Ok Im buying a office building that has this large atrium in it with gardens. I would love to plant some dwarf fruit trees and maybe some berries. My thoughts are I want to keep live plants in the area so may as well use it for something that can be eaten and Im sure the employees will enjoy plucking some fruit to snack on while on break. Is this a. Crazy or good idea?
by Least-Confidence8240
7 Comments
You probably don’t want anything that drops fruits, nuts, seed pods, etc. in your atrium.
Because the climate control means no winter or cool season, you’ll want something tropical or sub tropical. Bananas, mangoes, and papaya comes to mind but I’m not sure if you have enough light to grow those in that space.
Its a good idea but being its a business I would double check if there are any legal aspects to be aware of. If someone has an allergy or eats some of the fruit and gets sick does that leave you liable and tied to any legal trouble?
Also check with your insurance as some fruits/berries could fall on the walkway and be slippery causing someone to fall, again leaving you with a liability issue.
Its sad you have to consider such things but gotta protect yourself.
This is awesome!! Succulent garden would be my pick. Low maintenance and cool variety, constantly propigate and needs less humidity than fruit trees.
Your main challenge is probably going to be light. Most fruit trees are going to want minimum 6+ hours of DIRECT sunlight per day, for most of the year. In an atrium like this you will have tons of indirect light, but likely not much direct sunlight.
I’d first start by figuring out exactly how much light you’ll be getting in each potential plant location.
The slow but easy way is to wait a year and see how the sun ends up hitting the various planting areas.
The fast but tricky way is to figure out the building’s directional orientation and lookup a chart for where the sun will be positioned relative to the windows at various points in the year.
Given you are probably stuck with mostly indirect light, there are some fruiting bushes which don’t require as much light… Mulberry, Gooseberries, Currants…
As someone who grows tropical fruit trees indoors: Fruiting plants require a lot of care and specific conditions to thrive. I’m not saying it’s not possible but you have to know what you’re getting into. They’re a lot more work than common houseplants.
I would start with one or two plants, see how they do and then invest in more if you like the experience.
They might do well near the big window but the more shaded areas would probably be best for traditional lowlight houseplants.
Here are some suggestions.
Fig tree. They are easy to keep, produce fruits easily and even if they need a dormancy, this can be done indoors. Some varieties stink apparently but mine doesn’t. Mine is very tolerant to less than ideal conditions so that’s the one I would recommend you to try first.
Banana trees looks great, gives very tropical vibes, but don’t fruit easily indoors. Dwarf Cavendish would do well in this space I think, if it gets enough light.
Meyer lemons are some of the most forgiving citrus in my experience and the most likely candidate to give you fruits. Need a ton of light and careful waterings, like all citrus.
Pineapples are fun and fairly easy to grow, look very tropical too and have a good chance to produce a fruit, but they only produce 1 at a time, and they take a while to grow. Need a ton of light and the leaves can become a hazard.
Dragonfruit cactus. I don’t know this one very well because I’ve not grown it myself so you’ll have to research this one on your own. All I can tell you it’s that it’s a tropical climbing cactus that is often kept as a houseplant. All the ones I’ve seen as houseplants were small and not mature enough to fruit. Most people don’t have the space to let them get mature enough for that. Some cultivars don’t need pollination, they would probably the best for you. They need a ton of light.
Good idea. There are quite a few understory plants and or low growing that grow great. Coffee, Jaboticaba, Surinam cherry and other Eugenia, Lily pilly, Australian finger lime. Some may need a cool period to produce fruit.