I have 16 new fruit trees in 27 gallon pots. The soil is local clay soil and coir 50/50 on the bottom half because was worried about drainage and miracle grow potting soil on the top half. The trees came bare root. What is the best fertilizer for these trees? The stone fruits are cherries, apricots, plums and nectarines. I also have fig and pear. Thanks for all of your help.

It's been almost a year and I wanted to update this thread with my experiences. My opinion on the Geopots has taken a 180. While they seemed nicest at first and plenty thick, they break down pretty quick. I had several rip when I tried to pick them up this fall (I move them to the north side of the house to keep them dormant and under an overhang during the winter). They didn't just rip the handle off, but the top ring of fabric, right at the soil-line. After the first few rips, I moved to picking them up by the bottom, though the fabric is feeling pretty fragile. The tan colored ones seemed worse than the black. Regrettably, most of the ones I bought were tan. One potential reason is that my mix was on the water-retentive side (roughly even mix of Turface, perlite, leaf mulch, peat, and pine bark, over-weighted on pine bark once I found a good supply). The issue wasn't just with the larger sizes. I also had the same problem with the 5 gallon variety. But, the 10+ gallon containers were heavy enough that I'm moving away from them anyway. I took two of the 15 and 20 gallon bags and just planted them. I planted the bag and all, the trees will probably have more than enough vigor as it is (apricot and mulbery) which I wouldn't mind tamping down a bit. This coming year, I'm planning to use mostly 5 and 7 gallon containers. The one which seems to have held up the best so far is the Aerobag, which is also one of the cheapest ($3.25 for 5gal) and has handles. The Roottrapper II's are also doing fine. This year, my new additions will go into the above kind, as well as a few into "Dirt bags", another type I found online. Sorry Palmfronds- I don't know much about the underlying textiles which are used in these containers.

frank: Cherries absorb water thru the skin of the fruit. That is the primary reason for cracked fruit. I haven't really tried to limit water in pots for sweet cherries. But it may be limited whether I'm trying or not. All my cherries were as sweet as they are likely to get potted or in-ground this year. Quite a few had brix above 35% as the fruit dehydrated late in the harvest season. My outdoor cherries have been too water stressed resulting in very high brix, small fruit, and off flavor. The fruit outdoors is half the size of greenhouse fruit. So this stress thing can easily go too far. agility mom: Are you sure about a greenhouse in Z9 AZ? That sounds like very hot summers. We have been having very hot weather here for my location but I'm at 4500 ft so 100F is near peak not 120F like low elev in AZ. You could probably do greenhouse fruit there with 40-50% shade cloth but I'd think you are on the razors edge. Why not do it outdoors? Too much monsoon rain? They are growing lots of fruit outdoors in N Las Vegas NV. Colder winters than you but about the same in summer. Dave Wilson used to have videos of the N Vegas operation.

5-1-1 mix works pretty well. Yes, it dries out fast but why not just water it every day? I prefer roottrapper over smart pots though. Doesn't dry out as fast and white covering keeps root system cooler. Here is a link that might be useful: roottrapper