Hi all.

Due to space restraints I wanted to ask container growers what is their experience regarding the best space/distance between pots.
These days i am trying to put them lined at a small distance and point the branches at a different direction so as to enhance air flow.

Are there long term benefits to growing at a good distance (1 meter) vs bundled together.
As far as i notice when bundled together the containers stay cooler but long term- are there risks for disease development to the tree this way (scale and leaf diseases)?

Good question, Elin!  My trees are tiny still but I'll have to consider this as they grow.  Let's see what the pros say.

A major issue here is sun exposure.  The closer they are, the more they shade each other.  I think the distance is also a function of the container size and plant size.

It probably depends partly on location.  Here, with my relatively short growing season and many cloudy days, I need every bit of sun I can get, can't afford shading of the plants.  In your climate, perhaps cooling the adjacent pots with a little shade from leaves is not a bad thing.

All my plants are line up with no space between the pots. There's a lot of sun and heat in TX. Even some of the trees that get partial shade in the afternoon have yielded better results that the ones in full sun.

Sas i agree. I am in south louisiana and they do appreciate some shade. For those who dont have experience in growing in extreme humidity and heat nay not agree. As else where every sun ray makes,a difference. As far as rust is concerned spacing has its advantages of disease and fungus control. If they touch one another a tree at one end can spread fungus / diseases to all the trees richie from louisiana zone 8B

My experience in NJ is she. I've kept them really close together because I had no choice they grow up high or in in any direction they can get sun more and not always in a nice form. The branches that were shaded die or drop thier leaves and didn't grow. Keep in mind these were a lot of trees very close together, but sometimes ther isn't much you can do if you don't have the space to spread them out.

Try growing espaliered. Dont think i spelled that correctly. But it i so easy too train branchs to grow side ways just with string and weights. Pull branches from each tree in the direction you need them to go. I did it to one tree just to try it out. No branches go upward all go straight out . Each branch is about two foot off the ground and goes horizontaly out. It has four branches each about 4 foot long. trunk is 1- 3/4" thick. ,
This way you can have them closer together and not have as much of a sunlight issue. Just a thought.

Richie: i think I saw some pictures posted of your Espalier (sp?) project, yes? This is a great suggestion!

:) Thanks,but no way I am espeliering 120 potted trees.
The concept is good though as it has the same space saving character as diverting branches from one another.

Hi all,
Up to 1 gallon pots, I keep the trees really close from one another. Some pots do touch it other. As the leaves develop, I space them by 5'' / 15cm. This is for small trees that are still developing.
Bigger trees are spaced by 2' / 50cm.
Producing trees get at least 2' more of spacing. But keep in mind, that I grow my trees in bush mode. So what I call a tree, you might want to call that 4 trees in one planting hole.
Though, I had 8 in a meter of distance this year. But 4 were rooting in ground, one was a fresh bought fig tree, one was a young rooted root-shoot from a swap with a neighbor, and one was a potted whose roots sunk into the dirt.
I wasn't expecting production from those trees because of their age.
I got a late ripe fig from the potted tree. I'm hoping next year, she'll be even more productive. She's my first started guinea pig for pot culture.
None of the trees had a set back, but IMO it was because they didn't have time to build a better canopy. Most were establishing roots. Next year, I'll have to find a new place for the potted one (sleeping in my garden house for now). The others are in ground and in selection step - all unknown to me - meaning they might fly to the compost pile some day if they displease me.
But to be honest, I'd rather keep them all and get more figs :) .
So to summarize it, it all depends on the size of the tree, the length of your growing season and if you're expecting fruit production.

In another corner of the garden, I have a fig tree that got shaded. So she shot some buds but they grew slowly and finally didn't get the figs to ripen, and even got some bud crush due to whatever the cause ( shade? , bugs ?, rodent activity in the roots? , not enough water ? ) . My bro has the sister of that tree. His tree developed stronger and longer new growth on more buds and reportedly ripened some fruits. His tree is full sun. I'm now thinking of removing a rose tree and move that fig tree to that place were she'll get more sun.
I now have some regrets as that tree clearly lost a season of growth (could be from rodents) . I like my trees to be strong and healthy growers ...

Jds i think you are growing in a different climate with low humidity. I have noticed more scales and meag diseases in humid weather and in places that lack air flow not once. Maybe i have been watering the leaves and the bark on some trees which was harmfull too. I think long term shading and excess humidity play against our trees. Also add that some varieties are more prone to disease too, fmv , scale etc.

When I started figs in Zone 5a some ten years ago, I placed some twenty 12+" dia fig pots in a 22ft by 4ft wide area on south side of my garage. It worked fine since the space was less windy and heat reflection from the white wall provided more heat and thus used to get ripe fruit and less problems with half buried pots.  

Then as I got more plant and to find space for, I added more pots. Later placed 1-gallon pots in front of the row in the south so things got crowded on this section. But it is till the section with better ripening due to 7+ hours sunshine and heat trap.

here the pots are pretty snug:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or5DfAiWN58

one of the best clips i found of urban farms. they are using a 15 gal "Jackpots".

John is truly amazing with his channel.

One issue I discovered this year with keeping my pots close together, was that it created insect heavy areas.  The trees that were crowded had much worse problems with SWD and rust than those that had good airflow.

[QUOTE=johnnyq627]One issue I discovered this year with keeping my pots close together, was that it created insect heavy areas.  The trees that were crowded had much worse problems with SWD and rust than those that had good airflow.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I've always called that the "Nursery Effect". Having the trees close together allows us to grow more in less space, but it creates the perfect environment for pests.

For example: I grow blackberries. In the field they're spaced 3'x8' and the had little to no insect damage. In the nursery, they're in 1G airpots with basically no spacing - and I had horrible problems with grasshoppers.