Hello everyone.

Wow! You folks have a great resource here.

I'm retired and I'm just a beginner with gardening. I would like to thank everyone for for the huge amount of work that you have done.

 If I could be permitted to ask a question. I bought three Brown Turkey and one Black Mission trees from the big box home improvement warehouse. These are a couple of feet high. They appeared to be in great shape, many nice leaves, no spots or rust. I took the trees out to plant them and noticed the roots were covered with small BB sized, 1/16th to 1/8th inch, 2 or 3 mm, translucent light green orbs. Of course I planted them. Mixed up about 50/50 peat and earth. The pots that they came in were very wet. I did not water them till the next day.

 Should I pull these up and destroy them? Should I treat the area they were planted in if after wards?

 I thank everyone for tolerating an amateur.

I do not know how to treat the area, but pulling them out and returning them to the store you can get your money back. At the store you can alert them about the infestation and there is a chance for them to stop spreading this plague.

Welcome to the forum.

Most likely those " translucent light green orbs", are the slow release fertilizer that tree companies put in pots as a source of nutrients for the plant. Google 'Root Knot Nematode' to see how RNK looks like. If you pull out a RNK infected plant out of its pot you'll see a bunch of white-brownish colored galls (small or large) attached to the roots. And if those plants were infact infected with RNK, by planting them in your property or garden you have infected your garden as well. Dig one of those plants out and take a few pics from its roots, post them here so we can ID what those "translucent light green orbs" are.

Here are couple of RNK photo from google.

Navid.

You sure they are not slow releasing fertilizer?

Pete

my thought is the same as Pete's.  Also, they could be snail eggs.

RKN nodes are swelling from inside of the root. Those galls will be the only visible evidence of RKN below the soil line.

~james

 Thanks, I'll take one out and take some photos.

 The roots did not appear to be infected.

 I guess it could be fertilizer. Three days after planting and the leaves now look terrible. I'll take some photos.

 Sandman

 Hello folks,

I have attached some photo's of the Black Mission in question.

A few days ago this plant was beautiful.

To restate my concerns.

 What are the small yellowish orbs? When you squeeze them between your fingers...I know, I know...they... uhh...act like a grape would. Whew!

 Is RKN present?

 Is this the infamous rust?

Again I apologize for getting drawn into this fig thing...however I'm afraid I may be around awhile.

they look like slow releasing fertilizer to me.

pete

edit: as to your leaves.. not sue what's causing it. at first i thought i might transplant shock.. or too much sun.. but my trees when i repot usually wilt, not turn brown.

Bill,
I don't see any signs of RKN.  I have slow release fertilizer that looks exactly like what I see in your photos.

As far as the leaves turning brown, it is most likely due to some sort (or combination) of shock as the result of the transplant.  For example, if when they were at Big Box they were in a shady location for a long period of time, then you took them home and put them in full sun, this will burn the leaves.  Or perhaps when Big Box got them they did the same to them?  It could also be moisture related, meaning too much or too little. 

 Thank you guys! I think I'll baby this BM for awhile, put it in it's own special container.

 I really appreciate the work and help from everyone. I hope to be able to return the favor one day.

 Bill

Your leaves have been sun burnt try to acclimatize them slowly to full sun but try to leave them a bit in a shadier part with a bit of full sun( 2-3 hours) then gradually over about a week or so into full sun.

Hi Bill! I did the exact same thing with one of my new fig trees. All my other figs I have aquired are still asleep so putting them in full sun was no biggy. But I had one little fig tree that had leaves and a couple brebas on it. I had to untangle the roots and then I put it in full sun with the rest of them. That was too much for it to handle. The leaves and brebas starting turning brown and most of them have fallen off now. I should have put that one tree in the shade (filtered sun) for a couple weeks - newbie mistake. I now have it in the shade. Most of the leaves and fruit are gone, but new leaves are starting to emerge. It's starting to forgive me ;)

Next to last picture shows fertilizer. Last picture shows what happens at big box stores.
Plants get delivered via truck then grouped together outside store and watered by employee's with water hose sprayer and water the whole plant leaves and all .
Your seeing the effects of it all and no big deal long as plant has decent root system.
They bad leaves will eventually fall and new ones should be fine if proper care is given.

 I will certainly put it the shade for awhile.

Thanks for the info.

Yep, that is not RKN. It is slow release fertilizer like the type in Miracle-Gro. The leaf does not look like rust. Martin is spot on about the handling at the big box store. If you were to return to the store and they still had stock from that shipment you would probable see the same thing on their leaves. Bill welcome to the forum and welcome to the world of figs.

Welcome to the forum, Bill! Good luck with your trees.