Growing fruit trees in Pennsylvania can be trickier than it seems, with cold winters and unpredictable weather posing real challenges.
I’ve tried a few myself and learned that some varieties need extra attention to thrive. Knowing which trees are more high-maintenance can save you a lot of trial and error.
With the right tips, you can still enjoy a fruitful garden without all the frustration.
1. Avocado
The tropical nature of these buttery-fruit producers makes them nearly impossible to grow outdoors in Pennsylvania’s climate. Winter temperatures regularly dip below what avocados can tolerate, causing immediate damage to these sensitive trees.
Even in greenhouses across the Keystone State, they rarely produce fruit. The combination of humidity requirements and pollination challenges makes avocados a frustrating choice for Pennsylvania gardeners.
2. Mango
Trying to grow mangoes in Pennsylvania is like expecting a penguin to thrive in the desert. These tropical beauties need consistent warmth and cannot survive temperatures below 40°F, which our state experiences for months each year.
Some determined Pennsylvania gardeners attempt container growing with indoor winter protection, but fruit production remains elusive. The short growing season and lack of intense sunlight prevent proper fruit development.
3. Citrus
Lemons, limes, and oranges might brighten your kitchen, but growing them outdoors in Pennsylvania is virtually impossible. The harsh winter temperatures across the state will kill these tropical trees before spring arrives.
Container growing offers a small chance of success if you have a sunny indoor space. Pennsylvania gardeners who attempt citrus typically need specialized grow lights and humidity control to coax even a few fruits from their indoor trees.
4. Banana
Despite their grocery store ubiquity, bananas require tropical conditions that Pennsylvania simply cannot provide. These aren’t actually trees but giant herbs that need constant warmth and high humidity to produce their iconic fruit clusters.
A few ornamental varieties might survive as novelty plants in Pennsylvania gardens during summer months. However, they must be overwintered indoors and rarely produce edible fruit in the state’s limited growing season.
5. Fig
While not impossible, figs present significant challenges in Pennsylvania’s climate. The trees often survive winter but die back to the roots, requiring extensive protection methods like burlap wrapping or trench burial to preserve fruiting wood.
Many Pennsylvania gardeners report years of care with minimal harvest. Cold springs can damage early fruit set, while early fall frosts often catch the late-ripening second crop before it matures in many parts of the state.
6. Pomegranate
Those ruby-red jewels from the grocery store come from trees that struggle mightily in Pennsylvania. Pomegranates need long, hot summers to properly ripen their fruit, something our state’s growing season often fails to provide.
Winter protection is essential throughout Pennsylvania, as temperatures below 10°F damage or kill established trees. Even when the plants survive, our cooler nights and shorter summers often result in sour, underdeveloped fruit that bears little resemblance to store-bought varieties.
7. Papaya
Fast-growing papayas are completely unsuited to Pennsylvania’s climate. These tropical plants grow more like tall herbs than true trees and cannot tolerate any frost, making outdoor cultivation impossible across the entire state.
Even indoor growing rarely succeeds in Pennsylvania homes. The plants grow too tall for most living spaces, require perfect pollination to produce fruit, and need more intense light than typically available during our northern winters.
8. Olive
Mediterranean olive trees face multiple challenges in Pennsylvania’s climate. They require hot, dry summers and mild winters – essentially the opposite of our humid summers and cold winters that blanket the state from Erie to Philadelphia.
Disease pressure runs high in Pennsylvania’s humidity, with fungal issues plaguing attempts at olive cultivation. While the trees might survive in protected locations, fruit production remains extremely unlikely even for the most dedicated gardeners across the state.
9. Lychee
These delicious Asian fruits grow on trees that require tropical conditions completely absent in Pennsylvania. With zero frost tolerance and specific humidity needs, lychee trees simply cannot survive outdoors anywhere in the state.
Pennsylvania’s winter temperatures would kill a lychee tree within hours of exposure. Even greenhouse growing proves extremely difficult, as the trees need specific seasonal temperature variations to trigger flowering that are hard to replicate artificially.
10. Persimmon (Asian)
While native American persimmons grow wild in Pennsylvania, their sweeter Asian cousins struggle significantly. These trees often suffer from late spring frosts that kill blossoms across much of the state, resulting in years without fruit.
Winter damage is common throughout Pennsylvania, particularly in the northern counties. Even when trees survive and produce fruit, the short growing season means Asian persimmons often don’t fully ripen before fall frosts arrive, leaving gardeners with inedible, astringent fruit.
11. Kiwi (Fuzzy)
Standard fuzzy kiwi varieties face significant challenges in Pennsylvania gardens. The vines often grow beautifully during summer but frequently suffer winter dieback, especially in the northern parts of the state where temperatures regularly drop below their tolerance level.
Pennsylvania gardeners report frustration with inconsistent fruit production. While hardy kiwi varieties exist, the common grocery store fuzzy kiwi requires a longer growing season than most Pennsylvania locations provide, often resulting in fruit that doesn’t properly ripen.
12. Almond
Despite being related to peaches, almonds struggle throughout Pennsylvania. Their early bloom time makes them extremely vulnerable to spring frosts that frequently occur across the state, often destroying an entire year’s crop potential.
Disease pressure presents another major challenge in Pennsylvania’s humid climate. Bacterial and fungal issues that rarely affect almonds in their native Mediterranean climate become serious problems here, often leading to premature tree death despite gardeners’ best efforts.
13. Apricot
Few fruit trees break more Pennsylvania gardeners’ hearts than apricots. These early-blooming trees flower during the first warm spell, typically in March or April when killing frosts are still common across the state.
Year after year, Pennsylvania gardeners watch beautiful apricot blossoms emerge, only to be killed by inevitable spring freezes. While the trees themselves survive our winters, successful fruit production remains frustratingly rare in most parts of the state.
14. Guava
Tropical guavas have no chance of outdoor survival in Pennsylvania’s climate. These tender trees cannot tolerate temperatures below 28°F, making winter protection impossible in a state where temperatures regularly drop into single digits.
Container growing offers minimal success for determined Pennsylvania gardeners. Even with perfect indoor conditions during winter, the trees rarely produce fruit due to insufficient light intensity and the difficulty of maintaining proper humidity levels throughout our long heating season.