I have bunch of potted figs from last year. Most are going into their second season. Some are going into their third. Last year They quickly went from cups to 1 gallon into 3 or 4 gallon pots depending on what I had. They were sitting on ground and some did grow roots into the ground, but I did not do any up potting then. I checked tonight and from what I can see from the top size of the tree and root ball most appear to be OK for now, but what I am not sure about is if they will need bigger pots during the summer considering how fast they outgrew one gallons? Is it automatic to up pot every season until you get to the final size. Which is another question. What is the average final pot size?

These pictures are pretty much representative of what most of of potted figs look like.

This tree I picked up at the end of the season and I know it needs a bigger pot It's the one in the middle

This is going into the second season


This is a second season one to, but I put it in a larger pot last year because i was out of smaller ones. I forgot to take a pic of it in the pot. i can get it if it will help.

Here is the guidelines I used to (loosely) use.



If I remember correctly, this came from the Univ of Florida.  I used to pot in 3 gallon until about 1" caliper.  I would move up to a 12-ish gallon container through 2 inches.  I did not want containers of all sizes hanging around.  So in an effort to standardize what I was doing, I estimated each step up to be about 3 years.  I bought containers in those sizes (from rooter containers to 3.4 gallons to 12 gallons to 50 gallon, etc.)

I lost almost all of my trees in the summer of 2008 before any of them moved from the 12 gallon container.  I had a tree in the ground that I removed and put into a container (the only one still in a container).  It is just under 4" in diameter and in a 25 gallon container.  It is entirely too large for that sized container.

~james

Hi Marcus,

It's a good time to bare root and root prune vs just tossing them in a bigger pot. It will save you work later and they'll grow better too. Some of those plants are getting root bound. I was doing that all week long.

Jason

So, you root prune even in small pots when the tree hasn't even grown out of the pot? I thought root pruning was really done when the trees where in their final pot?

James that chart is helpful. Thank you. I didn't think many people went up to 50gallon pots.

There is (was?) a nursery near Houston that has (had?) a fig tree growing in a 200 gallon container.  One can control the size of their tree (and container) by managing the roots.  As I mentioned before, when I was container growing in Houston, I did not need to move my trees for winter.  Therefore, size and weight were not an issue for me.  Others make bonsais out of fig trees.

Yes, you want to do root work whenever you pot-up.  Most varieties can take root work at the end of it's first year.  Some of the root-pruning pics I've posted in the past have been taken in Dec of cuttiungs I got from UCD in March.  If you simply pot-up without removing roots/growing mix, the existing root/growing mix will become more and more constricted.  Eventually it will choke off the roots.

~james

Thanks guys, I guess I have some work to do. I really didn't think I needed to do that if the say in the same pot. So do you root prune it as usual, make sure the roots are straightened out and put it back in the same pot.

You should untangle roots, cut off dead ones, cut off any giant roots, shorten the really long roots, and check for anything bad like RKN or disease. I usually cut off about 1/4 to 1/3 of the roots. Don't worry they will grow back fast.

If the trees need to go in a larger container (the tree in the center of your first photo), go ahead and root prune and pot up.  Some of the trees in other pics look like they are in the right sized container.  If you think you might need to pot up next year, leave them alone this year.  Next year root prune and pot up.  If your trees are root bound but you think they will stay in the same container for 2+ more seasons, root-prune and put back in the same container.

One thing to add to Jason's list: check where two roots are touching to make sure one hasn't started to girdle the other (a common problem when the root ball becomes too compressed.) If one or or both is showing signs of girdling, remove.

~james

Thanks James. Honestly, I am not sure what size pots they would be in next year. In hindsight I am not really happy with my results from last year. That tree in the first two pictures I bought that way. It is supposed to be about the same age as the tree in the other pictures. I know it had slow release fertilizer mixed in and better potting mix then my trees and I did not use any fertilizer on any first year trees other then some weak MG a few times. I thought I needed to avoid that the first year. I also used cheap stuff for mix. I was thinking on top of what Jason said it might be good to replace that mix with better stuff this year. I'm only into my second year of grow figs in pots and it's still new to me. I think I am getting the concept of the tree size pot size and still root pruning. Basically, I should look at the size of the tree to judge the pot size and root prune to keep the roots growing straight and not getting root bound. Doing this will also help the tree grow and when the tree is bigger I would then up pot. Is that right?
Last year I bought a couple two year old trees about 1 1/2 gallon size bag containers and put them in two and a half gallon pots. I did not see a ton of roots when I potted them, but a few months later I kind of noticed the trees were not growing as much and I checked the pots they literally filled up the bottom of the pot with roots and I put them in bigger pots at the time. I am trying to avoid that this year.. Should root prune them to avoid having to up pot in the middle of the summer and disturb the trees if they get root bound by new root growth this summer?

One of the problems with plants from nurseries is that they are potted up without any root work.  As I mentioned above, this eventually results in the the growing mix and roots being compressed into a very hard hard mass which restricts the flow of water/nutrients up the tree.

If it were me, I would do the root work on the two trees in the first picture (the one in the center of the pic and the one in the lower right which you potted up last year) and move them into a 12-15 gallon container.  Check the root balls on the other plants to make sure none of the others are congested. 

Did any of your trees come from Cinnaminson Nursery

The first two pictures are the same tree. I took pictures of each tree in the pot and out. I got it from bills figs. The second set of pictures are a two year old tree from another forum member and the last two sets are from cuttings. I forgot to take a picture of the last tree in the pot.
I have not bought anything from any nurserys. I'm guessing this place in cinniminson is not good?

It's not a bad nursery.  I had bought some trees from them several years ago (my avatar is a pic of them with me in the car leaving the nursery).  The trees were horribly root bound.  This included a 7' tall Black Mission (it had to be older than 4 years old) in a five gallon container.  I tried to drive a chopstick into the root ball, but I could not manage to get it further than 1/2" into the growing mix.  It took longer than three hours to bare root this tree.  When I tried to water the tree, the water would run down the side of the container and out of the drain holes.  Even if I soaked the root ball, it held very little water.   That year, the tree put on very little growth.  The collective growth on all the limbs was probably less than a foot.

I bought a couple from Bill too. He uses soil from a farm down the road. It took me forever to bare-root those trees as well. Bill doesn't bare-root, he chops off the sides and the bottom of the root mass and soil. It must work because he has some pretty old trees in 20 gallon pots and they always look great.

Yeah, I have see pictues of how he does it with the larger trees and I have seen that other people do it a simlar way.
James, I guess most places just keep putting it out there until it sells and don't do much up keep. Did they have any interesting varieties?

Bill has lots of varieties, he just doesn't sell them. He does have a few gems though. If you've never been there it is worth the trip to see his mini orchard.

Yeah I went there last year towards the end of the year. He had a nice list of trees. I am going to go back again this year and maybe pick up a few more.

I personally stopped judging when a plant needs to be up-potted based on caliper, but I don't fault anyone for doing so, it's a no-brainer method that can work. 

I find it much more effective to base it on the roots.  I posted a thread on how I do things, in the event it might help someone:  http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Some-tips-on-uppotting-5390290

Just another viewpoint to share.

I remember that topic and I do reference it when I go back and read. Since this is my first winter carrying over potted figs I'm trying to do things right. A lot Of members do work on their trees before spring. I just wanted to avoid these trees gettin really root bound before I noticed then have to up pot. One or twice this summer. I guess though on figs their first few years you are up potting maybe one or twice during the growing season? Can I ask if you end up having to up pot in July for example, figs are already setting on the tree and you do some root work and disturb the root ball. The tree may be droopy for a while, but does that effect the fig crop?

Hello Marcus,
Thanks for this topic, it's very helpful. I have a concern with potting now because some of my figs are leafing out early and wondering if done now they will want to come all the way. My thinking is I would have to water well to get the potting mix pretty damp to take the air pockets out. In my mind this will make the trees think it's time to start. I think that's it's safe to do with the trees that are still well asleep but am waiting for responses from all.

luke

Now until they wake up is a good time to repot. I have to start now because I have too many to do at once. Luke you got some large trees and they are due for a big root pruning and repot. Black jack, Green Ischia NOT, Osborne Prolific, Texas Everbearing off the top of my head. Also, I like to repot or up pot plants that were uppotted mid season and not root pruned. I don't like to root prune or even loosen up the root ball in the summer during a repot. I think it is too stressful on the plant instead I wait until they are dormant and chop away.

Marcus,

Don't know if you need chunky vermiculite but I just bought a massive bag for $22 @Co op

I up-pot year round.  I can't tell you how many new roots I found in some of my coming-out-of-dormancy trees, they were generating a lot of root material while dormant.  A lot of times I've heard people indicate that "when no top growth is happening, bottom growth is exploding".  This seems to be hit-or-miss to me.

I haven't seen a lot of impact on cropping after up-potting trees with figs... but it's best to do it now, since there seem to way less varieties with good breba crops and more with great main crops.  Actually, ripping off your breba figs (as I've seen others post) can lend to the main crop setting earlier.  Again, not up north, so I've never really had to test this out.  I can ripen till early December.

Must be nice eating fresh figs in December....so jealous!

Thanks Jason, I am getting low on perlite. Thank you for the info and advice.
@ Jason (satellitehead) I guess it's not a bad problem to have if your trees grow so well you need to up pot. I'm sure to with your longer season you have up pot more often. I went through most of my figs from last year and up potted or repotted, so hopefully I didn't kill anything, but I am glad I did it. It was good to see the growth and whats going on in the pot. Now I can't wait to see how they do this year.