Have patio fruit trees done better in pots or in the ground?

[Tiril]

I bought patio apple and pear trees this spring and they seem very unhappy in their pots. Possibly due to the heatwave, but I have watered them and tried to care for them during the summer. I planted apple trees in the ground at the same time and they seem to be doing fine. Has anyone had success with fruit trees in pots or should I just plant them in the ground too?

It's a rare plant that's not happier in the ground @Tiril .

There's always going to be more water avaliable in the ground then can be stored in the relitively small amount of soil in a pot. If they must be in pots, you need to be really on top of watering (multiple times a day during heatwave), or maybe set up a water butt and pump on a timer.

My question was more whether anyone had had success with fruit trees in pots.

My potted fruit trees have done ok. They fruit reasonably well.

The ones I have moved from pot to planted have done much better, but I don’t have space to plant them all so I just accept they’re not going to do as well.

In the heatwave my ones in terracotta pots struggled more than the ones in thin pots - I assume it’s because the terracotta holds more heat.

My fig in a pot went crispy and nearly died in the heat this summer, I guessed because the roots were getting too hot against the pot sides. I repotted it into a bigger pot and it's regrown its leaves and is looking fine. So maybe just repot.

If your soil isn't suitable for the type of fruit tree you want to grow they'll do better in pots filled with the right sort of growing medium. You should pick a variety that's either a dwarf or grafted onto a dwarfing root stock so it won't quickly outgrow its pot. They are utterly dependent on you for water and plant food too.

I'm thinking of trying to grow peaches which would drown in my heavy clay soil. I'm thinking a small variety in a big pot that I can cover over the winter (to try to avoid/reduce the leaf curl) might be worth a punt.