🍋 Choosing well
🏙️ Balcony and terrace
🌿 In brief
A balcony is all you need to harvest your own lemons, figs, plums or blueberries. Choose your fruit tree according to how much sun your balcony gets and how cold your winters are, check whether it fruits on its own or needs a partner, plant it in a large, free-draining pot, then water regularly and prune at the right time.
Picking a lemon on your balcony or snacking on raspberries while watering your pots: growing fruit doesn't require a garden. Many fruit trees stay compact in pots and fruit very well in just a few square metres, as long as you choose the right species for your aspect and climate. Here's how to choose, plant and care for a fruit tree in a pot, followed by a look at our families one by one.
Choosing for your balcony
Before falling for a lemon tree or a cherry tree, ask yourself four questions. They immediately rule out the fruit trees that won't be happy at your place.
How many hours of sun?
To flower and ripen their fruit, most fruit trees need at least six hours of direct sun a day: citrus, fig, olive, grapevine and kiwi above all. Blueberries, raspberries and blackberries make do with four to five hours of partial shade.
What are your winters like?
Apple, pear, plum and cherry trees and soft fruit are hardy and actually need winter cold to flower well. Citrus trees can't take frost and spend the winter under cover. Fig and olive trees sit somewhere in between: they stay outside in mild climates, with the pot protected.
How much space?
A standard fruit tree takes up less than a square metre of floor space. On a small balcony, go for a citrus tree, a dwarf fig or soft fruit; on a terrace, a proper fruit tree will find its place. Climbing fruit, grapevine and kiwi, saves space by growing upwards.
One tree or several?
Some fruit trees bear fruit on their own, others need a second variety nearby to be pollinated. If you only have room for one tree, choose a self-fertile one (details below).
Our guide to plants for full-sun balconies helps you assess how much sun your balcony gets.
Alone or in pairs: pollination
A fruit tree flower has to receive pollen from another flower to produce fruit. Self-fertile fruit trees are self-sufficient; the others need pollen from a different variety of the same species that flowers at the same time, on your balcony or at a nearby neighbour's.
| Fruit tree | Fruits on its own? | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Lemon tree, calamondin | Yes | A single pot is enough. |
| Fig trees 'Brown Turkey' and 'Little Miss Figgy' | Yes | They produce figs without any pollination. |
| Plum trees 'Victoria' and 'Opal' | Yes | The best choice for a single fruit tree. |
| Pear tree 'Conference' | Partly | Fruits on its own, but gives a bigger harvest with a second pear tree. |
| Apple trees 'Elstar' and 'Jonagold', cherry tree 'Regina' | No | Plan for a second variety nearby. The 'Jonagold' apple tree does not pollinate other varieties. |
| Raspberry, thornless blackberry, black mulberry | Yes | A single plant already gives a harvest. |
| Blueberry | Partly | Two plants side by side give more berries, and bigger ones. |
| Grapevine, kiwi 'Jenny' | Yes | The kiwi 'Jenny' is one of the few self-fertile kiwis. |
On an upper-floor balcony, there are fewer pollinating insects. At flowering time, you can help them out by brushing a soft paintbrush from one flower to the next, especially for citrus trees flowering indoors.
Pot, potting soil and planting
In a pot, a fruit tree can only rely on the soil you give it. A good start comes down to a few simple rules.
- Pot on gradually: move up to a pot just 5 to 10 cm wider in diameter. A pot that is too big all at once stays wet and makes the roots rot, especially with citrus.
- Aim for 40 to 60 litres eventually for a fruit tree or a fig tree, 30 litres for a blueberry or a raspberry.
- A clear drainage hole and a layer of clay pebbles at the bottom: no fruit tree can stand having its feet in water.
- A rich, free-draining potting soil for most fruit trees, a special citrus potting soil for lemon trees, and acidic ericaceous soil for blueberries. Our guide which potting soil for which plant details the mixes.
- A wheeled plant caddy under large citrus and olive pots: you can move them effortlessly to bring them in for winter.
- A stake for standard trees and a sturdy trellis for grapevines, kiwis and thornless blackberries.
For the material and size of the container, our article how to choose the right pot complements this advice.
Watering, feeding, pruning
Water regularly
In a pot, a fruit tree in full sun may need water every day in July, especially while its fruit is swelling. Water when the top few centimetres of soil are dry, until water runs out of the drainage hole. Let citrus and olive trees dry out a little more between waterings. Blueberries, on the other hand, like soil that is always moist and lime-free water: rainwater is ideal.
Feed from March to August
A potted fruit tree quickly exhausts its potting soil. Apply a potash-rich fruit tree fertiliser every two to three weeks in spring and summer. Citrus trees have their own specific fertiliser, enriched with iron and magnesium: yellow leaves with green veins often signal a deficiency. Too much nitrogen gives lots of leaves and little fruit.
Prune at the right time
- Apple and pear trees: formative pruning at the end of winter, to keep a compact, open shape.
- Plum and cherry trees: light pruning in summer, just after harvest. Pruned in winter, they heal poorly.
- Fig trees: light pruning at the end of winter, removing dead wood and crossing branches.
- Citrus and olive trees: light pruning in spring to balance the canopy.
- Raspberry 'Malling Promise': after the summer harvest, cut the canes that have fruited down to ground level.
- Grapevine and kiwi: hard pruning in winter, then pinching out the shoots in summer.
Our guide to pruning your plants properly shows where to make the cut.
Thin the fruit
A young potted apple or pear tree often carries more fruit than it can feed. In June, keep only one or two fruits per cluster: they will be bigger, and the tree won't exhaust itself.
Getting through winter
Hardy fruit trees stay outside, with the pot insulated and raised. Citrus trees come indoors as soon as night temperatures drop below 5 °C, into a bright, cool room. Our guide to overwintering your balcony details every step.
Mistakes to avoid
⚠️ Avoid
Planting a single apple tree. Without a second variety nearby, it flowers but produces almost nothing. On a balcony, choose a self-fertile fruit tree.
Going straight into a giant pot. The excess soil stays waterlogged and the roots rot. Pot on gradually.
Watering blueberries with hard water. Their leaves turn yellow and the plant declines. Rainwater and ericaceous soil are a must.
Leaving a citrus tree outside in a frost. A single night below zero can kill it.
Pruning a plum or cherry tree in winter. The wounds heal poorly and open the door to disease. Prune after the harvest.
Fruit tree families
You now know how to choose, plant and care for a fruit tree in a pot. Here are our main families, with their aspect and hardiness.
Citrus and olive trees
The lemon tree and the calamondin offer fragrant flowers and fruit almost all year round. Full sun on the balcony in summer, bright, cool shelter in winter. The olive tree, which is hardier, stays outside in mild climates and copes very well with drought.
Fig trees
Hardy down to quite severe cold in the ground, they fruit without pollination and grow very well in pots. Full sun, regular watering in summer, pot protected in winter. 'Little Miss Figgy' stays particularly compact.
Fruit trees
Fully hardy apple, pear, plum and cherry trees, to place in the sun on a terrace or a large balcony. The 'Victoria' and 'Opal' plum trees fruit on their own; apple trees, including 'Jonagold', and the cherry tree 'Regina' need a second variety nearby.
Soft fruit
The easiest to start with: compact, hardy, productive from the first few years and tolerant of partial shade. The blueberry needs acidic soil and rainwater; the thornless blackberry is trained on a trellis. The black mulberry 'Mulle', for its part, forms a small shrub.
Organic blueberry 'Reka'View →
Organic raspberry 'Malling Promise'View →
Organic thornless blackberryView →
Climbing fruit
For harvesting at height on a south-facing balcony: the grapevine 'Muscat d'Alexandrie' loves heat and gives large, fragrant bunches, while the kiwi 'Jenny' fruits on its own on a sturdy trellis, after a few years of settling in.
Verdeia — Fruit trees
A balcony you can harvest
Citrus, fig trees, fruit trees and soft fruit: discover all our potted fruit trees, delivered in great condition.
Frequently asked questions
On a sunny balcony, citrus trees, dwarf figs and self-fertile plum trees such as 'Victoria' are the easiest. In partial shade, go for a blueberry, a raspberry or a thornless blackberry.
Not always. Citrus trees, fig trees, the 'Victoria' and 'Opal' plum trees, grapevines and the kiwi 'Jenny' fruit on their own. Apple trees and the cherry tree 'Regina' need a second variety nearby.
Allow 40 to 60 litres eventually for a fruit tree or a fig tree, and 30 litres for soft fruit. Pot on gradually, by 5 to 10 cm in diameter at each repotting.
Only where it never freezes. Elsewhere, bring it indoors as soon as night temperatures drop below 5 °C, into a bright, cool room, between 8 and 15 °C.
Citrus trees, fig trees and soft fruit often produce from the first or second year. Fruit trees take two to three years, kiwis three to four years.
Well planted
The right pot for your fruit tree
Large pots, planters and decorative pots to give your fruit trees the room they need.
