Gardening - Hipster Homesteaders

5 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Self-Watering Stakes

As frequent travelers, one issue we've had with growing potted fruit trees is figuring out a watering plan for when we are away.

These plants are notoriously fickle with water, needing deep waterings with dry periods in between. Despite that, we found that while going away for a few days was often quite fine, being gone for 10 days or longer presented a challenge. No matter if the plants were indoors or out, we needed to water them, and leaving our watering up to others always poised a bit of an issue- namely, we don't like to be a bother to our family and neighbors for as much as we travel.

It wasn't until a friend recommended we pick up some self-watering stakes that we started to see a path forward. Water applied to our plants over time while we are away? We were in, and picked up a batch right away with some pretty encouraging results.

But, that being said, we had a few lessons learned when using these that we wanted to highlight to make sure you get the most out of your self-watering stakes.

When I wanted to expand my planted fruit tree garden on our hillside, I was limited on space relative to the sheer number of trees I wished I could plant. So, naturally, my first instinct was to look at combination fruit trees to get a little creative.

Combination fruit trees go by many names, and may be referred to as a fruit cocktail tree (with different species of fruit like lemons and limes) or a 3-in-1, 4-in-1, or even 5-in-1 fruit tree, typically with multiple varieties of the same fruit (like five different kinds of peaches).

There are many cons to these kinds of trees, I am not going to lie, but I took the risk on them for a 5-in-1 peach tree and a 4-in-1 cherry tree to help get more varieties in our limited space. In my research and acquisition, these are some important things you should consider before buying a combination fruit tree!

Looking to pick up a new tree? Check out Fast Growing Trees, where we buy our trees from!

Ever since buying a number of tropical and citrus fruit trees to grow in pots, I've struggled with figuring out an ideal watering frequency. Part of this is because they live indoors half the year and outside half the year, meaning they experience an array of conditions, but also because I have found that conventional advice may end one step too soon.

Sometimes I water my trees per recommended standards, and they hold water for a long time. Other times, they dry out almost immediately and start showing underwatering conditions. It wasn't until I really started to pay attention that I made a few more crucial observations that helped me get my watering frequency under control.

Before diving into this one, I want to make two important caveats. First, the following is based only on observations for my own potted tropical fruit trees, which include several types of lemon, lime, mango, longan, guava, blood orange, kumquat, and more. They spend half the year indoors under grow lights and south-facing windows, and half the year outdoors. Second, commentary here is just a theory based on what I've noticed with my trees. Your mileage will vary.

So, with that in mind, let's jump into some observations we've seen over the years!

I had always known that growing wasabi would be incredibly difficult, with a low rate of success if you're not in the perfect climate (which we're not). But I did not expect every single one of my cuttings to die within a week or so after purchasing them!

As it turns out, this one is a really, really finicky plant to root. So let's talk about that, and we'll share some tips that may help if you're in the same boat.

Note: I do not consider these tips to be foolproof. It is just that after numerous trial and error, it seems to be a recurring them that might help. That said, even in the best case, we expect a lot of loss- especially if you are buying non-rooted cuttings for our starting point.

In our quest to fill our home and garden with amazing fruit trees, we've had to take a leap of faith and order from nurseries online as local stores simply did not offer the products we were looking for.

As such, we had to do some research into which stores were the best for our needs.

One problem we noted when researching plants online is that most nurseries don't actually have listed photos of the exact plant you are going to buy. They have stock images, sure, but not the plant that is going to arrive at your doorstep. You generally just get a listed size measurement (either height or pot size in gallons) and that's that. So we have ordered on faith, held our breath, and hoped for the best.

As it turns out, many of the nurseries we've ordered from have turned out to be quite wonderful and exceeded our expectations all around. So in this one, we thought we'd make a running list of all of the nurseries we've ordered from online in case you need some peace of mind when making your next purchase!

Note: We tend to only buy fruiting species online, such as citrus trees, vines, bushes, etc. We are unable to make any statements of quality for other plant types. It does seem like some of these companies could possibly source from several nurseries around the country, depending on plant type, so your mileage will vary.

When we bought our dragonfruit cactus, we were pretty pleased that it came already at a sufficient size. At about 18″ tall with a few vertical shoots, we were well ahead of the growing curve by months if not a year compared to buying a smaller cutting or growing from seed.

So, naturally, our next question was simply “how long will it take for the dragonfruit cactus to flower?”

As it turns out, the answer was another 1 1/2 years, where we'd estimate our cactus was about 2 1/2 years old, if not a bit older.

But throwing out a date range for this one is a bit hard, as age may not be the only indicator of bloom. So in this one, we thought we'd tackle some of the prevailing theories on how (and when) a dragonfruit blooms to help provide more details you need to keep in mind- how you train your dragonfruit may matter too!

If you're getting into container gardening, at some point you'll have to deal with a pest infestation. If you've landed on this article, then the odds are good you are already experiencing an issue.

Pests in your garden, particularly in citrus trees grown in containers, can be incredibly tricky to deal with. When the trees are outside, you have numerous options such as waiting for a good soaking from the rain, strong winds, a hot day to dry the soil out, or even the ability to apply large-scale insecticide applications.

Indoors, not so much.

Over the years, we've had numerous infestations of our plants once we brought them indoors including gnats, spider mites, mealy bugs, and other soil-based insects. So in this one, we thought we'd share some of the things we have tried to manage each of the populations, and identify which ones we think have (so far at least) worked the best!

Whenever we have a good piece of fruit, I often stop and wonder if I should collect the seeds to try and grow them in future seasons.

That curiosity got the better of me, and I did just that- taking seeds from all manner of fruit (namely fruit grown on trees), saving them in our fridge for cold dormancy, and planting them the following season. Some have been a success (so far), many have failed outright, and the experiment into growing fruit from seed is, admittedly, still ongoing.

But before doing this yourself, you need to stop and think about your plan here, because there are some very good reasons why you shouldn't grow fruit from seed and others why you should.

So if you're okay doing some careful research, finding the right type, and being patient, you may be able to make it all work. So let's break down the pros and cons in this one!

I certainly don't like to make my life easy, and this is especially true with my fruit tree collection.

Despite living in a decently warm Zone 6b, where common fruits like apples, peaches, cherry, and others reign supreme, my fruit tree goals look to warmer climates. When I realized that my south facing house was plenty bright indoors in the winter months, making our bedroom a defacto greenhouse, I knew I wanted to try and grow as many tropical fruit trees and other plants in pots and try my luck at having a harvest.

Now that we're a few years into the effort, I thought I'd provide a quick snapshot of how all my trees are doing, and try to identify which ones may be on the easier side to grow in a less-than-ideal climate and others that have been much more difficult.

While a lot of this one is based on my own personal circumstances, including dealing with our local weather, overwintering concerns, and my own habits of watering/fertilizing/etc., this may provide some insight for others looking to do the same!

Please note: This article only features exotic fruit trees and plants we are personally growing or have tried to grow. This article does not feature trees we are not familiar with. So if it is not featured below, we haven't planted it. For reference, we are located in Zone 6b and when plants are brought indoors for the winter. We are fortunate to have robust south/west facing windows plus additional grow lights. Our trees were purchased between 2021 and 2024, and those that have fruited will be noted.

For our tropical fruit trees in pots, getting watering right is critical. Water too much and you may trigger root rot and kill the plant. Water too little and you may lose fruit or, in extreme cases, kill the plant. When in doubt, I'd almost always go too dry as most of our trees can manage that scenario far better than being too wet.

So, that begs the question, when is the right time to water?

Most articles I had read on this topic simply offered a set watering frequency for each specific plant and left it at that. However, general watering intervals are often not good enough due to the many variables that impact our plants. Are your plants indoors or outdoors? Is the humidity high or low? Is it warm or cold? Is the plant big or small? Is it growing vegetatively or producing fruit? All of these can significantly influence how much water they will need.

To get a handle on your trees, you'll need to do some checks!

5 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Self-Watering Stakes

5 Things to Keep in Mind When Buying Combination Fruit Trees

How We Avoid Over and Underwatering Our Potted Citrus Trees

5 Tips on How to Successfully Root Wasabi Plant Starts

5 Excellent Nurseries We Buy Plants From Online

How Long Does it Take a Dragonfruit Cactus to Flower?

How to Deal With Pests in Potted Citrus Trees Indoors

3 Reasons Not to Grow Fruit from Seed (and 3 Why You Should)

Growing Exotic Fruits in a Cool Zone – Easy to Hard

3 Ways to Check if its Time to Water Your Container Trees