Hello everyone. I'm looking to purchase some new pots for my cuttings that I have growing. Should I start with one galllon pots and repot as needed, or should I purchase pots large enough that they can live in for a few years before root pruning? Also, does anyone have any recommendations on where to get quality pots for a decent price! They don't have to be fancy, just durable as I need quite a few. I currently have about twenty cuttings going with roots, and my pepper collection which was limited to 20 turned into 45, so I'm in deep. Peace, chad

Sorry, I forgot to mention that my figs are planted in deli quart containers and they are filling up with roots very fast . What a great problem to have!

Go to # 5 Gro Pro for your plants in quart containers. You can get them at many grow shops like the Grow Room in Nyack. Hydro Girl Lindsey has got a stack of them 6 feet tall. I'm sure most grow places have them.

Chad,

You will hear differing opinions. I have moved directly from cups to one gallon pots and five gallon pails. In both, I always put rocks on bottom and use 60/40 perlite/mg potting soil. I have had better success moving to one gallon than five gallon. I now only move to one gallon. I would put success somewhere between 60-75%. Moving directly to five gallon was somewhere around 50%. Admittedly, I am getting better at it, using perlite, not over watering, etc.... Or so I think.

Steve

Too big too fast usually equals excessive moisture in the pot which can greatly slow growth. Up potting is a pain, but levels are required IMO. I would go to 1 gallonish. Go to your local nurseries and gardenshops, they usually have a variety of trade pots for free in their rcycling or garbage and are glad to be rid of them if you ask.

I like this place:  http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/ 

Chad-

Try: "Lexington Container Company": for assorted sizes, and cheap tubs.  Home Depot also sells plastic storage tubs,  and the 18 gallon tubs will work very well.  You could grow a very nice 5ft -7ft tree in this size container.  Just root prune every 3-5 years, and replant tree back into the same tubs, using a fresh charge of growing medium.  I've used them for years.  Mount the tubs onto some dollies and roll them around, for hernia-free gardening.


Frank

1 gallon is a good size to start in my opinion.  I have planted from 1 gallon into 30 gallons with no problem, but you need to make sure the weather is warm if you will transplant in such big steps so make sure you medium does not remain soggy and cold, this will hurt your roots and make them lazy.  Big steps like this usually make the following year a huge leap of growth as it has a lot of root mass to produce shoots from.  My norm is from 4 inch pot to 1 gallon to 3 gallon to 18 or 30 gallon.  Those blue barrels work well as pots and last longer than the 18 gallon tubs you can get a big box hardware stores.

once a cutting has a good roots. i like them to be in the 1 gal for sometime to "harden" the roots. they can stay in 1 gal for 1 yr or more. i can still bareroot them to check if roots are choking the tree when moving them to large containers. most of them do not have that issue. but some of them, i had to cut some roots off since they were starting to circle the cutting below the soil. most of the roots are feeder roots inside the larger roots circling around the edge of the container. 

once they have been in the 1 gal for awhile, they don't seem to have much issue with watering. i use hose to fill up the pot few times to make sure they drain out at the bottom. most of the cuttings that die on me are ones that didn't have good root growth. but i figured out how to work that one out this winter.

Chad,
I would have to agree with the 1 gallon pots first, but I keep mine in 1 gallons for only a few months (about 3). As soon as the 1 gallon pots fill with roots, but before they become root bound, they are transferred to 5 gallon buckets. IMO, you will get much better and faster top growth in a short season if you follow that simple up potting procedure, because it increases the root mass (branching).
Check your local Plant Nursery, my local nursery usually has used 1 and 3 gallon nursery pots cheap, last year they were $0.20 each if I purchased 250. Good Luck.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm gonna experiment a little and pot some in one gal, some in two gal, and some in five gallon. What's the deal with the hydro stores online that sell gro pro pots? They sell for around two bucks online for a five gallon but they wanna charge me like 40 bucks for shipping for twenty pots. That's nuts.

If you're not expecting them to stay for a long time in 1 gallons you can often go to landscapers (or call them) and ask for 1 gallon pots, some are nice and give them away.  I have also had luck at grocery store "nurseries" asking for pots that they just give me and my whole store of 1 gallon pots came from landscapers leaving about 75 on the side of the highway.

Ascpete, If I up pot after 3 months of being in a one gallon, will the summer heat kill the trees or stress them out. I never did this before with figs, it just seems like with such big leaves they might suffer from stress if transplanted in June or July. Thanks Chad

Chad,
You should not have a problem if you do not disturb the roots. Transplant like you would a seedling plug. That's why its important to transplant before it becomes root bound.

BTW, I've bare rooted 1 gallon root bound containers in a water bath (causes minimal root damage) and up potted in summer without any major setbacks, the plants just have to be places in the shade for a week to recover.

1g to 10g same season then if figs are excellent tasting
they go into biggest container when the time comes.
This happens anytime of the season as they are slipped out of pots without disturbing roots when sun is low.

Bought some heavy thick 30g containers from HD years back that wish could get more of
as i never seen them again thier just the thinner ones which work well .

Also bought some on sale which were cheap and bright orange without thinking, they were a somewhat hard type plastic and cracked badly when moving them into storage.
Never again. !

I'm going to bags. Air pruning seems like a big step up from sliced bread. I buy the cheap weed barrier from Dollar General and split it in half (18"), have my wife sew it into tubes, cut to 12", then hand sew one end. I take wide stitches around the edge and gather it in to where I stitch a 1" wide strip of Pellon Thermolam TP970 in for a wick in the center. That gives you a bag just over 6" dia. I'll post pictures when I've figured out how to post pictures.

Thanks again for the responses, much appreciated!