Its going to get pretty hot here in the next couple of months. It usually stays in 100's everyday till the end of September. I was wondering would it be safe to up-pot these to a five gallon pot, and keep them in the shade. I just received these from Rolling River (DK, Excel, and Hardy Chicago). They have roots coming out of the bottom and I would like to up-pot them, but I'm concerned they might go into shock. Should I wait till the fall (October-November) when the temp. get back down into the 80's.








I was hoping to up-pot them to a five gallon like this:

up pot as in same soil mix but bigger pot won't be much of an issue. repot as in bare root and new/different soil mix might be an issue. but, if the roots are well established and the plants are healthy, keeping them in the shade and keeping them well watered should work. i repotted few figs a week ago after bare rooting them and they are doing find under the shade. its been around 95 here, but we have high humidity.

Has anyone else used the Miracle Grow Starter fertilizer?  It says that it helps prevent transplant shock.  I've used it for the last two years on all my plants and have not had any issue with anything struggling after being transplanted.  Figs included. 

What I do, is, I make a diluted mix of my bunny pottty ( you could use a little of other fertilizer for transplanting), and soak the pot that has the plant. Let is soak and drink for a few minutes, meanwhile I prepare the other pot, putting about an inch of wood chips at the bottom for drainage. also, wood chips soak water like sponge, so the plant has access to some if needed. then the tree and soil come out easier from the pot, and usually the roots are all into one ball. So, I put the pot with plant and the pot inside the next to know how much soil I should put at the bottom. Once that is done, just pull the plant by the trunk and jiggle a little, should come out easy... just gently put it in the new pot and fill with more soil, no need to water again since there is lots of water in the plant, but you may add more, since it is so hot there. keep it in the shade for a few days that helps with the 'shock'.   Good luck.

@ Pete: Good to know Pete. I'm just going to add new soil to a bigger pot. I'm not going to do bare root transplant. I'm too afraid of doing it that way. Thanks.

@Meghan: I've never tried the MG stuff. But I have tried this stuff called Vitamin B-1 or something like that. I had to mix it up from concentrate. I used it on a loquat tree that I had to transplant. The tree didn't go into shock, but I don't know if the stuff worked or not.

@Grasa: Thanks Grasa. I like that advice about letting them soak for a minute. I'm always worried the roots are going to fall apart. I'm going to give them one or two more days to rest up. But after that I'm gonna stick them in a bigger pot. They got roots coming out of the bottom. I'm wondering how I'm going to keep those roots from breaking off when I pull it out the sleeve. I might just cut the sleeve in half with some scissors so I don't accidentally tear them off.

It is not the best time to do it, obviously. It will depend mostly on how much root damage they incur in the process, and how much TLC you give them. Shade, misting, etc. will greatly help for a couple weeks.

Henry, those trees are in great shape for you to lean them in their containers. By leaning them, you will see that they wiil develop side growth (fruiting growth) How about just resting them in their containers inside  of another larger one for a week or so, until it cools off, but not long enough for those hanging roots to establish?

@Jon: Your right Jon. I think I better wait. Just to be safe.
@Grasa:That's a good idea Grasa. I might just do that, just to be safe and then up-pot them when it gets cooler.