I have been thinking.  Of course that is not proof of anything, but I want to run this past you all.  There are two principles here that I've seen discussed.

The first is potting up; another post asks if a rooted cutting may be immediately moved to a large pot.  Why not?  We put small plants in the ground, MUCH larger than a pot.

The second is the idea that we must not allow perched water.  Now, I will agree that roots do not do well in saturated soil, but how about this:

I have a "Grow Box" purchased for tomatoes.   It is essentially a pot with a couple of soil-filled tubes that extend into a water reservoir below.  The tomatoes are planted in the top pot and the soil-filled tubes wick water upward into the root zone.   In fact, the tomatoes send roots all the way down into the water.  I do not water the tomatoes, I only add water to the reservoir below. 

Suppose that we made such a pot for figs?  My idea is to place a stand in a barrell cut down to about fourteen inches.  I will then cut a six inch hole in the bottom of a large pot, place a six inch perforated tube in that hole, set the whole thing on the stand in the barrell and fill the pot and tube with potting mix.  A rooted fig will then be planted in the pot.  I will then have what amounts to a "grow box" for a fig.  This seems to me to be a logical extension of the "pot in pot" method.

Any comments?  Has anyone done this?  Any suggestions or alterations?  I can see at least one negative; the plant will be hard to move.
Ox

Hi OX,
its always good to read about new ideas.
I have never had a problem putting a small plant in a huge pot i also hear this is against the norm but i have always done it this way as its much easier for me ( less work )  ; )
Also when i root prune the large pots the bottom 1/4 is usually damp compared to the rest of the soil but the roots always looked bright and have a nice diameter to them although they do get cut during my root pruning.
Please let us know in future how your idea works out .

Ox,

See http://figs4fun.com/bills_figs.html

Hi Oxankle and all,
I've been reading both forums for the last two or three months to learn as much as possible about fig growing . Oxankles idea is a great  one I wanted to chime in on because homemade sub-irrigated containers aka self watering containers is something I've been using for veggies for 4 or 5 years with wonderful results.
The only sun available at home is pretty much the driveway, so I have about 75 of the 5 gallon bucket version sub-irrigated containers. Here is a site that has plans for making them :http://greenroofgrowers.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-make-two-bucket-sub-irrigated.html
My intention is to use them eventually for the fig cuttings I bought from Herman2 on ebay.
I  made two of the containers shown on the forum link for Bills Figs that Jon mentioned and took them down to Florida to plant figs for my parents as well as putting two other figs in the ground for them as suggested by Bill.

drivewayfarmer,
Excellent instructions for the (cheap/easy) 5 gallon self-watering buckets!
I will definitely do/try a couple next year.
I also intend to buy 1 (or 2) from Bill, which are bigger pots.

Welcome to this great F4F/FF and thanks much...

Another excellent link on this topic is Global Buckets (http://www.globalbuckets.org/) by two kids....They show just how simple it is and how interesting a 'little' science - via their diatribes on automatic watering and siphoning - can be!

JD

Well!  How nice to know that someone has already tried and proved the idea workable. 

I would improve on his design a bit with my fourteen inch outer barrel and a potted fig sitting just inside it. (I will have to do some research on the height limits for wicking; the wicking effect may fail above a certain height)  By doing it my way we can dispense with all the little pieces of PVC tubing and wire and burlap.  It also makes it easy to put water down into the reservoir, and all that is needed is a drain hole a half inch or so below the support that holds the fig pot. 

Also, notice that the roots did not seem to grow down into the water; the last two or three inches of dirt above the burlap appeared to have no roots; perhaps too wet? 

A final thought is that the pots he uses are almost identical in size to the black or orange pots which come filled with cattle and horse feed. 

I would like feedback concerning his insistence that the crown of the fig be above the rim of the pot. Anyone else do that and the plastic covering?  Not very aesthetic, though I understand his reasoning.

Now to go look at the grow pots made of five gallon buckets.

Come on, Springtime!!!

Thanks for posting that link JD. I hadn't seen that one before. Love the colander idea .Great site with a wonderful focus.
Gorgi ,Thanks for the welcome. I think the thick plastic barrels that Bill uses are great and meant to  last 20 years, probably would be the best way to go for me.  If I had space to store them for the winter I would put any figs I grew in them. What is good about the 5 gal. buckets is they are easier for me to move around with a handcart and I can fit more in storage. My plan is to actually use 6 gallon buckets as the interior bucket for greater soil volume. Of course I have to get my cuttings rooted first. My experience is really with veggies Here is another site with sub irrigation info:http://www.insideurbangreen.org/diy-sub-irrigation/
Oxankle if your water reservoir is too open to the air there might be a need for mosquito control .
Best to all.

Farmer:

Somehow the Skeeters did not find my grow box, and it is totally open.  It has a cut-out and a lip in the side of the reservoir for filling.

Oh, I should add:  The kids with the buckes have given me an excellent idea for improving my own design.  Instead of sawing up a piece of PVC to make the wick tube, all I have to do is cut a hole and insert a 45 oz soft drink cup with some slits cut in the side as I do for cuttings.  The cup is tapered, it will fit a hole tightly enough that no potting mix can be lost, they are much cheaper than PVC and they are plenty long enough to fit a deep reservoir.  Smart kids.

Now; how many of you plant your figs so that the crown is higher than the lip of the tub?  
Ox
ox

I've never made it to Bill's place, but I have visited an old timer who claims to have given Bill his first figs...  Bill's system appears to be an improvement on that of the old dude....  The crown-above-the-rim concept appears to be one of these improvements.... To the best of my understanding, the biggest advantage is to allow for rain water to run off rather than running into the pot.... the idea of self watering being that the plant ONLY gets water from below, and they only lose moisture through foliar respiration...  That said, I built two of these pots myself and planted my figs at normal level... I mulched very heavily to retain as much moisture as possible...