The Basics

When you pot up a fruit tree, you can savor springtime blossoms and feast on fall fruit anywhere -- on a deck, on a patio, or even on a sliver of balcony. A dwarf fruit tree needs sunlight and almost no growing room. You can move it (although once the container is full of soil and the tree gains bulk, you may not wish to move it often). You also will want to keep the potted tree within reach of the hose for easy maintenance. Otherwise, get set for easy pickings of apples, pears, figs, or other fruit, no matter how much space you don't have.

• Start your tree-potting project in early spring, while the trees are still dormant. Bare-root trees work especially well, although potted nursery stock can be used, too. Shop a mail-order company with a good reputation, or use a high-quality nursery. Shop between late January and March for the best selection of bare-root trees.
• Look for trees that are vigorous, whose wood looks good, and trees that are not desiccated, scuffed, bruised, or split. Check the graft union (the bump near where roots meet trunk). Has it healed? Are there cracks or dead tissue or peeling bark? Sometimes the graft doesn't take, so it's smart to take a few minutes to examine the joint. If it's not a solid union, it may break years later from the load of the fruit.
• Choose a tree with a balanced shape, such as a tree with four to five solid, evenly spaced branches. You may not be able to see the roots, but they are important. There should be plenty of undamaged, fine white roots (known as hair roots). The more healthy hair roots on the tree, the better the chance of transplant success because these are the tree's lifeline to nutrients and water.

You can choose either ornamental or fruit-bearing fruit trees for your container. Here are some choices:

• Crab apples ('Red Flash' and 'Centennial')
• Any apple on M-27 or Polish-22 root stock
• Genetic dwarf plants, such as peaches and nectarines
• Figs (they actually like being root bound)