Growing peach tree in container?

6 years ago

Does anyone have experience/thoughts growing a peach tree in a container?
I'm in Phoenix and space is tight. I was looking at either early amber or early grande variety because of their heat tolerance and early harvest, supposedly they do well here in Phoenix. I spoke with the nursery owner this morning and asked if they could be grown in a container and he said, "no, these are full size trees." It was very early and he sounded so definitive that I was caught off guard and did not ask any follow up questions. I don't know if he meant, "these won't reach their full potential," or "these will struggle and fail" in a container.
I have a small family of 4 and so I don't want a huge tree that will provide several hundred fruit each season. I'd be happy to keep it 6-8' and get 30 fruit each season.
Is this worth trying, or should a peach tree only be planted in the ground?

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Comments (3)

MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
6 years ago
Here's an article: Container Peach Growing

I have a peach tree, in the ground. Wonderful, juicy, fruity tree. It's not huge, it's an Early Grande. I don't know why it would not grow ok in a 24" box......like what the nursery uses to grow a mesquite tree for example.

The next season for my tree will be it's 4th. If you don't want a bumper crop, just remove some buds when it's flowering. Last season I got one, count it, one peach. But it was 8 oz!!! We had a severe wind storm when it was flowering that stripped most of the buds from the tree. But fruit compote (Rumptopf) is really good and keeps well all year. Then there's peach brandy.....The fruit freezes well for smoothies and peach cobbler.

It goes dormant in summer. I cover the entire tree in a large mosquito net when it's fruiting to keep the birds off. This year I got less than 2 doz fruit.
MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
6 years ago
But really Travis - you need to move out of that HOA and into a 3-acre ag lot. ;-)
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Travis in PHX (9b)
Original Author
6 years ago
As always Mary, thank you! You never fail to come to my rescue ;). I agree about the HOA and an ag lot. I tell myself that I'm practicing right now with these container trees, and once the kids get a little older we will move into a place that will really let us grow things.