Because of my current long term, but temporary living arrangements, I�m attempting to grow fruit in 15 gallon containers. I expect to return to my own house one day. But my own house has a postage stamp size lawn. And most of that is 100 shaded. So, now is the time for me to experiment on how to efficiently grow fruit in a small space. That is, I'm willing to have some of my experiments fail if it leads to better results in the long run.

I've planted some fruit in 15 gallon containers. Last spring I planted two blueberries, a stella cherry on Colt rootstock, and an Illinois Everbearing Mulberry in 15 gallon containers. (I know that Mulberry is supposed to get huge. It�s an experiment. If the pot dwarfs it without hurting it, then almost anything should grow in a pot.) I anticipate planting a Castleton Plum on Krymsk 1 rootstock and a geraldi Mulberry this spring, also in 15 gallon pots.

Question 1)

The Castleton Plum is described by it's developers as both partially self-fruitful, and self-fruitful, depending upon which of their literature I read. So, for pollinization purposes, I was considering grafting a differnt variety onto the Castleton. On the other hand, I read that stone fruits grown in pots tend to be small, but that they might be larger if the trees were thinned more. So maybe I shouldn't graft a polinizer variety? What do you think?

Question 2)

So that got me thinking about grafting. Stella is self fertile. However, seems to me that I could graft another variety onto the Stella Cherry to extend the season. But given that I anticipate reduced yields due to the pots, would you suggest that I stick to just one variety per tree?

Question 3)

So now that I'm thinking about grafting. I planted two blueberry varieties because blueberries need a pollinizer. But if one dies, I've got nothing. I thought I might graft a branch of a different variety onto each plant to cover that scenario. Would this even work on blueberries? Would you suggest I do this or not?

Question 4)

If I were to pursue any of these grafts, how old / big should the tree be? What grafting technique would you suggest?

Thanks.