matters as well as the container size.

 

Anything labelled "John Innes No.3" should be OK (It's a formula not a brand). These days it might still contain an alternative to peat but the loam/soil content should mean it doesn't shrink down as quickly.

I haven't bought that kind of compost for a long time so I can't recommend anything specific. If I want to pot up a shrub I normally use bagged topsoil (my last lot came from Wickes but it was a few years ago so I can't say anything about the quality of what they might have at the moment) mixed with sieved well-rotted compost from my own compost bins (which is also variable), then feed as I think is needed. It's not an exact science, well not for me anyway.

 

I have a couple of bags of Westland ji no 3 and I can't see any soil in it, it looks the same as their peat free stuff, but maybe with some sand.
It always used to need extra peat with it in the past as it was always very mud like in texture when wet.

Not sure if this is going to be a growing trend or just Westland.

 

I have just read back your postings and wonder if you have been misled in your understanding of tree sizes. Fruit trees naturally, can grow to 30 ft which for todays gardens is far too big so by cross pollinating and grafting breeders have developed smaller growing varieties. Unfortunately the pictures on labels often show tiny, 2-3ft tall trees. laden with fruit, sold as dwarf patio types. As far as I am aware those plants are grown specifically for publicity pictures, under near perfect conditions. They need hard pruning every year to keep their size down and should probably be repotted each year to ensure they have enough nutrition to keep them going in the tiny pots they are shown growing in.
We cannot stop trees wanting to grow. I would suggest in the autumn, take your tree out of its pot, wait until all its leaves have fallen, buy as big a pot as you can afford and move, and repot the tree in John Innes 3 compost with a little grit mixed into it. Give the tree a proper stake, not a bamboo cane for the first 2-3 years until it is established. No 3 is for mature plants and much heavier than multi purpose compost etc. Then keep your fingers crossed and leave your tree alone for 2-3 years. An annual feed each year will be necessary, also in the Spring remove the top 3 inches of soil and replace with new No 3 . Do not expect your tree to remain the size it is, it will grow. Watch where the flowers appear on the branches as some apples are tip bearers, others are spur bearers. If you start pruning the tree you may remove next years fruiting buds if it is a tip bearer. The tree will need regular watering during dry spells, especially during the fruit bearing period It is not easy to grow a fruiting tree in a container, they need constant care and I am not sure there is such a thing as a tiny, weeny fruit tree which fruits every year with lots of fruit.(Bonsai being an exception) Looking at the pics. of your tree it is not much more than a rooted cutting, still a baby so far too early for it to fruit. The leaning over I would suggest was too loose planting. Trees need to be firmed in with a good strong boot heel or a heavy leaning on to keep the root ball secure and steady.
Good luck.
I hope this hasn't dampened your interest and I am sure there will be others who disagree with my suggestions but I have been struggling to keep a "3 family" pear tree going for several years and have just bought a Morello Cherry tree which will ultimately end up planted in open ground. The pear tree I think is destined for the compost bin as one of the 3 varieties grafted onto the root stock has died so pollination rates have dropped substantially.

 

@hi2u_uk you may want to look at information on how to prune fruit trees.
Apples and pears: winter pruning / RHS

 

Patio rootstock are inheritantly weak. They are designed to produce fruit fast but on tree that need a lot of support. This is why they tend to be grown as maidens that have a perminent support because if the trees are allowed to grow branches, they really sag with the weight of fruit and can cause them to lean. They also tend to be short lived.

As you have a young tree, the only thing I would personally do is take it out of the pot and then pack in more soil around the root ball until it is straight. The roots should hold it upright unless it's in a very windy position.

 

I think that the term "patio tree" is a bit vague. I had a look online and apparently any tree that can grow in a container on a patio can be marketed as such, but there don't seem to be any restrictions regarding the size of the container.

 

I think "PatioTree" came about because of the number of small gardens with patios and the marketing dept had a "lightbulb moment".
One ides would be to get a "Ballerina" tree which naturally grow upright in narrow columns and will need minimal pruning.

 

I agree. If you want something that looks good as a patio plant, an apple tree isn't that. Especially a stressed one that's had its head chopped off. You'll get a little bit of blossom in the spring, then maybe if you're lucky a few apples but then they might get attacked by pests or develop bitter pit or something ... or to the other extreme you get a glut of apples that fall and rot all over your patio, it's always feast or famine with these things. And then the tree will be a bare stick all through the winter till the next lot of blossom.

There must be something better you can put in its place.

 

So you are all saying my patio tree isn't suitable for patios ? It has about 4/5 apples on it but as I say, I'm worried about its height