So I just started my fig experience with 2 purchases from a local nursery which was supplied by Dave Wilson nursery. I brought the figs home and noticed the pot was incredibly heavy for the size and the bottom was soggy. Today I root pruned and replanted into a much larger container. My question is as to why the soil was in such bad shape. I keep hearing about fluffy light soils here, but my 2 trees were in pure clay. It was heavy, soaking wet even though it is very dry here and they haven't been watered in 4 days. On top of that one of the figs was previously root bound in a small pot and transplanted into this one. I could tell due to a rock hard inner clump of roots perfectly shaped like a tall pot. Is this normal or am I just a little paranoid? I pruned quite severely and I hope the figs come through it, I just couldn't let them suffer with that mangled mess of roots.

  Welcome to the world of cost-cutting and plants as a mass-produced product.

  I can empathize with you...  I bought six 5-gal fig trees last summer to use as hosts to graft other cultivars.  Every one of them was like the one you described above...  each with tightly bound roots in the shape of a 1-gal trade pot. 

  I would venture a guess that the clay "soil" was the cheapest fill-dirt that was available to the entity that up-potted those plants of yours.

Dave Wilson Nursery sells figs and a couple other trees wholesale in tall black thin tree pots. The rest they sell bare root. They are a great nursery and only sell top notch plants and trees.

That clay soil was the local nursery you bought from repotting and cost saving as mentioned above. I would not shop there again.

If the tree was actively growing, I would not recommend  root pruning at that time. You are always best off doing your root pruning when the plant is fully dormant. You could just knock off the unwanted soil and replace it with a mix that is lighter, basically doing some partial bare rooting

I'd be slow to blame DWN for any issues.  Every bare root I've received from a nursery that was produced by them was great.  Any leftovers that didn't sell are usually highly discounted at the end of bare root season and potted, either for sale that year by the nursery/gardening center itself, or by someone making a few extra bucks.  It is the one who pots the bare roots that choses the soil to put the bare root trees in.  My opinion only.

I wasn't aware that DWN sold the trees bare root to the local nursery. While one of the plants was horribly root bound in it's previous pot, the other was in great shape. I will take it as a fluke. Either way it's been 3 days now since I did a very severe root prune, from basketball sized ball to softball and it seems to have seen no ill effects. I am cautiously optimistic that it is going to go on growing without a recovery cycle.

This is how the plants look 1 week after repot and severe root prune. I think they are doing pretty well, but growing slower than I would hope. I am going to add osmocote plus shortly. Anyone have a recommendation for how long to wait to fertilize? The soil is 50 percent promix hpcc and 50 percent fir bark. I really want to add the fert, but some say to wait nearly a month after root work.

Just want to give an update on this tree. More than 70 percent of all roots were removed before the up pot 3 weeks ago. As you can see the trees are doing well!

Dave Wilson does not sell "bareroot" fig trees. Their trees look like this, in 4" tall pots:

 

However, DWN does call them "bareroot" even though they are not actually bareroot. As stated earlier, if they are in a larger pot than that, that was done by the nursery who sold you the tree, not by DWN. Other trees, such as Peaches are sold truly bareroot.

Yes, the pots are generally full of roots. Pot them up in a 5 gallon pot, and the 5 gallon pot will fill up in a couple months. I agree, the trees are quite large for the root/pot size. They are just waiting to explode.

My fiancee and I were about to purchase a beautiful and expensive 12 inch pot. The sales person casually asked what we were planting and when I said fig he stopped mid sale and said that the pots were way too small. We ended up getting pots elsewhere, but I am a customer for life at this place. Green landscape nursery in Santa Clarita.

Well the panache officially stopped growing. The leaves are bright green and healthy, but new growth has slowed to a snails pace. In the last week there has been no growth that I can see. I suspect the plant grew out as much as the tiny amount of roots could support and now it has reached its max size until the root mass increases. The VdB is growing nicely, slow and steady, and putting out a new shoot out of the ground.

Is the general consensus to cut new shoots off? 

I believe whether or not to cut off the shoot is dependent on what type of growth you want.  Most VdBs tend to be bushy, leaving the shoot will encourage this.  I have a number of them and will attempt my first air layer later this year on any shoots I think are excess to what I want.

Alright in that case I will leave the one extra shoot. I don't think I want over 2. Still not sure what to do about the stalled Panache. I guess as long as it looks healthy only time will tell.