So this year I tried something new after hearing about the benefits of sinking potted figs into the ground to reduce watering applications. I selected 40 of my plants that were already in 4 gallon containers. I drilled out 12 - 3/4" holes along the sides of the pots (6 at the side bottom and 6 about half way up) I plugged the existing bottom holes as I didn't want roots growing out of those as it would be harder to dig the pots out afterwards.

I broke them out of dormancy in my greenhouse and then planted them the beginning of April with just the top 3 inches of the pot above ground. I planted them in 2 rows of 20 pots to create the fig  hedge. I put plastic over the plants in a tent like structure to give them a head start and to warm up the ground. The last frost here is around May 24th so I had a couple months of frost protection required. This worked out well by covering the plastic with a dark tarp and using 5 - 75w halogen bulbs evenly spread over the length of the plants. There were a couple nights it got down to -6C but the lights kept it above 0. 

There were a few that likely should have been root pruned but unfortunately I never got around to doing them. I would need to water those ones more frequently but after mid June even those must have grown out roots because I have barely had to water them at all since. Overall all the plants look healthy and dong great and best of all I don't have to water them every day like the rest of my potted collection. I've already earmarked another area for more inground pots next year but giving them more space than I did these ones.

Looking east at the hedge
 
Looking west
 

Here are a few of the figs coming along.....

Panachee after the rain
 

LSU Gold
 

Red Sicilian
 

Thanks for looking!
Tyler

Tyler. That is really nice. Very good work. Ne er seen a fig hedge like that. BEAUTIFUL work.
Do yall have a big problem with rust ? Rust really is a big down fall in Louisiana on figs. Well on most of our plants here get it. Takes awY from the beauty of the tree. Can it be stopped ?

Hi Richard,  thx..   Honestly I didn't mean to create such a thick hedge appearance as they were just small and didn't anticipate the growth lol.

As for rust I don't think I've seen much if any on these. I did apply a copper spray in the spring so that might have helped also.

Tyler

That looks great!  Good job Tyler!

How much Sun hrs did the figs get in that location also did you need to use any mulch to keep the ground moist around pots?

Hi Pino,   they get about 9 hours of sun. Next years spot will have get more though.I didn't mulch the pots because initially with the plastic over it I wanted the ground and roots to warm and thought the mulch might keep them colder. Then I just didn't get around to it once everything was leafed out and growing lol.

Looks good. I'm hoping to put some in ground like that too.

How tall are they now? How much did they grow so far?

Hi Don... they've filled out a couple feet.. but I've pinched off excessive growth as needed to force branching.

Any updates on how this worked out Tyler? I see you are in London and I live 35 mins north of london and am thinking about planting my potted trees in this manner next summer.

Thanks.. it is quite a bit of work with a large amount of pots. This past year I sank 70 in the ground. I'm a glutton for punishment I guess lol. I broke 2 shovels getting them out of the ground this fall lol. Note to self.... don't buy the cheapo shovels at the hardware store lol.

I think next year for the ones I will sink inground (which will not be 70 lol) I will change the holes in the pails. Rather than 3/4" holes I think it would work better to have maybe 6 or 8 vertical cut out strips maybe 2"wide down the side of the pot to let the roots spread as they need to quicker but in a way that you can easily sink a spade down to cut the roots and pull out the plant in the fall. The problem with the holes is the roots will get constricted quite easily and also it takes quite a bit of time in the spring for them to get reestablished enough to not have to water them. I think the more soil contact the rootball is exposed to might aide in faster roots getting out. Just a thought at least.

Tyler