Took advantage of the weather today and started root pruning.  Have to do 3 or 4, but one was enough for today.

Used Fafard 52 as my base.  Still frozen in the bag even though I brought it inside for a night.

  

Wanted to use 5-1-1-1 and added extra pine bark fines, perlite and Turface to the Fafard 52.  So, trying to keep the mixture as close to 5-1-1-1 as possible, to every 10 parts of Fafard 52 I added 9 parts sifted pine bark fines, 3 parts Turface and 2 parts sifted perlite.  The mix came out very good.

Enjoyed the help of my oldest son.  Here he is sifting pine bark.

  

Before and after mixing.

  

This is my 5 year old Kathleen's Black in a Bills Figs container (not set up as SIP).  She had issues last year and I only got to enjoy a few (delicious) figs.  I now realize that her issues came from a combination of compacted soil, wet feet and a little too many roots.  Take a look at the third picture and you can see three distinct layers in that soil.  The top 2 inch (lighter color) portion was like a "root mat".  You couldn't even poke your finger through it.  The next 6 - 8 inches had lots of roots.  The soil was compacted but you could wiggle your finger through it.  The remainder of the soil was frozen solid.  It had some thicker roots running through it but you could tell that the water was not draining and the soil had failed a long time ago.

     

We squared off the root ball with a shovel and then knocked that frozen block off the bottom.  Plenty of roots there to try some root grafting.

    

We added enough fresh potting mix into the bottom of the container so the "root mat" would be high enough for me to cut off with a boxcutter.  We centered the tree and my son held it in place as I piled fresh potting mix all around it.

     

Added a nice layer on top, drilled holes in the side of the rim for the metal tag and back in the shed she went.

    

Hey Danny, New York? Where is all the snow?

Staten Island.  Finally starting to melt off.

Amen, brother.

Nice thread Danny, this what the forum is all about, I have learned so much here. This thread and the root grafting thread has stimulated my interest just when I started to get bored from "fig nap season", unfortunately my finances will probably start going down hill. Thanks.

Hey Danny nice thread. I posted about root pruning my White Genoa a few weeks ago, it too had an armor plated root mat on top. I had to leave a bit around the trunk, did not want to damage the main trunk.

I was going to ask about root grafting. I will look for it. Nice to see your son involved in your figging even if you have to pay him. Looks like a good young man. Show him the ropes.

Richard - Good catch (laughing)!  No pay, he offered to help (thank God).  Edited from 'employed' to 'enjoyed' in the first post.  Thanks.  :)

Rafael - Your thread was the one that got me motivated to do it.  Going to mix more potting mix today.

Someone made a thread recently about the roots that grow on the very top of the pots.  I think it was an SIP thread or something similar, but can't find it.

Danny,

What issues did your tree have last year?

James - Thanks for your interest.  This is the post that explained the issues:

How do you know that your tree is dormant?

I seem to have missed your first post.  It is hard to say without seeing the close up of the leaves, but I would lean towards leaf rust as well.  I had a constant battle with rust when I was growing in Houston.  Leaf rust can cause a tree to defoliate.  Between the heat, humidity and leaf rust, I'd have several trees which spend the summer defoliated.  As temps cooled towards the end of summer, the trees behaved as if they were breaking dormancy.  Being in a humid environment helps the fungus multiply and spread.  If you catch it early enough, just clipping and disposing of the few infected leaves could help prevent a bigger outbreak.  The key is to get rid of the infected leaves. 

I have found several common characteristics of trees when the roots become constricted.  First, the growing limbs seem unnaturally thin.  Kind of like a body builder who works out the biceps and triceps but forgets to work out the forearm.  Also, the space between nodes shorten... sometimes significantly.  Thirdly, the tree does not produce a lot of leaves.  Fourth is more fruit than you would expect given everything else that is going on.  Based on your pictures, I'm not sure the tree necessarily needed a root pruning, although it will benefit from it.  

I'm glad you pointed out the thick mat of roots at the top.  I think this mat of roots is not only indicative of watering issues in containers, but also is a contributor.  I see two problems with this mat.  First is the density and tightness of it prevents water from trickling through it to the mid section of the root ball.  Second, since it is exposed at the top of the container, it is more susceptible to temperature fluctuations.  Since this is where a majority of the moisture/nutrients are absorbed by the plant, the plant suffers more on hot days... when it needs the moisture for transpiration.  I have found that mulching the tops of containers worsens this problem since the roots want to grow into the mulch (path of least resistance).

I would not worry too much if there is only couple of inches of water logged growing mix at the bottom.  All growing mix have perched water.  It is where the equilibrium is between the growing mixes desire to hold onto the water and gravity wanting to pull the water down.  Lighter growing mixes have a shorter perched water area, while denser (growing mixes in SIPs) have higher perched water area.

Thank you for your comments, James.

You are correct, it looked like she really didn't need the root pruning.  When I removed core samples last season I felt the same way.  I was acting on information about the age of the tree and the last time it was root pruned.  Once the hood was opened and I saw what was going on, I felt that was the answer to the problems from last season was compacted soil.  I will treat all for rust before they start waking up.

That 'root mat' is what really worries me.  Could lack of water to the root ball have stressed the tree out and made it susceptible to rust?  Could lack of water cause a condition that looks like rust?

Since I'm not watering from the bottom, would a regiment of breaking up the top portion of the soil every now and then help deter a root mat from forming?

I was wondering the same thing as I was typing the last post.  I think (based on a couple of observations, unfortunately) the problem is poor water distribution in the container.  As I mentioned, mulch did not seem to help me in the past.  If there were a weed block type barrier to prevent the roots from growing into the mulch layer, I think it would go a long way to maintain a more even water distribution in the container.  

I have not been able to find much information about why this type of root growth occurs or how to prevent it.  It you have time this growing season, I think it would be interesting to pull a plug from the root ball about an hour after you water the tree to see if the water is evenly distributed.

It might be that the answer is proper maintenance and regular root pruning.

I'll pull a plug this season to see what's happening.

I remember seeing pictures of root-pruning (most probably Martin's post) where the top (about an inch) layer was also pruned off. Will that not take care of root mate at the top? 

Yes, that's what I did.  Used a boxcutter and slowly 'skinned' the root mat off the top.