Hello friends, this season I found my pot grown figs are less tasty than my in ground grown
figs. I narrow it down to more watering for my pot grown ones than those in the ground.
There was no need to water my in ground ones. Also, I did not fertilize my in ground trees.
Currently I am holding out water volume for my Genovese Nero and I can tell the tree is
telling me "give me a drink". Reason for holding back water volume is I have figs ripening
on my Genovese tree.

paully22,

I confirm! My conclusion is also the same, the in ground tastes much better. I am not sure if it is the water quantity or not though, I water my in ground trees too (the last rain before todays was 4 months ago, I must water them).
I was thinking about the "why", and came up with a different reason.
It is a consistency of the environment and more nutrients. The in ground moisture, temperature, sun exposure are much more stable. The figs grow and swell gradually while the pots may become too dry, then too wet, then too hot, then you fertilize them, etc.. The stress is there for sure. 
All this is reflected in the figs quality at the end.

Hi paully22,
What size are your pots ?
In pot, if you don't master the water/moisture presence in the pot, the figs will drop or not ripen properly ( half ripe and half corky for instance).
In ground, if a rodent takes care of the roots ... the tree would as well loose its leaves. In ground with too much die-back, you don't get the brebas ...
I have trees in a mixed environment -80 liters trashcan buried in the dirt - and the trees respond good to that situation - except that they can miss some water and I have two that lost leaves and one dropped some maincrops ...

I have my biggest in ground, that is making smaller figs than her daughters that are in 80 liters trashcans .
The biggest difference being that the bigger gets a bit less sun ( for sure less direct sun on the figs as the tree is shadowing herself ), and that the bigger is in clay but my 80 liters are mainly compost ...
So I'm still searching for the best solution ...

One might consider a 3rd category of growth environments to be SIPs.  With SIPs you can keep the water pretty much constant, even moreso than in the ground.  Then again, in-ground might still taste better for other reasons...

I think there is more to it than just water.  Yes excess water can make some figs watery but that is only part of it.  Not only is there a difference in fruits from pot culture to in ground the area of the country the plant is in ground will make a difference.  I know tomatoes grown in the south are not nearly as good as tomatoes grown in the north.  If it works that way for tomatoes why not figs?  

Yes Wills, that's why I mentioned on another thread that I like tomatoes with a slight acid kick, being from NH I grew up with this type of tomato and I feel that it's all about the soil plus a few other factors. Now in FL, most grown in sand are slightly bland, even in black soil seem different, so other factors are involved.

It's all in the terroir.  It applies to grapes, I can't see why it won't apply to figs.

Long after I'm gone if the Foundation gets established and this forum still exists, the next generation of fig lovers will have determined the optimum CA++ concentration and be debating the ratios of Vanadium and Antimony for the perfect fig.

I prefer the in-ground fig trees for my eating figs.  
As Kelby said its in the terroir (soil, climate, topography..).   Winemakers (and others) swear by it.  I definitely have noticed that the same fig variety from different locations have different tastes.  
I find my container grown figs are smaller, sweeter and ripen sooner but just don't have the same depth of taste as the in ground.

Paully22,
I've compared the taste of a few different cultivars potted vs in-ground (established older trees) and have found that the potted developed a more intense flavor. Of course I've fertilized my potted trees with balanced fertilizers, extra Calcium and Micro-Nutrients. I have to agree with several of the comments that water alone is not the major variable (I over water my potted trees). IMO, the growing media's mineral content is the major factor. I've been monitoring and measuring the nutrients added to my potting mix, a la Bob C's comment, after finding a fig nutrition value analysis, http://www.adrianosfigtrees.com/Tips.html at the beginning of my fig growing experience. Below is the nutrition values reorganized and listed based on mineral content.
.

Usually my in ground trees produce slightly smaller figs than the ones in pots.  RdB for example has given me the same size but that is only 1 year to compare, although this year it looks like the same result.  Dalmatie looks like it gives me bigger in ground than in pots, Niagara black will be slightly less than in pots.  Water is definitely a factor for size for some varieties, in france they have shown in well irrigated orchards col de dama will gain considerable size compared to orchards that are less irrigated or not irrigated at all.  This may not apply to all varieties though and I do not know which would affect it more or not but I am sure that the more you water in ground the larger the size.  In the Okanagan valley of Canada, they irrigate the sweet cherries but in Ontario they don't irrigate the same amount, the Okanagan needs more water because of the climate and rainfall but the Okanagan gets a much larger size.

Another thing that can impact size is the pruning of a tree, a tree that has too many fruits or flowers will also give small fruits/flowers due to resources.  

Fertilizer is another big one as Ascpete is saying, without proper nutrition, size and flavour will be compromised.  Potassium helps improve quality and flavour in fruits as well as making sure the plant can transpire/respire properly and calcium is what is needed for proper cell development in the cell walls.  If growing in a container you don't have adequate ammounts of these, you will run into problems, potassium and calcium compete and too much of one can lock the other out, although calcium tends to be harder for the plant to take up so in my opinion, erring on the safe side extra calcium would not hurt as much as too much potassium since potassium is more readily absorbed by a plant and in excess it can lock out calcium.  

Climate and soil will also produce varying results, poor rocky soils produce better grapes than rich fertile soils, sandy soils produce better trees in citrus with poorer quality fruits.  

For me, in ground trees produce better tasting figs, but I still get very tasty figs from the ones in pots, I have not put all the trees I have in pots in ground so I really cannot make an accurate statement to say they will always be better in ground, but so far it has proven true for me.  I attribute this to several factors, after the first year I don't water except for the spring for in ground trees to get the moving, unless there is a good amount of rain, I don't add as much fertilizer, but rather mix the hole with pre plant fertilizer and sparingly add fertilizer to in ground trees.  I have a sandy loam soil so it is not overly rich but it is no where near poor either and has excellent drainage.  The las is  my in ground trees tend to be planted at an older age so this also may be a factor in the taste as the tree is more mature.

My opinion may change this year as I changed my fertilizer and watering programme, I water less this year and build up the roots more with fiborous roots rather than watering all the time and having more water roots (I use a heavy soil mix).  I think this will produce a better result than I have had before so this year I may end up with better, the same or worse results than in ground, but I believe that what I have changed for my situation, will produce better results than what I have had before and will find out soon.

So many factors in crop management can make results vary from area to area as much as climate does, although Paully has a great advantage to have a climate to grow in ground larger trees with much less effort than I do so I believe this makes much better figs for him than for me.

With nectarine, apricot, and pluot it's mostly about water. Too much water leads to watery fruit with less flavor. I'd like to put table grapes in that category but can't confirm based on my experience. I tend to think water must have some effect on figs especially the big ones that to me taste watery. But with a fig like Strawberry Verte the fruit dries enough on the bush that water doesn't seem to have much effect.