growing fruit trees in wine barrels?

[Dilly Girl]

I have just planted half a dozen drawf and simi drawf citrus trees in half barrels. And will be doing the same with fruit in the next couple weeks. This is my first time attempting to grow in barrels. Anyone else do this, if so how is it working out for you?

Thanks
Dilly

 

[Dilly Girl]

BUMP BUMP BUMPITY BUMP.

 

[S0rcy]

It worked lovely for me! Especially in cramped spaces such as patios, a front door area, in front of garages, and even inside under several grow lights!! The barrels are great at redistributing moisture and look fantastic I did find that the N level in the soil was a little odd at first. The wine barrel soaks up some of the available nitrates and binds some others so you may find you need to adjust your feeding schedule accordingly if the leaves look a bit pale or the tree doesn't seem to doing as well as you think it should.

 

[bills]

They may get root bound after several years, as well the barrel will eventually rot out. You could line the barrel with plastic, and just have some drain holes so they don't get root rot from over watering. Roots can also be trimmed every few years, which would also be a good time to refresh the soil. Regular pruning to keep the trees dwarf like is important as well.

The big advantage is that you could move them around to optimize the growing sites, as well as your landscape designs. As well you can easily protect them in a rough winter, by simply moving them to a sheltered place. Overall, I think it's worth trying.

 

[Dilly Girl]

That is what we did, plenty of drain holes. Not too many but enough. I have learned that you can grow any size not just drawf as long as you keep them pruned back. I love how they look.

 

[Tutter]

I rescued a lemon tree from a garden center, and put it into a large pot. It's doing great, and when we had an unexpected hard freeze a couple of months ago, we just dragged it into the kitchen.