Like many of you, I have been using both 5 gallon and mini-SIPs for figs with excellent results. So far I have used a mix consisting of 30% sand, 10% crushed mesquite charcoal, 20% pumice, 20% coconut coir (prewetted), and 20% pine bark fines.   However, I tried recently to transplant (by bare rooting) a very healthy cutting with lush root and leaf growth from a mini-SIP to a 1 gallon container with a conventional 5-1-1-1 mix.  The one gallon container is not a SIP.  The cutting is in extreme transplant shock and may not make it.  (Fortunately I have a couple back-ups.)  I have transplanted easily from mini-SIPs to 1 gallon SIPS containing the same mix with no obvious transplant shock.

So this has me wondering if figs in SIPs adapt their root system to the constant presence of abundant moisture in the soil and have problems then adjusting to a more conventional environment.  This spring I plan to transplant several figs from 5 gallon SIPs to the ground.  I haven't decided whether to do this just prior to bud-break or whether to wait a month or so until all threat of hard frost is past.  The latter would be safer in terms of the weather but I'm worried that the transplant shock may be worse because they will be leafed out.  Has anyone else experienced a lot of transplant shock when transitioning from SIPs to conventional containers or the ground?  Any ideas on how to alleviate the transplant shock? Thanks!

are you bare rooting the cutting when moving to 1 gal? i don't bare root them to 1 gal. the reason why i ask that is, the soil mix from mini-SIP to 5.1.1.1 is different. the difference in how much they retain the water might be problem. 

Yes, I felt it was best to bare-root because of the dramatic difference between the potting mixes.  As you point out, the water retention of the mixes would be different plus the first environment is a SIP while the next one is not.  I learned my lesson on that but I'm worried that planting in the ground might also be quite a shock for similar reasons.

I should note that I have done bare-root transplants before and usually see some moderate transplant shock but this was way worse than anything seen before.

By experience, it is better to transplant during dormancy. When there is growth, it seems to be the worst time.

Vitalucky, you are probably right.  I only have 3 or so that I will transplant from 5 gallon SIPs to the ground and it wouldn't be hard to protect these if the weather turned cold for a brief period.

it does sound like the cutting didn't like the bare root process. i know dennis uses that thing.. i forgot the name of the product to soak the trees when he bare root and up pot. dang.. can't remember the name of the product. 

Same here, I do not bareroot while transplanting from the cup sips to the 1 gal pots. I use almost the same soil as in sips.

Pete, I know what you are talking about but I can't remember the name either.  I'll look into it.

My bet is it is just bad luck.  I will be transitioning a couple dozen from mini sips to conventional 1 gallons this week and will mention if there are any issues. 

I was always under the impression messing with young roots is a bad idea. Why not transplant to similar mix so you don't have to bareroot? With the older trees you gotta wonder if it would even be a problem. Maybe you could wean them onto less water a little before planting in ground.

Timmy, the mix is optimized for SIPs and I'm not sure if it would work well in a conventional container.  I have more figs in mini-SIPs than I have 1-2 gallon SIPs to move them into so the idea was to move a few into 5-1-1-1 mix in a conventional container.  I have found that bare-rooting young figs in a controlled indoor environment to switch between different mixes in conventional containers to not be a problem in the past.

As I mention above, I try not to change the soil rapidly. I think we overthink the things and make the things worse :) Keep it simple, give a good start to the figs and let the Nature take its course.

When the recent SIPs are in 1 gal pots, I still water from the bottom though. I use a deep dish that reaches about 20-25% height of the 1 gal pots, fill with water + some diluted liquid fertilizer, let it stay for 5 min and that's it. I water about once a week or less (depends on the pot weight). The pot tops are covered with the fine pine bark to reduce the water evaporation.
I have not lost a single fig so far out of 20 or so.

Wills, I hope you are right that it was a fluke.  Timmy, it may very well be that the one year old trees in the 5 gallon will not have any transplantation problems because the roots are more mature.  I did read on the web that it is a good idea for transplanting bare-root trees into the ground to use bonemeal, bloodmeal or a micorrhyzal stimulant to enhance root growth.  I'm not sure if this will help because root growth of these trees is quite impressive and my guess is that perhaps the roots need to go through an adaptation phase rather than simply increasing in bulk.  But I'll probably try one of these products anyway.  I also read on the forum about a product called Superthrive but there seems to be mixed opinions on whether it is beneficial.

I'm just beginning to experiment w SIPs so I'm sure you have a better idea of the issues. However I think it'll be interesting to see how Wills turn out to see if it was a fluke thing.

Greenfig, a couple months ago I tried using a peat-based mix in a SIP that is not too different from my 5-1-1-1 mix.  The idea behind this was exactly as you describe e.g. so that I wouldn't need to bare-root upon transition to conventional containers with 5-1-1-1 mix.  Well, that was literally the only cutting I have lost so far this season!  The mix was too wet and the cutting rotted.  On the other hand almost everyone except me seems to use peat based mixes in their SIPs so there shouldn't be an inherent problem with that type of soil.  I think that I would need to alter the design of my SIPs to get them to work with peat-based mixes (the right balance of moisture and wicking) and I haven't gotten around to experimenting with that yet.

Next month I will be transitioning 32 oz sips to 1-gal, see FMDs thread on this, I am transitioning from spaghnum peat moss 75% 25% perlite to a rich soil mix (50% ) and 50% peat/perlite, but still hydroponic, then in march into small greenhouse for hardening, will keep you posted.

Rewton,
What size was the mini-SIP?
IMO, if it is anything less than 40oz and not root bound, it can be treated as a plug and just planted into the new container. The only time I bare root the smaller container is when they are root bound.  In my experience, going from a "wet" growing media to a "dry" growing media should not be a problem with the "plug", but going from a "dry" media to a "wet" media may sometimes cause problems. Good Luck.

Pete, it was a 32 oz plastic soda cup with a K-cup protruding out of the bottom into a reservior.  I borrowed the design from DallasFigs as is shown in his first pic here:

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1279632057&postcount=17

This design has worked very well with my potting mix.  I probably could have left the cutting in the cup longer and I imagine that would have helped.  I bare-rooted it because of the general notion that you want to have homogeneous mix in a container rather than zones of two different mixes.  I believe the rationale is that you want to avoid different water retention zones in the container but I suspect you may be right that it would be just fine.  Maybe I'll try this next time and also increase watering more than I would if I was going from a non-SIP 16 oz cup to a non-SIP one gallon.  It is possible that I was too cautious with watering in the case I described above and the roots were so used to a wet mix that they had trouble adjusting.

Rewton,
Thanks.
From my construction and tests of mini-SIPs over the past few weeks, I've found that Its very easy to saturate and waterlog the potting mix if the reservoir or the wick are too large. With the proper wick size and reservoir size, you could use any standard 85%-95% peat moss based mix and the potting mix would still be a good growing media for fig cuttings, moist and well aerated. Your potting mix may be the key to your success with mini-SIPs.

Hi,
I wouldn't bare root a growing figtree. It is too much stress - and one might break some roots which won't help the tree.
I would simply unpot the tree from the sip and put it in the middle of the new pot.
As time and watering passes by, the two potting mix will mix one to the other .

The biggest problem I can see, is that it will be hard to get some new potting mix to the contact of all the roots if the tree is bare rooted.
Leaving air in between the roots is a killer for the transplanted trees .

hi, I also think that the bare rooting is the source of your problems.  In Oct of 2012 I transplanted 6 first-year trees from 5-gal SIPs to ground and had no losses.  Fyi, my medium is 2 parts MG potting soil and 1 part coconut coir.  After Thanksgiving I protected the trees for winter (dry leaves stuffed in a wire frame that was covered with plastic).  Although it seems to be harsh treatment of baby plants,  4 of them rewarded me with several figs in 2013. :) 

I'm a firm believer in using SIPs to jump start the growth of young fig trees.  Last Oct I transplanted 4 more first-year trees to ground, same as above.  I hope these babies will respond as generously as the others.

jdsfrance and Mimi, thanks for your responses.  Your experiences would suggest that the problem has less to do with going from a SIP to non-SIP environment and more to do with switching to an entirely different mix.  So I'm definitely going to experiment with a SIP mix that is more what I want to transplant into later.  Of course, in cases where I plan to leave in a SIP indefinitely I can stick with whatever SIP mix gives the best growth/production.

Rewton,

As promised an update.  Saturday I moved 32 figs of assorted varieties from mini-sips to one gallon pots with 5-1-1-1 mix.   With the old method of cupped cuttings the roots tended to climb the sides, with my sips they did not and the root growth was concentrated at the bottom 1/3 of the sip.  I believe that happened because I never watered at all from the top and the roots went where the water was.  Because of this the cuttings pretty much bare rooted themselves on removal from the sip.  In the future I will top water some to see if this solves the problem as I would prefer a root ball over being bare rooted.  The results though have been fine......out of 32 moved 0 have so much as a wilted leaf.  After the first day only one, a CDD Gris was a little wilty but by day two it had perked back up.  They have been outside since Saturday even in mid 30's nighttime temps under some bamboo hardening off.  

Wills, glad to hear the transplanting went well.  It doesn't sound like having the roots concentrated at the bottom of the cup (and mostly bare) was a problem for you.  Is this SIP mix different than the 5-1-1-1?  It sounds like it is probably a bit different but I imagine both are peat-based. 

The idea of having figs outdoors hardening off sounds ludicrous though - here in Rockville it was +3F this morning!

Yeah it is a touch warmer here......frost free date is March 1.  My Blueberries are blooming and I have quarter size peaches on one tree.  I will have to bring the figs inside tonight as the low is forecast for 30.  

My cup sip mix is 50/50 peat and screened perlite.   The 1 gallon pot mix is the standard 5111....5 parts screened pine fines and 1 part each perlite, peat, Fullers earth and a cup dolomite lime.  

Wills, a couple other thoughts.  Since the roots are concentrated on the bottom and are used to being in moist conditions it make make sense to water from the bottom, at least for a while.  Alternatively, your suggestion about watering from the top prior to transplantation could actually be a good practice.  Perhaps a couple of weeks prior to transplantation you could help prepare the roots for their new environment by letting the lower reservior dry up (or nearly dry up) and only water from the top.

That is probably a good idea and if there is an issue I will try that but bottom watering the 1 gallons is a bit inconvenient.  They are on a timer with an overhead sprinkler so I don't have to water manually.  So far they seem happy and I hope that continues to be the case.