Of course you can grow fruit trees in containers; ignore what your nursery guy said. I have a nice 8' + plum tree absolutely loaded with young fruit; gonna have to thin them back to avoid stressing the tree, though.

That tree is in a container about the size of a 1/2 wine/whiskey barrel.

Cheers

Thanks redneck guy. Did you start it smaller, then work up to the large pot?

Also, what variety is it, and is it a dwarf or regular tree.

Sorry for the questions but I'm really excited about making this work for us.

It's a standard-sized tree, but I will be keeping it small, and in a container. I bought the tree last summer (2007), and kept it in the retail container for the remainder of the year (about a 15 gallon container, if I recall correctly).

This winter, I rolled the tree out of its container, barerooted it, root pruned a little, then repotted it in its current container with fresh soil. It probably could have been planted in a smaller container if I had wanted.

This spring it bloomed nicely, and set lots of fruit. I am currently thinning the fruit, and will begin some pruning in June to remove some wayward branches, and produce a more compact tree. Plums here are pruned in early summer to help avoid a specific foliar disease.

I will probably roll it out of its container again this winter, and see what the roots have done. I may be able to get by with a smaller container next year.

Cheers

I am growing a dwarf apple and dwarf peach in containers and both are thriving. I have heard some excellent cases of great fruit from container growing... give it a try! There are some excellent resources out there. (I used "The Bountiful Container" a book by two authors, but the only one I can remember right now is Stuckey- excellent tips for what rootstock to look for and how to grow).