The Best Fruit Tree To Grow Indoors (And One To Avoid)

In some parts of the world, a person can grow something that resembles the Garden of Eden, replete with winding vines, bountiful blooms, and flowering accent trees that birds and butterflies will love, right in their own backyard. In others, particularly major metropolitan areas, folks have to make do with approximations like the Rainforest Cafe. But, even in most of those locales, you can bring a bit of the outside in via fruit trees. But you'll need to add a little curation to your green thumb to make them work.

House Digest dug in with Josh Davis, known as Josh Gardens, master gardener and fruit tree grower on Instagram and YouTube, for his tips for indoor arbor success. According to him, there's a particular type of fruit tree that does fairly well indoors. "If you wanna grow fruit indoors, citrus trees are the way to go," he exclusively told House Digest. "They produce a ton of fruit in a small space, put out fragrant flowers, and thrive in containers. This makes them perfect for anyone who can't grow them in the ground due to climate. Some of the best options are lemons, kumquats, and limes because they adapt well to pots and still give you a solid harvest." Meyer lemons, Key or Bearss limes, and kumquats are among Gardens' favorites. They'll need a lot of light, moist soil, and good drainage to thrive, he added. You'll also want to avoid the watering mistake everyone makes when growing a lemon tree indoors.

Few can subsist on citrus alone, and once you've created your first botanical, the pull of living room agriculture can be hard to resist in any case. But another of Gardens' suggestions comes with an aromatic caveat. "Fig trees are a solid choice for growing indoors," he told House Digest exclusively. "They adapt well to containers, don't need as much light as citrus, and can still put out a decent harvest. The only thing to keep in mind is that the leaves have a bit of a smell to them (earthy), which some people love and others ... not so much."

Gardens also lists banana trees as an indoor option, but he said that they need meticulous conditions and a long time to actually bear fruit. But they still look pretty. "Even if they don't produce, they make a great tropical-looking plant to brighten up a space," he said.

Josh Gardens cautions against anyone thinking they're going to be satisfied growing a tree from a seed indoors. They just take too long, between seven to 15 years, to begin producing fruit, he says. It's better to pick one up from a local nursery instead, and you can often find those lemon varieties with a few fruits already ready to go. The citrus varieties that Gardens recommends are also among the fruit trees that produce the first year after transplanting. But there is one fruit tree you'll want to leave at the shop, according to Gardens.

"Dragon fruit is one of the worst choices for growing indoors," Gardens told House Digest exclusively. "It might seem like a fun idea at first, but these vining plants come with some serious spikes that can do real damage if you're not careful. On top of that, they only flower for a single night and require hand pollination if you want fruit. I gave it a shot, and after two years all I had to show for it were scars from the thorns." Gardens adds that while avocado plants might grow quickly, they might never produce any actual fruit, as the pollination required to do so is a little more sophisticated than what can occur in your living room. Guess guac will remain, as ever, extra.