In this day and age, many folks are living in homes with a smaller footprint, often lacking any sort of garden space, so lots of people are container gardening. While this generally involves small crops or flowers, there are dwarf fruit trees on the market suited for growing in containers. What about nut trees? Can you grow nut trees in pots? Let’s learn more.
Can You Grow Nut Trees in Pots?
Well, growing nut trees in containers is generally a little problematic. You see, typically nut trees run about 25 to 30 feet (8-9 m.) in height, making container grown nut trees size prohibitive. That said, there are some nut varieties that have better potential for use as container grown nut trees than others. Read on to find out how to grow a nut tree in a pot.
How to Grow a Nut Tree in a Pot
The best nut tree to grow in a container is the pink flowering almond. This small almond only gets to about 4 to 5 feet (1-1.5 m.) in height. This gorgeous tree offers stunning bi-color pink blossoms in the spring and vibrant yellow autumn color. Additionally, the tree is very resilient, easy to care for, and even fairly drought tolerant, all which make growing this type of nut tree in a container a win-win. Be sure to use a well-draining potting soil and make sure that the pot you use when growing nut trees in containers has sufficient drainage holes. Water the tree weekly; check the soil to be sure it has dried out a few inches (8 cm.) down. If the tree is still moist, hold off on watering for a day or two. This flowering almond tree is resistant to frost damage but when nighttime temps drop below 45 degrees F. (7 C.), bring the tree indoors. Place the tree in a sunny window that gets plenty of afternoon sun. Unlike citrus trees that overwinter in containers indoors, this almond isn’t picky about humidity; it actually prefers dry, arid conditions. As to growing other types of nuts in containers, there are some hybrid nut trees that bear fruit in as little as three years. There are also some filberts (hazelnuts) that become more of a bush, which have potential for growing in a pot, but I would think since you need two plants to set fruit and they can grow to about 15 feet (5 m.) in height, they aren’t for anyone concerned with saving space. Really, the only other potential containable nut tree I can think of is one that produces pine nuts. There are five of commercial importance and of these, the one that would be most ideal grown in a container is the dwarf Siberian pine, which only gets to about 9 feet (under 3 m.) in height and is very cold hardy. Of course, it’s perfectly fine to start nearly any nut tree in a container and then transplant in a suitable location once reaching a foot (31 cm.) or so in height.
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