Can I Grow Fruit Trees In A Polytunnel?

Are you the proud owner of a garden polytunnel? When you have been growing crops and plants in a domestic polytunnel for a couple of years, you are probably starting to think about expanding your range of crops.

 

Fortunately, the average garden polytunnel is a flexible structure. If you are not into polytunnel gardening now, you may want to consider investing in a gardenpolytunnel. You will be pleasantly surprised when you find out what you can grow in a domestic polytunnel.

 

What Fruit Can I Grow In A Polytunnel?

 

You can grow anything from the humble cherry tree to exotic fruits such as citrus. However, before you move on to more exotic fruits, you should practise your craft on more local fruits. Let's go back to that cherry tree for a moment. Easy to grow trees such as cherry trees do surprisingly well in a polytunnel. Starting off slowly growing indigenous trees is the best way forward when you want to learn how to grow trees in a domestic polytunnel.

 

Can I Grow Trees In Pots or Directly In The Ground?

 

To be honest, this is very much a personal choice. If you are not sure what growing technique is going to work for you, you should experiment with both. The success rate will depend on local growing conditions and the variety of fruit trees you would like to grow.

 

If you are not sure, it is best to speak to a specialist fruit tree grower before you spend a lot of money on fruit trees. When you are limited to space, you can always try to grow espalier fruit trees.

 

What Are Espalier Fruit Trees?

 

Espalier fruit trees are trees that have been trained to grow in a certain way. They often grow on a wirework frame that you need to construct. Fortunately, as polytunnels are rather sturdy constructions, frameworks for espalier trees are not difficult to put up.

 

What you do need to be aware of is that setting up an espalier frame can take a lot of time the first time you do it. There are some excellent books that you can buy and YouTube videos you can check out when you would like to know more.

 

One of the advantages of growing espalier fruit trees is that they are much easier to look after when compared to regular trees. If you want to grow fruit trees directly in the ground in your garden polytunnel, they are probably your best choice.

 

The other choice is so-called step-over apple trees. They may not produce much fruit, but if you are short of space in your polytunnel, they are one of the alternatives that you should consider.

 

If you know from day one that you would like to grow fruit trees in your garden polytunnel, it is a good idea to discuss this with your polytunnel supplier. You may need a slightly taller domestic garden polytunnel than your friend's polytunnel.