Hello everybody!

I'm from NYC zone 7 and I started collecting figs this summer. I got my first tree last year and didn't even think of asking the vendor what type of fig it was. (The tag shows a ripe green fig, but doesn't say the name.) Who knew there are hundreds of varieties of figs?!

So I had to get myself more fig trees! I am currently rooting some Ronde de Bordeaux cuttings; they're rooting quite nicely (I think) in their perlite/vermiculite mix. I hope to have them in a pot next month.

I also recently received a few more plants too, and that's what the questions are pertaining to. I received in the mail three plants, an Adriatic JH, a large Negronne, and a Maltese Falcon. They came in those tall and narrow plastic black pots and appeared quite rootbound. I was afraid to loosen the rootball and just placed them in a different container with promix. Should I have loosened the rootball?

Based on my research, I believe they are just extremely stressed from the three day trip since Rust doesn't appear this far north (?) but I can't help but be paranoid about it.

The majority of all the leaves on every tree has very obvious FMV. Every leaf also has these spots that look like rust too and I would hate to have to pull every leaf off! I read that rust effects the leaves from the edges first, so it may just be malnutrition. I can't tell though because there's just so much information and I feel like I may be misinterpreting them.

Can someone please inform me on what's wrong with my plants? I would be absolutely heartbroken if I caused the plants too much stress to the point where they cannot survive the coming winter due to my lack of experience.

   

Be patient it can take 1-2 month for shipping shock to wear off. Also, new leaves will grow, don't worry. Spray w neem oil.

I bought a hardy chicago tree that came in one of those rootbound tall containers. I did what you did, I potted it into a larger container without disturbing the roots. The fig did quite poorly for nearly a month only barely popping a bud. I decided to take it out of the pot and prune the roots. I sprayed the root ball with a garden hose to lose some of the hard packed potting soil the plant was shipped with. I reported but this time I was able to spread the roots out quite nicely. Immediately the fig started growing vigorously. It put on 3 main scaffolds. I pinched them back when they reached 6 nodes and now I have 5 figs growing.