I thought I would share some pics of how I just completed burying my first three trees for the summer.
The first tree or the one on the left is Brunswick which is now about 4 feet tall, the center is Petite Negri about 2 1/2 feet tall and the one on the right is Hardy Chicago about 3 feet tall.

The pots are buried about 4-5 inches deep with the soil pulled up higher on the south side which will get more intense sun. I have mulched heavily with about six inches of pine straw. I have placed one inch of pelletized lime on top of the soil in each pot.

Question to those who have used this process. Do you use mulch on top of the lime or leave as is?

Why so much lime? Won't that make you PH go sky high? I put small stones on top of my pots. About 2-3 inches deep. This holds in the moisture and keeps the weeds out.

Zone 8
South West TX

bigsmile, watch this video if you haven't already.

http://www.marthastewart.com/907952/fabulous-figs

WOW...can't stand Martha Stewart but that was a fantastic video thank you Mike. I just wanna go sit there and eat figs!

They didn't have any cover on the lime.

That was a great video.. thanks for sharing.

My favorite felon.

LMAO

The video is great.... for us container growers.

Petite Negri is like RdB, Barnisotte in tree form.  NOT A DWARF!  TREE!!!  Those guys look too close to each other.  I suspect full sun will keep the PN smaller and bushier for awhile, but I don't think it will be denied...

Does someone know how did they irrigate he plants at the nursery?
i dont see any irrigators on the pots? maybe they irrigate from the bottom like Bills method?

Shah8, they are close together. My space is limited for putting the pots in the ground so I did put these close together. If they start
spreading too much I can move the Petite Negri. Do you bury yours?

Ah, mine are in the ground.  Part shade, so it's one of those that can be pretty determined to grow straight up.

Do you do any winter protection up there on the northside? I am trying to determine what I can safely put in the the ground
permanently.

none at all.  Am in an old subdivision that didn't get topsoil removed, surrounded by very tall trees and house, so turbulent or lesser wind.

 I sent you a PM

does anybody else put a 1" layer on top of lime similar to the nursery in the video?
eli

When I was in you area I owned a farm I had cattle and row crop. The soil is low ph I would put on ton per acre and raise the ph .5 of a point. Say 5.5 to 6.0. This a good thing. Yes I know that if you use potting  pine bark peat moss ect. you have a low ph. I also know lime keeps off some pest. But too much is that good?
Never found Martha to be all that smart!!!!!!!! The man with the figs has good looking plants and lots of fruit.
Here where I am not in south west TX I have a ph of around 7.5-8.0 and alot of the land out west has high ph. Not sure if I will ever need lime. Even the water is high ph. I am just asking is this correct to add this much.

Zone 8
South West TX

I dont use lime in my pots only mulch with compost...

If i can get limestone grind for free  ill use it :)

I'm going to try it with a few of mine. Those guys have been growing figs since before there was dirt so they know what they're doing. I would like to know what they put under the lime :)

Did I hear that they had shut down the nursery?

I use quite a bit of lime myself, but don't like putting it on like that. You will find out that when the lime gets wet it will harden and the water will just run off. I like working it in the soil a little and spreading it around the soil around the pot. Since your plants are going to send roots into the ground outside your pot, that ground should receive half of what you threw on top. Well, that's my 2 cents worth.



luke

Thanks everyone for all your feedback. I am like Tami, I am going to try the lime. Belliclare nursery did it for many years with great success before closing. I think
in reality the amount of lime I put on top (about one inch) is not that much. As Luke stated it will harden and form some what of a barrier. 

i used to use dolomite lime but changed last year to the granulated staff very similar to the video (was told its the same by another nursery)
i do however mix it in to the potting mix and for sure i do not use as much as they are using.....i wonder if i should use much much more or in a similar fashion....

anyone out there actually use so much as all either mix or as a 1" top layer?

Mike,
Great pictures, Thanks for posting.
I will be planting most of my older trees in ground this year, but all my 5 gallon buckets will be buried a few inches.
I have used Dolemite Limestone from the start last year, because I have been loosely following the Mittlieder method of gardening, using a "preplant mix" which consist of Dolemite Limestone-Epsom Salt-Borox(Boron). In my 5-1-1 container mix I add 1 cup of "preplant mix" initially, then add 1/2 cup of straight Limestone per month to the top of the container and mix into the top few inches only (stir). I have had very good growth and healthy looking plants.

Please keep us updated on their progress.

I enjoyed watching the video AGAIN and came up with a couple of questions. He mentioned growing figs in pots for 38 years but didn't say anything about winter protection, soil make up, or root pruning and reworking the soil mix. I know that wasn't the topic of the film but BelleClaire nursery comes up every now and then and some of you fellows remember going there. Is there any info on the soil mix used and root pruning. These may have been covered at some time in the past but I thought I'd save a long and tedious search.
"gene"

Gene, ... Link # 012 is Belleclaire  at http://figs4fun.com/Fig_Links.html  and http://figs4fun.com/Links/FigLink012f.pdf for instructions.