Columnar fruit trees in the garden or on the balcony

What is different about columnar fruit trees?

Lots of garden owners would like to have a couple of fruit trees in the garden. However, the space is not always available. After all, an apple or cherry tree takes up a good deal of space. So columnar fruit trees are a good solution. They also bear aromatic, healthy fruit. But they require much less space to do so.

Berry bushes such as kiwi or red currants can also be grown as columnar fruit trees to save space.

Apple trees grown on a post are also called ‘ballerinas’. The name is attributed to their straight, slender growth shape. This columnar fruit often bears the first fruit in the second year after planting.

While columnar fruit trees do not deliver quite as much fruit as a large tree due to the limited space for the plants, they do grow enough fruit to eat so that almost every day a self-harvested portion of fruit makes it to the table.

What is a columnar fruit tree?

The term ‘columnar fruit’ describes a weak-growing variety. They grow without large expansion in width upwards.

With columnar fruit, we differentiate between genetically created columnar trees and cultivated columnar fruit trees. The first variety has naturally slender upwards growth. Cultivated fruit is tailored into the desired shape of the columnar fruit tree through grafting and regular pruning.

Columnar fruit trees do not have a crown. On columnar apple trees, the fruit grows directly on the trunk, thereby saving a lot of space.

Newer breeds of columnar fruit tree varieties in particular look good on balconies or terraces. Here, too, they deliver delicious fruit and a plentiful harvest. Columnar fruit trees grow to about 2.5 m tall and are stable.

Narrow growing sour cherries and also columnar pear trees are grafted onto a weak growing host. Otherwise they will not remain small. ‘Small’ here means: 2 m to 4 m.

It is advisable to only buy columnar fruit trees from a specialist retailer. In this way, you can avoid ingenuous providers who sell normal-growing fruit plants as columnar fruit trees. These quickly grow out of shape. At a specialist outlet, you can be sure you are buying quality and genuine variety plants.

Planting columnar fruit trees

It is best to plant new columnar fruit trees in March or April. Choose a location in full sunshine in your garden or a suitable place on the balcony. You can also plant berries in the semi-shade.

Dig out a planting hole in the garden. It should be about 60 cm to 80 cm deep and wide. Mix the soil you have dug out with some compost. Then the columnar fruit tree is well supplied with nutrients from the start. Plant the columnar fruit tree in the planting hole, fill in the soil-compost mixture and gently tread down the substrate. Then pile up a watering border around the plant. Always keep the ring free from weeds, grass and other plants. Then your columnar fruit tree can grow well.

Where apples are concerned, it is worth planting two different varieties. For example, if you plant a ’Polka’ apple variety columnar fruit tree and one of the apple variety ‘Pomforyou’ they will fertilise one another. This will deliver a particularly good harvest.

If you plant the kiwi ‘Dr. Szymanowski’ it will also need a planting partner as a fertilising variety. Otherwise, fruit will not develop on the columnar fruit tree.

The situation is different with self-fertilising varieties. They do not require a fertilising variety. Ask your specialist outlet to advise you as to whether the selected variety needs a planting partner or not.

It is also worth taking a look at the winter-hardiness of the columnar fruit tree. If you want to plant a columnar fruit tree in a pot, it should be winter-hardy. Otherwise, you will need a space in the house to overwinter it during the cold time of year.

It is also important to know that not all columnar fruit trees are bred for open land. These will quickly grow very tall and wide in an open land environment. The columnar cherry tree, for example, grows into a 5 m tall tree in open land in next to no time.
 

Planting columnar fruit trees in a pot

As columnar fruit trees do not take up much space, you can also happily cultivate them in pots or containers. However, you should use a larger pot, so that the plant stands securely in it and does not tip over. The nutrient supply is also more likely to be ensured in a larger pot. The plant container should be able to hold at least 30 l for a young fruit tree.

It is best to replant the columnar fruit tree in the new pot directly after purchasing it. Alternatively, you can also do this by autumn at the latest. Fill the pot with a mixture of garden soil, compost and sand. If you do not have a composter in your garden, you can build a composter. You can use this to provide your plants with valuable nutrients in the following year.

Plant the columnar fruit tree in the pot in such a way that the grafting point is above the soil. About 8 cm to 10 cm is ideal. Then place the pot on a small wooden or clay feet. This allows the water to run out of the plant container easily, preventing waterlogging.

A new pot is usually required every five to seven years.

Pruning columnar fruit trees

Not all columnar fruit trees are pruned in the same way. The type of pruning depends on the variety of fruit. Apple trees are most suited to a columnar shape. They already have slender growth in their genes. Therefore, many different varieties do not require pruning, for example, ‘Sonate’ or ‘Starcats’. They retain their shape just as they are. You only need to remove the longer shoots during summer pruning. Use garden shears such as the EasyPrune from Bosch to shorten them to a length of 20 cm to 40 cm. The plant will then form new fruiting wood. If you want to remove the shoots entirely, it is best to cap them with a saw directly on the central shoot. Otherwise, new side branches will appear again and again. The cordless KEO garden saw from Bosch even cuts thicker branches powerfully, cleanly and safely and keeps the columnar fruit tree in shape.

The pear variety ‘Decora’ also remains small completely naturally. Columnar cherry trees and columnar damson trees do grow very compact, however they push out heavily in width after a few years at the latest. So you should always prune them in good time to keep them in shape. Keep the side shoots consistently short and, in doing so, strengthen the central shoot. Shorten fruit shoots which have grown too long to a length of about 40 cm every year.

Also cut the height of the columnar fruit tree if necessary. You should do this for the first time after about five to seven years. If you prune it earlier, the tree will branch very heavily. So you should only shorten the central shoot after five to seven years, directly above the flat growing side shoots. It is best to do this by mid/late June.

You can process the removed branches into a valuable mulch in a quiet garden shredder. The quiet shredder AXT 25 TC from Bosch can take care of this particularly quietly, even with its high performance of 2,500 W.

Caring for columnar fruit trees

Regularly check the fruit set of your columnar fruit trees. Thin these if necessary. However, this is only necessary with apples, peaches and pears. Cherries and plums do not require thinning. Too many fruit sets will lead to rather small fruit. They will also leach from the plant. This may lead to no harvest the following season. This is also referred to as alternation.

So you should break off the excess fruit sets from the columnar fruit tree at the start of June. Two fruits at the most should remain on each fruit bushel. This will lead to a good harvest.

You should regularly top up the soil for columnar fruit trees in pots. Also, water the plants generously two to three times a week. Lime-deficient water is ideal. The rain water pump GardenPump 18 is excellent for watering, and, in combination with a Fontus water sprayer filled with water, it can also be used as a mobile watering device.

Give the plants fertiliser once in the spring. Use a slow release organic fertiliser and work it carefully into the top layer of soil. It is best to put on gardening gloves for this. In this way, you will keep your hands clean and free from fertiliser residue.

Fertiliser columnar fruit trees outdoors with about 40 g of horn shavings per square meter.

Protect your plants in pots from heavy rain, hail and frost during flowering.

If you want to know more about when you should do what kind of work in the garden, you can find out the best times for all the important tasks in our Gardening Calendar.

Using columnar fruit trees as a hedge

Columnar fruit trees are beautiful and also useful. You can also use the decorative plants as a visual screen. Use the compact plants to visually separate off certain areas in the garden.

You can also plant them as a hedge. For these, dig out a trench along a guide line and plant apple trees in it, for example, at a distance of 50 cm to 60 cm. Plant the trees equally as deep in the trench as they previously stood in the pot. The UniversalHedgeCut 18 is ideal for pruning this special type of hedge.

Variety tips for columnar fruit trees

The ‘Decora’ pear is a plant with crunchy, sweet fruit for the garden or on the balcony. ‘Concorde’ is a very robust pear variety. It likes particularly warm conditions. The pears are ready to harvest from mid-September.

The ‘La Torre’ apple variety is not sensitive to scab and mildew. After the second year, it will produce fine, acidic tasting, red fruit. ‘Rhapsody’ is particularly juicy and robust and can be easily stored.

‘Equilibro’ can produce up to 5 kg of fruit each year. ‘Redini Cuckoo’ is red on the inside and out. The apples are small and have a fresh-acidic taste. ‘Pompink’ and ‘Pomforyou’ have a very intense aroma. They are resistant against scab, aphids and other typical apple diseases. ‘Flamenco’ develops sweet fruit. However, they cannot be stored for long.

‘Jachim’ is a worthwhile variety among the sour cherries. It is self-fertilising. ‘Sylvia’ has particularly low space requirements and develops sweet, dark cherries directly on the middle shoot. This variety is also self-fertilising. You have to prune it regularly to keep it in shape.

‘Liane’ is a worthwhile variety of damson. It even develops well in high regions and produces fruit. It is happy both in open land and on the balcony. ‘Fruttini Skyscraper’ is a variety of plum which grows to about two meters tall. The fruit is mature in July or August. ‘Fruttoni Golddust’ is a mini plum. The sweet fruit is ready for harvest from mid-August.

The apricot ‘Somo’ is only occasionally infested with mildew. Regularly shorten the side shoots of this plant. This will keep the apricot in shape.  The apricot variety ‘Fruttoni Apricompakt’ is self-fertilising. You can harvest it as early as mid-July.

The summer kiwi ‘Dr Szymanowski’ can be picked in August.

Growing red currants as columnar fruit trees

Red currents have very sweeping growth and take up a lot of space in the garden. However, what a lot of people do not know is that red currant bushes can also be grown as columnar fruit trees. You can generally use all varieties for this. However, new breeds such as ‘Trajan’ or the dual red currant ‘Dulina’ with white and red berries make it particularly easy.

If the red currants are intended to be grown as columnar fruit trees, tie one to three rods loosely to a stable post. Then prune the side shoots back to 1.5 cm stubs every two years in the spring. These bore fruit the year before. Do not prune the annual branches, as the berries grow on these until the summer.