9 Easy and Low-Maintenance Fruit Trees for Your Backyard

If you’ve ever thought about and loved the idea of growing your own fruit trees but hesitated because of the maintenance, I’ve got good news for you. Caring for these plants doesn’t have to be difficult. It just requires a bit of know-how and the right types of trees. If you plant the right type for your climate, you can grow your own fruit with minimal effort. 

Knowing how to choose your trees is an important step in your future success. Not every tree will thrive or even survive in every climate. However, with very few exceptions, there is a fruit tree for every garden. All you need to find that perfect, low-maintenance tree is a little knowledge of how and where it grows best. 

Let’s take a look at some of the factors that influence success, and will guide you to choosing the right cultivar. Then, we can talk about some trees that are generally easy to care for. 

Planting and Care Tips

Getting off on the right foot is the first and most important step toward keeping your tree as low-maintenance as possible. If you prepare properly and choose a location conducive to your plant’s growth, you’ll find it takes less effort to keep it healthy.

Plant at the Right Time

There are times that are good and times that are not so good for planting a new fruit tree. The good times are fall and spring, and there are advantages to each. The most important advantage is that they both spare your young plant the stress of summer while adapting to its new location. 

Planting in the fall helps your new plant to develop roots rather than focus energy on producing growth and fruit. As it prepares to enter dormancy, the energy it has will be applied to root establishment. This means that when spring rolls around, it can apply more energy to putting on green growth. 

Planting in the spring has similar advantages. It helps the plant to become established before the stress of summer comes roaring in. Spring planting does require more supplemental watering. It also prolongs the maturation of the tree slightly, but it’s not going to harm it. For these reasons, I recommend planting in early fall for the strongest start to the new year.

When you’re considering fall or spring for planting, use the type of tree to determine which is best. Fruit trees need to establish their roots over winter. Evergreens, however, do best with a spring planting due to their tendency to experience winterburn. Giving them a good period of establishment before winter will prevent this. Remember this if you’re planting a juniper for its tasty berries.

Plant in the Right Place

Choosing a location is as important, if not more, as planting at the right time. Whether you plant in spring or fall will not influence the ultimate long-term success of the tree in most cases. The wrong location absolutely will. 

Most fruit trees prefer full sun to partial shade, depending on your climate. If you live in a cooler climate, full sun will give it what it needs to thrive and produce the most. In warmer climates, a bit of protection from the afternoon sun is often a welcome respite, even for sun lovers. 

Equally important to the health of your tree is the soil and drainage. Knowing the needs of the specific cultivar will help you to make this determination. Some need acidic soil to make important nutrients available, while others are fine in neutral or even alkaline soil. 

Very dense soil that compacts easily, like clay or silt, can make root establishment difficult. If you have this type of soil, it’s important to loosen and amend it. You also may want to continuously work on this by top dressing with mulch or compost yearly. 

Also of great importance is drainage. There are some trees that are adapted to grow in areas of poor drainage. There are few fruit trees in this category. Make sure that you choose a location where there is good drainage so the roots of your plant don’t rot. 

Water and Fertilize at the Right Time

Helping your tree to get established in its new location is paramount to its long-term success. You will need to give the most care in the first year to make this happen. Watering regularly, but not too much, is the primary factor. It is water that controls root growth, so initially, this should be a major factor. 

Watering deeply, but less frequently, will drive the roots deeper into the ground, where they will, in turn, find water more available. Deeper roots make a plant more drought tolerant, for this reason. However, watering more frequently and less deeply causes the tree to develop a more extensive but shallower root system. 

A tree with shallow roots is less drought tolerant and less sturdy when it comes to inclement weather. This is important for those living in areas prone to hurricane or cyclone activity. You want those roots to run deep so that the wind in the canopy doesn’t pull them up. 

Water your new tree regularly, but don’t water daily after the first week. As soon as it recovers from the stress of transplanting, daily watering should cease and gradually decrease over time. When you do water, soak the ground to send those roots deep. If it has to deal with drought early on, your tree will develop more lateral roots, making it less drought-tolerant in the long run. 

When it comes to fertilizer, the important time for your tree is during the active growth phase. This begins in early spring and ends with fruit maturity. You should fertilize once just before bud break and then through the spring until about July, depending on the type and season of the fruit. 

Fertilizing too late in the year can be detrimental in two ways. For one thing, it encourages new growth, which will be more vulnerable to cold damage. Secondly, if the tree cannot absorb the nutrients, it can cause root burn, which will also have a negative impact. 

Important Factors in Selecting Your Variety

The most important factors in selecting your tree are climate and soil. As a Florida gardener, it’s important for me to know that trees with high chill hours are not right for my garden. In the same way, if you live in Maine, bananas are not likely to survive outdoors in your yard. 

Chill hours refer to the amount of cold weather a tree needs in order to bear fruit. There are varieties of different species that vary on this point, and it’s important to select one that is compatible with your climate. Soil is also an important factor, though amending it is more easily controlled, so it’s not usually a make-or-break situation. 

Trees that are Commonly Considered Easy to Grow

This list is by no means exhaustive. But if you’re looking for a species and/or cultivar that will yield a hearty harvest and require a minimal amount of effort, these are a great place to start. 

Fig ‘Chicago Hardy’

	botanical name Ficus carica ‘Chicago Hardy’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 15’-30’
	hardiness zones 6-10

Figs are delicious and a great source of fiber, iron, calcium, and antioxidants. They are generally easy to grow. I’ve seen some cultivars reach amazing heights and produce far more than their owners can consume. They typically grow best in Zones 8-10, but ‘Chicago Hardy’ is a fabulous variety that will grow all the way to Zone 6 with some winter protection.

‘Chicago Hardy’ is a medium-sized tree, though it can reach as tall as 30 feet with a similar spread. It’s a great producer of lovely purple figs with bright red interiors. It’s early to produce and ripen, and who doesn’t love that attribute? It’s also self-pollinating, so you can plant just one and still get a great yield. Fig trees rarely require more than 100-200 chill hours, making them versatile in warmer areas. 

Apple ‘Honeycrisp™’

	botanical name Malus domestica ‘Honeycrisp™’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 8’-18’
	hardiness zones 3-8

The ‘Honeycrisp’ apple tree is a versatile and popular hybrid variety. It produces a large quantity of crisp apples that are both sweet and tart. They are good for cooking with and eating fresh. They’re also good for canning and freezing. They produce for a long period and store well, so you’ll have plenty of apples to eat for a long portion of the year. 

This apple has excellent pest and disease resistance, adding to its easy-going nature. It remains compact, making your harvest much easier than it would be with a larger cultivar. It produces fragrant flowers in spring and has beautiful fall foliage. ‘Honeycrisp’ requires 800-1000 chill hours, making it a poor choice for warmer climates. 

Lemon ‘Improved Meyer’

	botanical name Citrus x meyeri ‘Improved’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 5’-12’
	hardiness zones 8-11

I love my Meyer lemon tree. It practically takes care of itself. Though it does attract some pests, very few affect the quality and quantity of fruit it produces. This hybrid of a lemon and an orange is sweeter than the average lemon. They are wonderful for cooking with and the perfect lemonade lemon. 

Meyer lemons are small, and while they only grow outdoors in Zones 8-11, they make excellent patio trees. If you live in a colder zone, these thrive easily in a large container. In warm climates and indoors, this one can produce year-round. It has wonderfully fragrant and beautiful flowers and is evergreen.

Peach ‘Elberta’

	botanical name Prunus persica ‘Elberta’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 25’
	hardiness zones 5-9

Peaches are sweet and delicious. There is no questioning that. However, finding one to suit your climate is more complicated compared to other fruits. ‘Elberta’ is a cold-tolerant variety that thrives in a large swath of the United States, reaching from Zone 8 to Zone 5. 

Peach trees can be finicky and prone to pests. After all, they produce some of the sweetest fruit around. The skins are soft and easy to pierce and attract plenty of animals. Outside of their appeal to other animals and pests, ‘Elberta’ is disease resistant, and a healthy specimen will stand up to some pest infestation. I find using a mesh bag to cover my peach trees is great for keeping squirrels and other animals away. 

Cherry ‘Black Tartarian’

	botanical name Prunus avium ‘Black Tartarian’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 12-30’
	hardiness zones 5-8

Cherry trees are glorious in the springtime when they light up the garden with stunning, fragrant blossoms. They are both ornamental and functional, producing sweet, nutritious berries. ‘Black Tartarian’ is a great cultivar that produces abundantly and grows in an attractive pyramidal form. 

This cultivar requires little care and provides a ton of interest with spring blossoms, summer fruit, and gorgeous fall foliage. The only thing that complicates this cultivar is that it isn’t self-fertile. If you want fruit, you’ll need to plant another type of cherry nearby. Not to worry; the ‘Bing’ cherry is compatible with the same conditions and produces tons of delicious cherries of its own. They both require 700-900 chill hours. 

Cold Hardy Avocado ‘Pancho’

	botanical name Persea americana ‘Pancho’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 8’-20’
	hardiness zones 8-11

Avocados are delicious and, frankly, expensive. Full of nutritious fiber, there is no questioning the popularity of these thick-skinned fruits. Most avocado trees are tropical and don’t tolerate frost. Cold hardy avocados are still fond of warm climates, but you can grow them as far north as Zone 8. They also make nice container trees, so you can move them indoors for the winter. 

This avocado cultivar is tough and sturdy. It’s attractive, so it has plenty of ornamental appeal, and it’s a great producer. This is a self-fertile variety, so all you need is one to have plenty of creamy, delicious avocados. It’s a great beginner plant. 

Persimmon ‘Fuyu’

	botanical name Diospyros kaki ‘Fuyu’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 12’-30’
	hardiness zones 7-11

Persimmons have a reputation for being one of the easiest fruit trees to grow. They are naturally disease and pest-resistant and adapt well to a wide range of conditions. They are attractive ornamentals, as well, with lovely fall colors and attractive growth habits. 

‘Fuyu’ is a popular variety that produces sweet persimmons rather than astringent. It is self-fertile, so you can plant just one and have an abundant harvest. Though they are not fast growers, they require little care, including fertilizer. They also tend to produce early in their lives. 

Banana ‘Ice Cream’

	botanical name Musa acuminata x balbisiana ‘Blue Java’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 10’-15’
	hardiness zones 8-11

Creamy and delicious, ‘Ice Cream’ bananas are almost too easy to cultivate. Not only are they beautiful landscape elements, but they are also a dwarf variety that grows well in a container. Their clusters of fruit have a blue tint and stand out from other varieties. 

Bananas are susceptible to several pests, and they need a fair amount of fertilizer as they are heavy feeders. However, they are easy to keep alive and self-fertile. You can keep them entirely indoors and hand pollinate easily. 

Pomegranate ‘Wonderful’

	botanical name Punica granatum ‘Wonderful’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 8’-20’
	hardiness zones 8-11

‘Wonderful’ pomegranate is a fantastic cultivar for your first fruit tree. It produces gorgeous orange flowers in the spring, followed by plump, red fruits that are sweet and tangy. They are adaptable to different locations and don’t require a great deal of maintenance to do their job.