I know I posted about this not too long ago.

The up potting seems to come way to fast.  I understand the trees grow faster if the roots have room, and I want some of these to spend only one winter in the shed, then go into the ground next Spring.  Is there any reason not go from cup to 3 or even 5 gallon container?  Or gallon to 5 gallon?

I started some in January.  Cupped up in Feb.  Potted to 1 gallon end of March, then to 3 gallon on May 10th.  And the roots are coming out already!  I assumed I'd get at least 2 months out of the 3 gallon, and I might wait a month and then go to a 7 gallon instead.

Is this normal?  I had initially expected to keep them in the 3 gallons until winter.  Is the increased growth worth up potting so often?

Thanks for your help!

Some people leave them in 1 gallon pots for 2 years.  I go from u-line bag to gallon to 7 gal and they stay there unless I like them a lot, then they go in to a bigger pot.  They can easily get into the 7 gal pot in their first year of life.  I got a lot of them free, which is the scientific reason why I chose that size.

Thanks Bob!

Phil,
I usually go from cups to 1 gallons then to 5 gallons within a couple months.
The reason for the 1 gallon stage is to develop a root ball that will provide numerous root branches and a larger starting multi-branched root mass in the 5 gallon or larger container.

This year I'm up potting from 2 liter Soda Bottle SIPs directly to 5 gallon containers due to the multi-branched root balls that are formed in the 2 liter SIPs.
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For me it varies. If I have lots of rooted cuttings and time and space are an issue, I go to one gallons first. It also takes far le$$ mix to pot up 30 rooted figs in 1 gallon than larger. As they grow, the plants that are doing really well get moved up sooner. Sometimes if it's a prized rooted cutting or I have very few, I'll sometimes go directly to 5 gallons. Like Bob and his 7s, I use 5g because I got a lot of them for free. Sometimes I use 2 and 3g, but that's more plant instinct than some sort of formula. Eventually the cream of the crop go into 15gals. Nothing larger, ...unless someone wants to volunteer to be a pot mover.

For such small plants how do you ensure that you don't have issues with the large containers staying wet too long and rotting the roots or the end of the fig?

Phil - I'm glad you asked this question as it was on my mind as well. I was going to go with the general gardening rule of thumb that when the roots are showing out the bottom, pot up to the next size. A handful of my 18 cuttings in 1-gallon pots are showing roots through the bottom and I didn't want to leave them too long. I have a bunch of 2- and 3-gallon pots I'll use for them now.

The growth of the rest of the plant is very dependent on how the roots grow. You prune and pinch the top to get a dense, optimally shaped plant. You should take as much care with the underground portion. The plant does better with a dense ball of fine feeder roots, rather than putting its energy into long running roots. Bigger pots give them more room to run, but, they can run around a smaller pot. Air pruning by putting them in grow bags forces better root growth. And, some commercial grow bags are liners for plastic pots. So, I'm experimenting with just lining pots with barrier fabric. Growing in fabric at least lets you check on root growth easier. You can slide them out of the pot easily and peel back the fabric to check, and the checking gives you air pruning. There are good systems you can buy, but I can't afford them for all the stuff I grow. My answer is that up potting, like pruning and pinching, should be a response to how the plant is growing, and there's no hard and fast rule.

Greysmith is on the right track.  Think of most roots on a fig tree as going straight away from the plant until they hit something, then growing along that surface.  If you go from a cup to a very large pot, then you run the risk of the pot having very few roots anywhere except right in the middle and then running rings around the outside.  This is not a good situation.  Probably, if you did it this way and every few months, somehow sliced any roots that were encircling the pot, eventually you'd get a nice root ball.  Or you used the fabric pots (just have to water them like crazy) it probably is ok too, since in the fabric pots they do less circling once they hit the fabric. 

At the end of the day, pot culture tends to lead to roots circling around the pot, which is not an efficient use of the plant's resources, and it doesn't optimally supply the top with water and nutrients.  So you have to take measures to reduce this problem.  There are many ways to do it.  Gradual up-potting reduces the short term effects, but the problem is still going to be there. 

No matter what, when I up-pot I always take a utility knife and slice along the sides and bottom a couple times to remove or reduce any circling roots.  You don't necessarily have to re-pot (shake or rinse the soil off the whole root mass, then cut it down to size) as long as you sever most of the longer roots.  I have done this at all times of the year with success.  Never seen a plant stressed afterwards.  I believe that re-potting is stressful mainly because of all the smaller roots that are severed, rather than the long ones.  So I try to sever the long ones while leaving most of the smaller, shorter ones intact.  Five or Six good slices should do the trick. 

If a pot is the tree's permanent home, a full re-pot is still a good idea every few years for long term vitality and vigor.  But it's a ton of work, and I have too many trees.

Wow, great info, thx to all!