what type of soil mix is best for me to put around my new 6 foot fig tree?

Is this soil mix good for fruit producing?

George,

That should be good for a while.  It all depends on what kind of soil you have.  Our landscaper had us dig a large hole, fill it with water and see how long it takes to drain.  Figs are not acid loving.  They like alkaline soils that drain easily.  You may have to amend your soil to correct certain conditions.

Remember they don't like wet feet, so if your soil drains slowly, you should probably put a layer of gravel at the bottom of the hole for faster drainage.

As your tree grows and becomes established, the roots will find what they need, but at first it's good to have everything draining well.  That looks like good potting mix to me!

Suzi

thanksfor

I use the same soil principles for figs as my other trees. The only caveat is that figs care less than most other fruit trees about soil conditions. I get the feeling that they don't mind subpar soil (not promoting neglect!) and are rather like weeds.

The most important thing in my opinion is the draining. BTW if you get a good amount of rain, it's a great idea to plant it in full sun + on top of a slope/incline to have all the water wash down away from it if you have that option. The draining as far as I'm concerned is important for fruit flavor. You don't want figs ripening while water logged. That is for sure.

People tend to be overly critical of their yard's soil almost to the same extent people tend to overestimate the amount of sunlight their yard receives :). Not all clay is equal and most is actually good enough--and packed with nutrients. The number 1 mistake you can do is to dig out a hole of all clay and put in 100% well draining soil. This is referred to as the clay jar effect, where the clay surrounding the tree a couple feet away locks in all the water into that nicely draining soil. Basically you've now created a sponge where all the water goes and stays! Also the roots will eventually hit your native soil--especially figs they seem to send roots everywhere and far out for me. So if you spoil them will all this nice soil to stay in for the first year or two then they may get shocked a bit when they eventually have to acclimate to the somewhat crappier native soil.

Here is my bottom line way I generally do it although you may have really bad soil it's possible this is a bad idea if that's the case but I doubt it--if you have the typical clayish soil in yards around my parts (red is generally good, white clay is generally not so good) then:

I dig a hole, mix in 50% regular old top soil with 50% native soil back in. That's it.

Lately I haven't even been amending with 50% top soil. But that seems to be a winning, simple, and cheap formula for 90% of my fruit trees. Instead of 50% top soil, I'll use 50% peat moss for blueberries. And if it's something like a fig or pomegranate I believe aren't as finicky about soil conditions--I'll sometimes just forget any amendment all together.

To amend the soil in the long term, apply a couple inches each of compost and mulch every season and within a few seasons--gradually--the soil will become better.

the best thing you can do is to get your soil tested. Go to your local ag extension office and get the kit(it's a bag). Follow the instructions and submit to your state's ag college. The last thing you want to do is add nutrients that you don't need and could do harm to your soil. With test data you can proceed and do the right thing for your yard and your trees.

I am new here and to growing figs I got this yearling plant last year and as you can see my soil is about as bad as it gets. I just dug the hole and mixed in some old composted mulch with what was dirt after I removed the rocks and shale. Planted last September this is a Celeste