Do you have a clay soil or a clay layer at some depth? At my place the previous owner replaced a lot of soil because at about 2 ft we had a clay layer and after a rain there was a swamp.

Usually you want to increase a pot size as a fig grows. If a container is too large, the tree cannot consume all the moisture and the roots rot

Consider pleaching... I am trying to build mine, but if you are selecting from a nursery, you may get just the right size to twist them anyway you want and have more than one variety... important that they have similar growth rate

It really depends on what area of LA you are in.  If you are in the SF Valley or eastern areas of LA, the Panache should work, otherwise I don't think you will have enough heat to make it ripen properly.  The same goes for kadota.  The VDB should work anywhere, even near the coast.  I would recommend a King, white genoa, or conadria if you are anywhere else.  They are all available from Dave Wilson Nursery and should be easy to find.

I live near the coast in San Diego and Panache and kadota would never really ripen in my yard like they would in the central valley.  Not enough heat!

I suspect you'll eventually want to replace the Black Mission with something nicer, even with a better strain of Black Mission.

If you're on the coast and you still want a honey fig, consider LSU figs, Champagne and Hollier.   Instead of Panache, I'd suggest Pastilliere, Smith, or JH Adriatic.  

Wanting figs RIGHT now is probably not the wisest thing to do.  However, it's a pretty easy mistake to fix.  I'd strongly suggest that you use an alternative nursery for more flexibility for variety.  After all, you can buy black missions, kadotas, etc, at the store.  You can't buy Violet de Bordeaux or some of the more premium figs, though.  

If I might be a nosy, bratty, know-it-all...Unless you love citruses, I suggest you ditch some of them.  You, my friend, can grow cherimoyas, and can experiment with Mangos, like Pickering, which can be kept small.  Blood oranges are nice, but so are the best varieties of white sapote and sapodillas, and hey, maybe a really oily avocado!  You'll also help isolate the citrus you really like from all of the nasty diseases going around.

Yes, like padsfan says, depends on how much heat you get.  If you're in a warmer area, I wold definitely chose a Panache.  I'm a little confused about your comments "only in 5 gallon".  Are the other trees being bought in larger containers?  Most of us start our new figs from cuttings.  buying a tree in a 5 gallon pot right now should have it producing fruit for you this year.  You should probably get at least 50 figs to make your family proud! :)

Welcome to the forum, you will end up getting them all anyway :) just a matter of time.

jujigirl, welcome to the forum. Cant help you with the fig choices but here is what I do for ants when I have them. I use Tanglefoot and a piece of duct tape similar to this.


https://www.google.com/search?q=tanglefoot&client=firefox-a&hs=fjR&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&imgil=c7pDcFHMv_7f-M%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcRy3Ddu9giVtBcmYqrQStvnDhS3sHIq6rAMr0j8eSK2pRxKf-39EQ%253B560%253B505%253B7_RKSb8oI_E4ZM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.gypsymothalert.com%25252Flarge_ducttape.html&source=iu&usg=__099XGFi54mA6snxpeuydOcnOhb0%3D&sa=X&ei=nJYEU7PzFsOg2AX9lYD4Cg&ved=0CG4Q9QEwBg&biw=2560&bih=1209&dpr=1#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=c7pDcFHMv_7f-M%253A%3B7_RKSb8oI_E4ZM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.gypsymothalert.com%252Fgimages%252Fduct_tape_560.gif%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.gypsymothalert.com%252Flarge_ducttape.html%3B560%3B505

thank you all! Everyone is so nice on this forum, I love it. :)

I'm in Eagle Rock/Highland Park so i'm far enough east that we get a LOT of heat. And yes, the trees I was looking at were all in 15 gallon (with the exception of the panache), but i'm now seeing how fast figs grow and am excited to get started with some cuttings. And yes, I absolutely agree I need to find some alternate nurseries for the more interesting figs...and was actually realizing the black mission was probably an impulsive/not thought out buy as I was planting it. lol. I agree I need the ones I can't find in the store, so am definitely gonna go with VdB and Panache, and then will be on the hunt for good cuttings to start for next year. Part of our driveway isn't used and we have tomatoes lining it and they thrive, so I'm thinking that might be a good Fig Land. :)

And Shah8, trust me, I've thought about pulling some of the citrus - they were all here when we bought the house, and there are some towards the back of the yard that tend to get neglected and not produce much...BUT, we have a giant eucalyptus back there too, and we have problems getting anything else to thrive back there (hence us putting figs in containers back there), so leaving the citrus seemed better than struggling with a tree whose sad demise might break my heart. But who knows, if they get scraggly enough looking they might be coming out!

So for this far inland, which would be a good honey fig? I'd love to be on the lookout for one. :)

jujigirl, Welcome to the forum from Riverside County!  Like you, many members here, including me have lots of other fruit trees besides figs, and it's so nice to be able to go out and pick a lemon when you need it.  My VdB had a couple figs it's first year, and now that it's (they..I have 2) are 4-5 years old, the figs are much tastier and of course, there are more of them.  My first Vdb somehow snaked it's roots out of the pot and into the ground and we didn't notice.  It was a pretty big tree.  We just moved it to our new property, so it will have a set back for sure.

Have fun collecting and eating figs!

Suzi

Thanks Suzi! I was told that might happen, that the roots might break free and bust the barrels. I guess I'll see how that goes. I'm seriously dreaming about figs now.
Oh, and here's some more inspiration.... 

Welcome to the forum!  VdB and Panache are the hands down winners.  You have chosen wisely.  Jon still has cuttings for sale here but you might want to wait until he puts out his revised list as a lot of varieties on the old list are sold out.  I live in MO.  Last year I brought my 5 gal Panache in to my grow room in March and I had figs by the end of July.  We had a cold May so you should do much better.  You will need to fertilize them when in pots to get good results.

Welcome! I was once like you, thought a fig tree or 2 would make me happy. But with in that one year, I had like 20 varieties started! LOL! Hang around here long enough, you will be like the rest of us!

Thank you! Alright. Let's just say I were to try and get 4 more from Jon. :) which would you guys recommend? I know the updated list isn't out, but just wish list ideas in case he has them. Definitely want one that tastes like honey for my little boy.

Funny about the 3 year old.  My 3 year old son is just starting to try dried figs, but he doesn't really like them.  I am hoping that he will come around when I have some fresh figs to offer.  But he better be fully potty trained if he starts loading up on figs :)

 Zidi should be an easy enough fig to come by.  Remember, you should have some access to the fig wasp, and Zidi is very well though of, especially as a large fig.  There are a lot of high quality honey figs developed at UCR that never got wide acceptance for one reason or another, like 278-128 (large fig with subtle notes), 153-7 and 153-17, 337-2, 309-B1.  Some new ones like Sequoia and Sierra.  I get the sense that the latter two are primarily for market fit rather than flavor per se.  The standard honey fig for the home garden is probably Excel.  There are also the Malta figs with the molasses/sugar taste, such as O'Rourke, Improved Celeste (random variants not chosen to be named O'Rourke, but people still liked), LSU Tiger... 

Jujigirl, just an note about Panache, it is only a 1-crop fig and as others have said needs a LOT of heat to ripen. It's well worth it though, one of my favorite figs. Welcome to the forum.

jujigirl,

In the Eagle Rock/Highland Park area you are not limited by anything, you have the perfect no-winter climate. 
A lot of rooting suggestions on the forum is more applicable to the colder regions of the country (like cups with perlite, humidity bins, growing lights, etc), you can simplify all that to rooting first and planting in 1 gal pots next keeping in some shade for a couple of weeks (just no overwatering!).
Especially now, when every day is 80F at least :)

A suggestion: many people in the LA area grow fig trees. In June/July, take a slow walk/driving in the neighborhood, you will find gazillions of super nice figs (many unknowns). Take a cutting by asking first and you would not need to buy a cutting in your life any more (and all other members of the forum will be super jealous :)
After that, every time you are on a new street, your eyes will be in a constant hungry search for those characteristic fig leaves. Do not worry, you do not need to call a doctor (btw, they will not help, it is too late :D ).

Ok, not buying is not realistic … forget that 

Hi jijigirl, welcome to F4F forum. I can tell we have yet one more fig enthusiast, you are signing up for a world of fun;)
Love the picture you just posted, classic!

or

You guys are amazing. I love it! I'm already scoping our my front yard for places for fig trees. (I'm assuming even in barrels I should not plant them next to the house b/c of their roots? they're pretty invasive, right?)
And Aaron - thank you! It's nice to know you're in LA so I can ask you questions if need be. And rcantor, this list is awesome. I'm going to make some breakfast and look them all up. :) Greenfig, I'm totally going to start stalking fig trees. In fact, we have a family friend about 10 minutes from us with a front yard full of about 20 of them, so I'm going to write her to see what she has and if she wants to share any cuttings. WOOOOOHOOOO I CAN'T BE STOPPED!

Okay, here's a question - watering in a container. Do I keep it moist? Water every few days/2 days in 80 degree weather? I'm used to tomatoes in containers and for those you actually don't water that often (unless it's really hot) and I often use a temp gauge, but I don't want to do that to the figs b/c I'd worry I'd hurt their roots. Please let me know if there are any tricks to know when it's time for water. Thank you!

Here's a thread where various forum members have shared their data on dates of ripening for various varieties in various parts of the country.  Since Jon is also in southern Cali it would make sense to look at what he has posted in particular.

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Ripening-order-2858750