I am looking to break the cycle so to speak and stop growth early enough that the trees can go dormant properly and have a chance at moderate growth the next year. My older container trees do have that mature growth habit and have survived some very cold temperatures in storage before.
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Exactly. My advice would be no fertilizer, no water, and let the weeds compete with those trees that keep freezing back. That will harden the wood off as early as possible. In marginal climates that might make the difference in winter survival.
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If there were not so many vines 
Was thinking of rolling up the ground cover and even possibly tilling to help the soil lose water but it just rained like 8" in the past 2 weeks so water control just isn’t reliable. They get irrigation their first year until mid August and were wilting most days in September but still grew till October. Last years were wilting prior to the rain this season but still are growing.
Only so much a guy can do. I’m expecting late summer rain here as well. Only because it’s been very dry the last two months.
@Richard, can you tell us what local components you use for your fertilizer mixes? When I was looking in to mixing my own, I had trouble finding basic components to start with.
I personally use 16-8-24 with micronutrients. However, I understand that many folks here would prefer to use natural and/or “organic” components. If you’re interested in how to calculate a 2:1:3 mix I’d be happy to help.
Also keep in mind that compost can be rich in Nitrogen and that overdoing it can lead to excessive growth.
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Thanks Richard. That’s actually what I use as well. I thought you might be mixing up your own special NPK blends from nonorganic basic ingredients (KNO3, etc.), which I can’t really find here.
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My dosage for semi-dwarf size trees (8’h x 8’l x 8’w) is 5 lbs of 16-8-24 per 3,000 gallons which works out to about 0.11666 lbs (just under 2 level tbsp) per tree. I apply that 3 times per year during the growing season.
For comparison, the nitrogen component in a single feeding per tree is about the same as the nitrogen provided by 1 Lb of compost made from vegetative clippings. So from my point of view, adding more than 3 lbs of vegetative compost per year per tree would exceed my dosage of the water soluble.
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am somewhere in between. I’d do phosphate and potash w/ micronutrients, but just a minuscule amount of nitrogen, or even zero nitrogen. Growing fruit trees in pots(and not just figs)restricts access to nitrogen and in-ground moisture. When growing heat-loving xerophytes in cold/wet/humid regions, the only way you could simulate dryish conditions is by growing them in pots. Nitrogenous matter is also at a minimum in desert regions, so nitrogen is not an inherent need. And since potted plants in a greenhouse are the only way to simulate desert conditions in fruitnut’s area, one may notice this is practically bonsai culture. I can’t imagine using high nitrogen ferts on bonsai’s, but will use p and k and micronutrients to encourage fruiting.
Practitioners often use 0-10-10. We could almost predict vigorous vegetative growth, less fruiting, large leaves, and long internodes if we used nitrogen on the >5 yr old babies below. The same scenario applies if these were planted on the ground where natural moisture is high, and made worse if die-back is a yearly event
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Are those your bonsai? How many fruits have you grown in pots?
My recommendation for no nitrogen was for in ground trees that are freezing back each yr. Outdoors in good soil figs won’t need much fertilizer.
Pots are another question altogether. Everything I’ve grown in pots needs at least some nitrogen. That’s because it leaches out so rapidly.
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the above photo is my generic tropical ficus bonsai(you could buy that from walmart), and the one below it was a random web photo i found.
can’t possibly assign a number, as have grown potted fruit trees for many years, and enjoyed training some into ornamental bonsais. Have grown ultra-tropical rambutan and semitropical citrus in pots a long time ago. And just a few years back, managed to have some red baron and arctic jays fruit as potted plants. Speaking of getting desert plants to fruit, i experienced one in a similar yet different circumstances as yours. So happy to have coaxed a tough opuntia species to flower and fruit in southeast asia, by growing them in pots under glass, and using zero nitrogen, little water, and wood ash.
What dosage, on a per gallon or per root volume basis?
Shouldn’t of told people that bonsai w/fruit was a web picture. I was about to give you crazy mad props for having the greenest thumb in all humanity!!
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for nitrogen, i simply use a pellet of manure, or nothing at all, depending on its growth. No math involved.
for p, k, and the micronutrients, i simply use dilution strength for foliage, and use it for watering on a monthly basis, depending on the trees performance. Nitrogen and water deficits are adjuncts to full sun when growing bonsai’s. This gets the wood seasoned, plus shortens the internodes, as well as promote development of smaller foliage to get the tree miniaturized and correct in scale.
awesome pic that one, right? haha. But kidding aside, just everyone of us has experienced doing something like this, and often inadvertently. Am sure many have procrastinated digging holes for their potted trees, and the trees started fruiting. With peaches and nectarines, i have resigned myself to doing just that, since they don’t live long enough where am at, and easier for me to control climate and soil variables. Fruitnut’s potted figs are getting to be bonsai’s too. If you look at the foliage, they are smaller and in scale with the gnarled branching. Comparing it with the figs grown outdoors, the branches of the figs grown outside are bolting aggressively, and the leaves are quite broad. The figs outside must be eking out some extra nitrogen and moisture.
btw, since you brought it up, now encouraged to resume my bonsai days using citrus. Will try it on jujus and calamondins 
Apples and other conventional fruit trees may look nice, but are too disease-prone or short lived.
What nutrients for P, K do you use and what is the range of dilution?
a tablespoon per gallon using any formulation containing the least N.
say, ultrabloom 0-10-10 at a quarter to a half of the recommended strength monthly during growing season depending on plants response.
Ultra Bloom 0-10-10 is well known among pot growers. It has a density of about 0.035 Lbs per level tablespoon. As such it will supply 0.0035 net pounds each of P and K per tbsp. At the rate of 2.5 tbsp per semi-dwarf tree it would supply plenty of P but grossly underfeed in K.
maybe in your area, as it depends on whether or not the soil you are using has naturally occurring potash.
Without replenishment, a semi-dwarf fruit tree will exhaust mineral nutrients in its local area within 7 years – unless the nutrients are at toxic levels and then of course the tree perishes.
undoubtedly. It is just that it is safer/easier /more economical to just use as much native soil as ‘fertilizer’ when repotting or augmenting, if soil is naturally mineral-rich.