Container Growing Fruits

[Windy-Sindy]

I am just back from Aldi with two packs of their triple soft fruit collection (the £2.49 offer today).

I feel a bit thick now! LOL

The three plants are in one bag of compost and the instructions say to plant them so many feet apart...do this with the raspberries and do that with the blackcurrants etc. Thing is, they all just look the same to me! How do I know which is which?

I planned on planting them in barrels as I have no space left in the ground.

I was scared off buying blackberries after reading this forum, but are tayberries ok? I got blackcurrant, redcurrant, raspberry x 2, tayberry and red gooseberry.

[Windy-Sindy]

Hi Basketcase

I have just been out to check my blueberries. I have two bushes - Bluetta and Northland. I got them on ebay and remember choosing them as these ones would survive living in Scotland!

They are in purple 30cm tubtrugs.

[basketcase]

Hi Basketcase

I have just been out to check my blueberries. I have two bushes - Bluetta and Northland. I got them on ebay and remember choosing them as these ones would survive living in Scotland!

They are in purple 30cm tubtrugs.

Hi Sindy!

Thanks for the recommendations. The blueberries I've got - though I can't for the life of me remember what the varieties are!

Not very clear in my post, but I meant which variety of Quince...

[jaimie]

FB wrote

The stronger rootstocks (MM106, MM111, M25) seem much faster to produce the fine roots that absorb water. I've often wondered about using the stronger rootstocks, in pots, with reduced watering and in poorer soil. The stronger rootstocks are very quick to soak-up water and nutrients, whereas the weaker rootstocks are very slow to absorb from the soil.

In coming years, I'm planning to try growing MM111 and M25, with a vigorous variety, as cordons, in some poor soil - just to prove a point.
I have a young Bramley's Seedling on M25 (yes - you read that right; M25) that I plan to try to keep as a cordon - for the comedy value.

After all; more vigorous rootstocks are recommended for poor/dry/shallow soils, so why not use a stronger stock in a pot, with less feeding and less watering?

Hi FB

Interesting to hear your take on rootstocks. All sounds very logical. Although I really don't know much about these things, fortunately all the maiden apples that i am planning on cordoning are on M106s so that's OK then!

I am fortunate to have a source of old galvanised dustbins, the big ones that dustmen used to heave up onto their shoulders to carry to the dust cart when I was a lass. I know they don't need painting, being galvanised, but they look really good with a coat of paint especially if you rub them down so the first coat is exposed, showing up a different colour in the grooves. And they are big.

I've also got a couple of galvanised dolly tubs. No doubt some of the younger shoots don't know what a dolly tub is. People used to do their washing in them, using a posher, in the olden days.

Anyway, dolly tubs or dustbins, they both make splendid containers for trees, and of course they are easy to move about if you think they would look better elsewhere, or grouped differently. It's like moving the furniture round.

I have decided to get a quince. I've never seen either a quince tree or a fruit except in pictures, but they seem quite interesting and returning to popularity. Doubt if "ll get a mulberry though!

[FB.]

I'd say that you should be fine with MM106 for cordons. It's a versatile rootstock that can be used for most purposes in your typical garden.

MM106 is a bit more vigorous than many textbooks recommend, but most textbooks seem to expect you to use a full routine of feeds and sprays.
I'd say that only on the best soils, do trees actually grow as well as the books state. On less-than-ideal soil, trees grow much slower - or die.

In a no-spray or minimal-spray environment (which applies to most of us here), if in doubt, I would go for one rootstock larger than the books recommend, to give the tree a bit more strength, which will compensate for the loss of vigour due to poor maintenance or diseases. I like my trees to be "rough and tough", not heavily nursed weaklings all their life.
You will also see good levels of resistance (but not immunity) to diseases, on the varieties that I grow.

Although possibly too vigorous for cordons on very fertile soils, a benefit of MM106 for cordons is the good level of woolly aphid resistance (I said resistance, not immunity ). WA love to get under the bark at the site of pruning cuts - and cordons are heavily pruned to maintain their shape and fruitfulness. The WA feeding often causes swellings or splits on the branches, which then get infected with canker. By deterring WA, you reduce the risk of canker.

My soil is poor and we don't get as much rain as most of the UK.
After years of trial-and-error, in my location, I favour MM106 for cordons, MM111 for bushes and M25 for half-standards.
In my area, you won't get a full standard unless you grow a very vigorous variety on M25 - such as Bramley, Blenheim, Boskoop, Tydeman's Orange, Norfolk Beefing etc.

Generally speaking, I've found it much easier to reduce the vigour of an excessively fast-growing tree (by summer pruning), than to increase the vigour of a weak tree (by heavy fertilising and watering).

Even a very vigorous tree can be "tamed" by annual summer pruning, which will gradually build up a large number of fruit spurs. These fruit spurs draw large amounts of energy to feed the growing fruits.
The key to controlling vigour is getting the tree to divert it's energy into fruit.

The key to increasing vigour is lots of nitrogen and not to allow early fruiting - otherwise you risk a vicious circle of fruits drawing too much energy, which stalls growth. In any case, nitrogen reduces fruit quality, so a young growing tree will not produce good quality fruits until it is established and mature.
In young trees, early cropping also slows down the establishment of a strong root system.
Additionally, as trees mature, they produce more fruit spurs, which draw more energy away from growing, so it gets even harder for the trees to grow.

.

[solway cropper]

I am fortunate to have a source of old galvanised dustbins

I wouldn't fancy trying to move a dustbin full of compost around. I trust you intend them to stay in the one place.

[jaimie]

I am fortunate to have a source of old galvanised dustbins

I wouldn't fancy trying to move a dustbin full of compost around. I trust you intend them to stay in the one place.

=======================================

Where there's a will there's a way!!

They probably wouldn't be going far if I did decide to move them. They need to be big so I can grow tall things in them, and will be less likely to blow over. In a couple of year's time when there may be something actually growing I will post some photos. I'm hoping to emulate the Hanging Gardens of Babylon eventually, but then I always tend to have grandiose plans. Sadly I usually run out of steam eventually, but it's fun planning it all.

[21again]

I've often wondered about putting potted plants into a carrier bag, or a small sack, to try to prevent drying-out.

I think I may try this as all of my plants are grown in pots and they do really dry out in no time at all in summer.