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Fruit & Orchards

Balcony fruit in SoCal

persianmd2orchard

6 years ago

Hi everyone, haven't posted in a while and I'm not sure if this is better for the container thread. I just moved out to LA and am eyeing an apartment with a good sized south face balcony actually in Pasadena. I'd prefer to keep the fruit trees on a balcony year round (I mean if it's going to be the coldest night of the year I can bring them in for a night or two, but would prefer to max their time outside on balcony and not go thru shocking plants with shuffling them long-term in and out). One concern I have is I feel like plants are a little less cold hardy when in a container and so I'm unsure if some of the more tropical things I'm interested in would do OK.

-I assume figs, pomegranates, citrus would do just fine outside the whole year. Is there anything else tropical to subtropical I can add that might do well on a balcony in a container outside 99% of the year? How about passion fruit, banana, mango, avocado, atemoya? Any way to grow these compactly but still somewhat productively hat would be fun?

-Should I go with south facing if fruit is my main goal? West facing also an option.

-Any good sources around me in LA for already bearing fruit trees that might work well on balcony? Willing to pay for quality/more mature plants.

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Comments (3)

nmfruit
6 years ago
I think the sky's the limit for you in your location if you are willing to move them now and then. You could even put them on those little rolling plant dollies (some even double as a tray) to make the occasional move a cinch.

Of those you mentioned, passion fruit and avocado probably would not even need to be moved at all... I'm truly envious, as I was doing the indoor/outdoor potted fruit tree thing for a number of years, but my climate only allowed them to be outside for five months and I eventually gave it up. I did have some tasty tropical fruit from the plants now and then...

Hopefully others will chime in from your area, and also those with knowledge of potted fruit trr culture/varieties...
persianmd2orchard
Original Author
6 years ago
Thank you!! I'm fine with moving them in on the few coldest nights. I just dont want to have to bring them in long enough that they go through shock and shed leaves etc. i did outdoor/indoor shuffle of citrus for years on the East Coast and didnt like it tbh (transplant shock, the energy to move them, messy indoors, more bugs indoors...) but I dont think bringin them in a couple nights a year would be an issue nor make them shed.
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Jean
6 years ago
To grow all that stuff, you will need a very big balcony

Jean,

who gardened for 30-some years in Long Beach, CA.

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