Amla/Indian Gooseberry is a rare fruit tree native to India.  The fruits are small and taste sour/astringent with a sweet-bitter after taste. The fruit can be eaten raw, cooked in many native indian dishes, candied, pickled, made into a syrup, etc. While the fruit may not be the tastiest ever, it's mainly used for its medicinal purposes. Widely used in Ayurvedic medicine in india and many other parts of the world. If you're into natural medicine, it's worth looking into growing your own Amla!.
 
Amla Growing Tips:
 
Best time to plant: Anytime night temperatures are at least 50F and expected to rise in the next month or so. This is going to be mid to late spring for most people.
 
Sun: Full sun anywhere in the U.S. We keep all our indian gooseberry in blasting sun all day here in the desert no problem!.
 
Winter: Frost sensitive, protect from cold wind and frost. Cold hardy to low 20F's.
 
Root system: Roots grow straight down several feet. Tap root. 
 
Growth structure: This is naturally a shrub. It can grow up to 10-20ft. Tall in ideal conditions and short in not so ideal conditions.
 
Fruiting: This tree flowers in the spring and fruits ripen sometime late summer. Those grown from seed tend to take a few years before setting flowers. Normally around 3-5 years once planted in ground. Fruiting in a pot may not happen as the tree requires maturity before fruiting. This can only happen in the ground.
 
Pollination: Bixesual flowers, you only need 1 tree to produce fruit.
 
Watering: Shallow water its first season in ground. As the tree gets older, you must deep water due to its tap root system. This tree is semi-decidious and may drop all its leaves during winter. Once this happens, cut back watering drastically.
 
Fertilization: In containers, any slow release fertilizer will work. In ground, compost and mulch is all you will ever need. No special fertilizers needed. Container Grown: Due to its root system, this plant doesn't grow well in a container long term. We recommend you to plant in the ground rather than growing it in a container.
 
Personal Growing Tip: Once you plant this tree in ground, no top growth is normal until the tree fully roots in ground. The rooting process can take 1 year+ depending on your local night temperatures. Hot=It Grows faster, Cold=It grows slower. Relatively easy to grow and unless you completely neglect it, you should have no issues growing this rare fruit tree in your yard.