I am trying to devise a growing plan for the 2015 growing season. In the past I have had some success growing a brown turkey fig in a container. Last year I tried a Peters Honey in a container with limited success. Figs developed but never ripened. I am think of a game plan changer. I would like to plant the trees in the ground in the spring and in the fall dig them up, trim the root ball and repot to bring in for the winter. It is my belief that Mother Earth is the best growing vessel for all plants, but does the yearly planting, trimming and repotting hurt the trees. This would also allow me to plant different plants not suited for my zone. Opinions and suggestions please.

Some people just bury the pot.  Then the tricky part is probably getting to the roots below the pot to cut them in the fall.  I've heard of a guy who grows in ground and every winter pulls the tree out with a backhoe and brings in a barn or something.

Don't remember who but like this idea...

Plant in five gallon bucket.  The bucket has holes cut out in the sides at the very bottom but bucket bottom is kept intact and buried a few inches.  The roots can go out into the earth during growing season and are easily severed when digging up to bring inside over winter.  

I grow just about everything in containers.  Being in Zone 10B, I don't have to worry about wintering, but the containers better let me control the soil and nutrients.  If your trees were not fruiting in the containers, it's possible that you were giving them too much Nitrogen which will cause a lot of foliage, but inhibit fruit growth.  If you still have that BT in a container, I'd try cutting back the Nitrogen and upping the Phosphorous and Potassium, along with making sure they have a full suite of micro-nutrients (I add rock dust to the soil mix) and see what happens.

I live in Louisiana. My neighbor grows all her nice ornamental plants in pots with holes and she barries them in her flower beds and pulls them up every winter. She has been doing this for 20 years. They also look very nice and get bigger. I do not know if she up pots. She uses the same process that Charlie described but she baried the whole pot because she wants it to look like its in the ground and,they are not 5 gallon so this is a good idea. Best of both worlds.

So planting in pots seems to be the way to go.
Should I mulch over the pots and would drip irrigation be recommended?

Thanks for the imput. Anymore ideas welcome!

Far as mulch, I tried pine bark and crushed oyster shell this past summer.  The oyster shell keeps moisture in way better and adds calcium plus other minerals from the sea.  Still have not had to water garage kept trees with the shell mulch.  It's about an inch thick.  I read it's common they pile oyster shells around fig trees where there are fig trees at coastal areas.  Some of the long time members had discussions here in years past.