When considering fruit trees to plant in your backyard, greenhouse and/or farm, there are certainly many thing to consider.
Ultimately, the best fruit trees or shrubs that will turn a profit will rapidly change based on your region, and how much time and space that you have for planting.
However, with that said, there are a few options that are obviously the most profitable fruit trees to grow.
The most profitable fruit trees in order from least to most possible returns are:
- Apples.
- Peaches.
- Strawberries.
- Blueberries.
When compared to each other, each one of these fruit trees has a different worth per pound, and has different space and grow time requirements.
So although this list is technically related to the price, you will have to understand all the details of each species to find out what will be the most profitable fruit trees to grow for your particular area.
The good news is that we have done research to determine which tree will actually bring you the most fruit and financial return for your unique situation.
So read on to learn how to enjoy your own fresh fruit at home, and have enough to sell on the side – or even a career!
In the next section we will break down the list one-by-one and give you all the information you need!
Apple Trees: Why You Need Space ; Time For Profitability
Apples are a favorite for lots of Americans especially during fall. Families apple-pick, then go home and make pies, crumbles, and preserves. While apple trees are popular around the country, there still is a good demand for them and profit potential.
Like other fruit trees, apple trees can take some patience to produce, on average, fully-mature apple trees typically produce sizeable quantities of fruit after about 8 years.
However, at age, a single apple tree can yield 500 lb. of apples!
Remember, apples, like other fresh produce, have a price that varies widely based on who you sell it to or where you sell it to.
A wholesale grocery store might buy a lb. of apples for between $0.28-$0.75/lb, however, if you take your fresh apples to a local farmers market, you might get $3-$5/lb.
Overall, there is a good profit opportunity with apple trees that are easy to maintain.
Again, they have relatively long growing times, and you need some suitable space to grow one to maturity, about 30-35 feet of space in sight of the tree.
Sometime after planting, you might be able to come back to profit from an apple tree.
The next four fruit trees will have a comparatively faster growth time, and thus, profit time.
Peaches: A Little Love Leads To Big Profits
These fabulous fruits are certainly a national favorite and can be quite profitable if managed with a little extra attention.
While peach trees might offer a slightly higher financial yield than apple trees (sat grae in width, more yield per unit produce, and little time to grow to maturity), it is important to note that peach trees yield significantly less per tree, and it takes total number of trees or time to produce the same amount of fruit.
Here are the specifications.
For peach trees, you only need 15-20 feet total of space around each tree as they only yield fruit in 2-3 years. Keep in mind, this is only about 120-150 pounds of fruit per tree.
You could easily sell peaches for $2-6 a pound depending on the market, and again, smaller markets will always be higher in price.
The main thing to know about peach trees for your farm is that they do need some extra love than apple trees do, they do hate soggy soil, so definitely in your zone need good drainage.
If you live in a colder climate, the tree is not going to survive compared to apple trees.
Strawberries: The Heart of The Fruit Family
Who doesn’t enjoy a handful of fresh strawberries during the hot summer months? Strawberries have come to represent the 4th of July and certainly have become a part of everyone’s picnic basket.
Let’s explore how profitable strawberries can be!
Since strawberry plants are much smaller than apple trees and peach trees, they require significantly less growing space!
In fact, within the 15 foot length of one peach tree, you can plant 10 strawberry bushes as they’re usually spaced 18 inches apart.
Plus, a strawberry plant only takes 1 year of growth until it starts to fruit! The only disadvantage that may deter you from picking strawberries for their profit dollar is that the plants will only produce 1.5-3 lbs of strawberries each year, much less than our peach and apple example.
However, if we think about it like this, in the 8 years it takes one apple tree to fruit 500 lbs of apples, you will be able to produce over 240 lbs of strawberries (same growing space) and generate income each year.
Once again, you can charge anywhere from $2-$6 for 1 lb of strawberries. However, you will see the larger profit margin at the end of the harvest season or in small local markets.
Just remember, if you really consider the time, growing space and care that goes into developing apple and peach trees, strawberries offer you the opportunity to potentially have the easiest and quickest fruit!
Blueberries: Why Are They The Most Profitable Fruit Tree?
Well, hopefully at this point you can see how when trying to ascertain profit potential with any particular fruit tree it is important to know how many of the trees or bushes you can fit in your area, how long it will take for trees to produce fruit, and how much each pound will be sold for;
Blueberries are an exceptional tree species due to the characteristics of each of those values.
Blueberries will begin producing some fruit at about 3 years, but full production will appear in about 5 years. After that, you can get anywhere from 5 to 20 pounds of fruit from just one plant.
Fortunately, you can space blueberry bushes only about 2 feet apart to create spacing, which can create an overall yield of about 100 pounds of blueberries in just a 10 feet space!
When you go to sell your freshly harvested tomatoes, you could expect to receive between $3 and $5 per pound.
Additionally, blueberry bushes are dormant in the winter and are very resilient when it matters most so no need to worry too much about frost damages!
Final Thoughts
Of course, this list is a general overview of which fruit trees tend to be the most profitable.
The differentiator depends on your local climate, how much area you use when planting, what the crop looks like every year, and then even supply and demand for the specific fruit species to your area.
If you are looking to turn your backyard, greenhouse, or even a small farming operation into a profit, fruit trees are a great choice!
Apples, peaches, strawberries, blueberries, etc. are pretty simple to grow, and certainly can make you a little, if not a lot of, extra cash for each harvest season.