Frank it definately could be a full time job. Those in the picture run east to west. These trees are just part of my collection. I have a patio of 75 trees in 5+ gallon pots, my driveway holds 10 cars bumper to bumper--I use half of the driveway for 82 fig trees plus 2 cherry trees. In front of my greenhouse, I have 36 fig trees 6 of those are in whiskey barrels, behind the greenhouse ar 28 figs in self watering pots. Adjacent to the greenhouse I have 36 figs in large pots. On my first deck I have 62 figs and 2 citrus trees. On the lower deck around the pool I have 162 fig and 4 pineapples. Around the west wall I have 56 figs. In my orchard, I have 72 figs. And I'm missing some that are not counted. All of these including those in my orchard are watered using drip irrigation -- execpt those on my decks and those in my driveway. When I get home from work, around 5 or so, I'm out check, repotting, pulling weeds, etc till it starts getting dark.
Alan, those in pots are easy for me to manage. Why? Because I can easily change the soil of the pot to correct a problem or its water or whatever. Those in my orchard are a challenge. The squirrels bite the heads off my drip irrigation trying to get water causing less water for other drippers. And some heads quick working sometime and you have to investigate why. My containers have their main water line on top of them. If something goes wrong, I can easily see the problem. Not true when the main water line is in the ground.
I have a full time job. But before I go to work, I have to get up and wander through my trees and check for coon damage and make sure the water lines are where they are suppose to be. Every day, I find one has been moved or a pot laying on its side due to coons climbing the trees trying to get to the ripe ones on top. I was picking 10 and 20lbs of figs a day weeks a go after the rains stopped. When I check the trees in the AM, I have coverup from head to toe, wear long boots and carry a long wide hoe. I was almost bitten by snakes and snapping turtles last year. So the tools protect me from them. Plus we have writing spiders. They are HUGE and are everywhere!
Some of these figs are dups like....Tacoma Violet, Hardy Chicago, Improved Celeste, Celeste, Panachee, LSU Black and a few others. I try to get 2 of everything in case I loose one. But some are single rare trees that I move indoors in November.
Eithieus, growing in the ground is complete different than growing in pots. For every fig in my orchard, I have a duplicate in a container. I've got more to plant in the ground but the wife is putting the breaks on that idea. I've made several member of this forum rich over the years by buying cuttings and trees years back. Now here's the results of those cuttings and trees. Thanks for all the comments and thanks to those whom have sold me and sent me trees and cuttings over the years.