Bought this Brandy fig from Mr. Robbins about 2 years ago.  This is the first year that it has quite alot of figs on it but within the past 10 days the leaves are starting to turn yellow and falling off the tree.  Does anyone have any idea how i should treat the tree.  thanks

Have you repot this tree lately.

Picture 2

Have not repotted.  It has been in the same pot since i received it from Mr. Robbins.

looks like the leaves are older ones and about to dropped. we had very strong wind few days ago, some of my older leaves turned yellow.. then dried up, and dropped. as long as the new leaves coming out looks good, i'm sure it's nothing to worry about.. have you check that the trees are getting enough water, and not being over watered?

I have the double 6 gallon bucket method where i have been botton watering and i do not think they are getting over watered. I have a weep hole where the excess water runs out.  With this hot weather all my trees are really sucking up the water on a daily basis.

Angelo if rootbound the water will go around the outside of rootball mostly and not penetrate it enough then right out the drain holes.

Thats " if " it is rootbound.

A tree rootfeeder which one attaches a hose to it enables a rootbound plant to get penetrated with its rod and then watered until dormant season when tree can be rootpruned.

I bought mine many years ago when i planted every tree myself on property and used it to deep water them when needed.

The neighbor next store said to me one day not in mean way when i was knee deep in a hole planting a semi large tree back then -
"You Italians always made good ditch diggers."

I now been useing it for my Hc tree i planted inground this season.

martin,

i'm sure my trees are rootbound and i need to do something about it. i'm just not willing to go through what i did last year. i'll poke holes in the soil with long stick and water it nicely. i have been meaning to get that copper pipe and saw it in angle like james has been saying. that would be a better idea.

It looks a little water stressed mixed with either a little FMV or a little rust.

There is a little thing online you can buy called a "soil sleuth."  Google it.  Best thing I ever bought.  You stick it in the soil, twist, and pull up, and dirt gets caught in the notches.  You can easily determine if the soil is too wet or bone dry!  If you can't push the thing in easy, you KNOW you are rootbound!
Suzi

I just went on line at Amazon and bought a Ross Rootfeeder.  In pulling back the plastic on top of the bucket roots at the top near the trunk and dirt dry.  I drove iron stakes around the tree pulled the stakes out and filled with water and moved out of the hot sun.  Looks like water stressed.  Iron stakes were a little hard getting thru the roots.  Would i be able to repot to a larger wiskey barrel or do i have to wait until it goes dormant?

I think it is rust. If so, re-potting won't help.

RUST!
What is it good for?

Angelo, Ross root feeder is one i have .
Now if my tree i would wait until dormancy to root prune and then put into container you mention.

In mean time after you hook up to hose you push rod in a little at a time and let it water until you reach center of bucket (rootball) with rod all the while pushing in and backing the rod out a tad bit .
Be careful not to bend the rod, you will know if you bump a big root just reinsert a bit over more.
You do this all around the bucket slowly and at angles with valve wide open.
After a while you will feel bucket get quite heavy as rootball gets a good soak this is what is needed.

You will have to do this for rest of season.

The bad leaves will certainly drop and you may see some more appear as well cause when we look at fig tree we are looking what happened in the past showing in the present but tree will live for better times.

Oh and
Don't forget to turn valve off before you pull rod out or you get wet.
Dont ask how i know this.   ; )

Martin.....You didn't!   HEHE

I think it's water stress as well. I try to move my trees up to larger pots before they get too root bound. If they do get root bound and I am concerned, I will repot now, just don't disturb the roots. You can always root prune at a later date when dormant. Moving it now to a larger pot should prevent it from drying too fast. I've never used a root feeder or whatever it is called, so can't comment on that, I'm just giving you another option that works for me.

Cecil um yes shh .  ; )

BLB, maybe with white type of cultivar.  ; )
if my tree and i move that tree to bigger pot "as is" and fill in the voids the problem persist and when watering in normal fashion the new dirt gets wet and not much else besides the outer portion of rootball similar as now .
The root feeder will sustain it till seasons ends as long as its done until the end of season.

Ok Martin...It will be OUR secret

I guess if someone don't know what he/she cant do you could root prune now
I root pruned a JH Adriatic about 3 weeks ago and now it has some beautiful leafs that weren't there at RP time, that is not to say I'm telling anyone to do it, but to say I did it.

Martin, Honestly I have never had that problem. I've had some root bound issues but never so extreme that I couldn't get water to the center of the roots. I do try to pot into larger pots once my cutting is established and then try to stay on top of it after. 

Here is one example as i could be fill a 5 gallon bucket of water put in pot and still not get deep into rootball with water it will run out the drain holes first.
Now i could fill up many 5 gallon buckets and be there all day and get it all wet eventually.

With rootfeeder this is much easier to insert deep into it and water it, but its best not to let them get this bad its only temp solution.

Iv'e learned lesson over the years to give them the best care possible but i still hate root pruning this is main reason why im so selective and try to limit the amount of plants i have and have them on rotating basis each year sorting out what i like and whats too similar etc etc.

Some fig plants can fill a 5 gallon bucket in 2 years very easily.
Even after that last picture i was still not done root pruning and was exhausted after just 1 tree.

Click to enlarge .

That does look pretty congested. 

Martin,
After you root prune and re-pot how long does it take for the tree to start making figs again? I root prune and re- potted a tree last Dec. a lot of new growth this year, no figs yet. Is this normal?

Thanks, Bugs

Noss, no X i cut good portion of bottom off.
I now use a bow saw for all my cuts and it works well for me.

Bugs , no not normal i get figs .

Angelo please tell us how your tree does this season.

While waiting for the Ross Rootfeeder I have moved the tree to my garage out from under the blistering sun and watering in the holes that i did with an iron stake.  Will keep you posted on the out come.  thanks for all the imput.

My tree has improved greatly since i have been deep watering it.  I received my Ross Rootfeeder and it has worked great.  Looks like everyone was right about the rootball being to tight and the tree was lacking water.  thanks all.