I had read that Black Madeiras love heat, so the sunburn came as a surprise--but I put some shade over it and in a few days it had dropped nearly all of the blackened leaves and was putting our a little bit of new growth. Then I read Dan's post today on another thread regarding the importance of deep watering for new in-ground transplants, and wondered if the problem with mine was simply not enough water. I went out and looked closely at my other new plantings, and they seem a little stressed as well, so I soaked everything thoroughly with the hose.

Now I'm wondering--How much water do you experienced growers (especially those of you in hot, dry climates) give to your new, 1-gallon transplants, and how frequently? How would you recommend nursing this baked BM back to health? Should I fertilize it? Any advice would be much appreciated--thanks!

Dan, I think your observation about high heat near the ground is right on the money. This little tree sat out in full sun through the hottest part of the summer last year and loved it, but it was up on a rack about a foot off the ground, and the black pot was sleeved inside a white bucket to keep the roots from overheating. In addition, all the pots sat in shallow water basins, so they could keep a little cooler just through transpiration. It might have escaped damage this year with increased irrigation, but it's hard to say--it's the shortest of all the others, by far, and I think the combination of direct sun and reflected heat off the mulch layer has created a shallow "oven zone" that's too much for any leaves growing right near the surface. I looked at the other trees once again, closely, and on the Conadria noticed similar damage to part of one leaf that is very close to the ground. Maybe I'd better put shade over some of the others, too, just to be on the safe side.

The benefits of the deep watering and fertilizer are even more pronounced in my other young figs, which have all greatly increased their size over the last couple of months and are still growing strong.

My Black Madeira seems to have pretty much shrugged off its initial challenges and is taking off. FMV is still evident but doesn't seem severe (at least compared to how it used to be), the nodes are much longer, and it's developing quite a few figs. I'm guessing the main factors are frequent deep watering, lots of fertilizer (unscientifically applied), mulch, sun/heat, and time.