If you have ever considered growing your own produce indoors, one thing you may have overlooked is fruit trees.
When you think of trees in a more general sense, you will tend to think of rather large plants that seem ill-suited to growing indoors.
But, what if I told you that there are a great number of varieties of fruit trees that can be grown indoors, and provide with a wonderful bounty of tasty and nutritious fruit?
Within This Article: we will over just under a dozen types of fruit trees that can make great additions to your home and provide an excellent way to add some unique flair to your surroundings.
1. Passion Fruit
Whilst not strictly a tree, being a vine-based plant, growing passion fruit indoors will require a lot of similar things to growing other kinds of fruit trees.
Passion fruits are also a less commonly grown fruit and to have them on hand more often is always a plus.
You will need to make sure that you have a trellis in your container to brace the growth of the plant.
This will allow you to grow a healthy plant that is easily maintainable and make sure that your passion fruit will see enough sunlight to grow properly, around 6 hours a day.
Even when your plant isn’t bearing any fruit, the flowers of this plant are beautiful and will make your home look all the better for having them.
2. Avocado Tree
Now more popular than ever, the avocado is an excellent fruit for growing at home and can be used in so many great recipes, as I’m sure you will now.
These plants are also some of the simplest to start growing as you can start with a pit from an avocado you have already used.
One downside is that these trees are notoriously difficult to fruit indoors, as they require quite specific conditions.
Even without the fruit, these plants make a lovely decoration for your home and provide vibrance.
3. Lime Trees
A great choice for growing in summer would be lime trees and more specifically dwarf lime trees.
Whilst a full-size lime tree might be a little too much for the regular home grower, a dwarf lime tree is a perfect size for growing indoors.
One of the best options for growing dwarf lime trees indoors would have to be key lime.
These limes aren’t all that big, but they are great for a wide variety of recipes and applications.
Quick Tip: Hand pollination would be required, but this is easily done by brushing through the inside of the flowers with a brush to transfer pollen.
4. Olive Trees
One of the most low-maintenance fruit trees to grow indoors would be the olive tree.
Whilst not your typical fruit, and not that sweet, olives are enjoyed by many people the world over.
One olive tree can produce upwards of 20lbs of fruit and as long as you are giving these trees plenty of sunlight, around 8 hours, as well as making sure to have some well-draining soil, you will find that these trees don’t even need watering all too often.
Most olive trees will not bear fruit and are simply for show, but you can get them to fruit as long as give them a couple of months with cooler temperatures in order to kickstart the process.
5. Apricot Trees
A versatile fruit that can make your pantry explode with flavor thanks to its fruit, the apricot tree can take a little work, but otherwise makes a great choice for indoor growing.
Keeping the container small, pruning often, and making sure to keep the soil moist, will make sure that you can grow some fantastic fruit from your tree.
Typically you will find that the best varieties would be dwarf apricot trees, like the Moorpark, and can be kept at around 6ft tall, which makes them a great height for maintaining.
From Experience: If you need some jam, dried fruit pieces, or are wanting to make an amazing cobbler, this tree is an excellent choice for the home grower.
6. Goji Berries Trees
If you want a truly easy-to-grow tree that will provide some fruit with great health benefits, then you may want to consider growing some goji berries, within your home.
Being able to brave it through droughts, you can keep these plants rather dry. In fact, it is better they are kept this way, as being too wet will harm the growth of the plant.
So, make sure to allow the soil to dry before watering.
As well as this, to harvest the berries, all you have to do is shake the tree and they will simply fall off when ready.
7. Kumquat Trees
If you are a fan of citrus fruits but feel like you want something a little different, then you will want to take a look into growing some Kumquat.
This is a somewhat unique citrus fruit, in that most people will just eat it whole.
With a sweet and sour flavor, this fruit is an interesting one to be sure.
Provided you give this plant plenty of water and sunlight (around 8 hours ideally) then you will be able to get yourself some really tasty fruit.
8. Fig Trees
A tree that is often used as decoration, but produces some great fruit would be the fig tree.
Usually grown in warmer climates, this tree can often be easier to grow indoors than out!
This is due to the fact that you can much more easily control the environment it is growing in.
This kind of tree will require a lot of pruning and you will want to make sure it has nutrient-dense soil coupled with plenty of sunlight, as much you can give it, and you will also want to mist the plant regularly to emulate its best growing environment.
9. Meyer Lemon Tree
One of the best known kinds of trees for indoor growing, the meyer lemon tree is a great option for a first-time grower.
This tree produces some brilliant lemons and doesn’t require a huge amount of work to maintain.
As long as you are making sure to keep the tree pruning to help it stay within the height you need, and are making sure it is watered enough to keep the soil just moist enough then you should have no trouble.
Even Better: Another benefit is that this tree is self-pollinating, and so makes a great choice for growing indoors.
Final Thoughts
To summarise, there are a large variety of fruit trees that you can grow within the comfort of your own home.
Whether you prefer berries, citrus fruit, or are less concerned with the fruits themselves and more the beauty of the flowers they produce, there will be a kind that is best suited to you.
If you have experience growing before or not, you will find that most indoor fruit trees can be grown with all too much investment and time spent in maintaining them.
Some may even do better with a little less attention than you might expect.
Hopefully, this article has been helpful in showcasing some of the best fruit trees to try your hand at growing indoors, and maybe you will become the purveyor of your own mini-orchard in due time.
If you need more inspiration or information on other garden needs, then take a look at the rest of our website to find your next passion project.