Need advice on container-growing figs and dirt mixture

General Fruit Growing
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I use the same standard 5:1:1 mixture I use for nearly everything else (5 parts pine bark fines, 1 part peat, 1 part perlite). All of mine are doing well with this mixture. It is a very fast draining mix so you do have to watch to make sure the soils doesn’t get too dry. This thread has reminded me that I have too many damn figs :frowning:

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You wouldn’t say that, if they were in the ground. Nobody has too
many figs.

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I agree but if they are all in the ground I’m gonna get 95% die back every year. And then get 5% yield from the grow-back because of the late growth.

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What a wealth of great information, so thank-you everyone! And if you know me, you know I’m compelled to respond to several. Lets start with Fruitnut and Ray’s advice to just plant in-ground, which is certainly sound advice. I actually have 10 figs that are in-ground and do quite well. But in spite my heroic winterization efforts, some years they are killed to the ground. They come back, but I loose the Breba crop and only get small yields from the new, smaller plants. Also, my container varieties are less hardy than my outdoor figs.
Sounds like the common theme in all the answers is drainage, so whatever kind of mixture I come up with I’ll make certain it allows for proper drainage and includes some of the drainage facilitators that were mentioned here, thanks.
Weight really isn’t an issue. I’m putting all the pots on wheels (I have a simple way to do that) and all I’ll ever have to do is push them from the garage out onto my patio, which is just a few feet and its paved the whole way.

BTW…fortunately only Denis noticed that I said my 2 pots created by cutting a 55 gallon pot in half would result in two, 22.5 gallon pots!!! hahaha. I have no idea what planet I was on when I did that math. Yep, the guy who is responsible for our town’s budget and finances apparently thinks 1/2 of 55 is 22.5. :slight_smile: Whew!

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Or maybe you are just using a saw with a really big kerf :wink:

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I wouldn’t worry about putting the figs in too big a container due to drainage problems. The roots will quickly fill the pot. I had one in a 15 gallon plastic pot and it grew from a small 6 inch plant to a multi stem 6 foot tall plant in one summer. In fact the roots tended to suck the potting soil away from the sides and I had to add soil to the sides to keep water from just running down the sides. I had to water it daily during the hot summer. A five gallon bucket will keep the fig plants smaller. I agree that they will be root bound in 4 or 5 years maximum. That said I am in SE Texas and drainage is not near the problem that people have up north.

I do have 20 gallon pots and it takes to men to move the pots. Luckily I have 20 and 22 year old sons to help me. We move them about 20 feet and take a break. They are heavy.

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I have moved 25 gallon pots with a dolly and it wasn’t too much effort. The tough part is moving it on slopes, steps and uneven ground.

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I thought you were looking for higher office :wink:

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Now that was funny! How right you are…that is EXACTLY the kind of math most politicians use isn’t it. :slightly_smiling:

Thanks for all the great advice on containers…I’ll let you know what I end up with.

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I made my own pine bark chips for a potting mixture. They range in size from 1/16 to 1inch in a mix. Does that sound reasonable?

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Here is a thread on the topic from a fig forum: http://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/11847-successful-potting-mix-recipes

I usually mix and match potting soil, pine fines/mini nuggets, and compost.

Edit to add: the larger the container to heavier on pine fines/mulch I try to be.

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One inch is a little big. It should be OK, though. What I have done at times. i have a leaf blower that has a bag to collect leaves. I have a good one and it has a metal blade. If I suck large pine bark chips in, it cuts them down really well. Like to 1/4 inch. Most times though I buy this soil conditioner that has small chips. It does have a lot of powder.
You could also sieve the chips to remove bigger ones. Use hardware cloth sieves.

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A beetle is killing thousands of native pines in the area. I had a very large one. The bark is very thick but brakes up nicely so I have a source for now. I tried my mulching lawnmover and that worked.

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Excellent!

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O.T.
Did you have a drought some previous year(s)? One of the consequences of the last 5 year drought here was that drought weakened pine trees succumbed to an invasion of pine bark beetles. The loss was widespread.

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I like wood chips to be >=1/8", and less than 1/2". Normally I set aside the stuff that’s > 1/8" but less than 1/4" for other purposes and only use >=1/4" and less than 1/2" for potting mixes.

In my opinion, the < 1/8" stuff isn’t appropriate to include unless you are using it in place of peat.

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We did have some drought several years back. The Southern Pine Beetle has killed 30000 pitch pines in the area the past few years. That’s a lot of bark that could be harvested. The county is looking for a logger to take the infected trees but nobody wants them. I I’ll burn the wood from my one pitch pine and save the bark for planting. Sadly it was one of my trees that was NOT shading my garden.

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That’s how I use it. I don’t have time to make screening squares. Or tine to sifr enugh bark for all my containers. I have over 60 containers, maybe 80, I don’t count them. I just use less peat. Sometimes I break down bigger chunks as mentioned, and you don’t have the fine stuff. I myself feel the bark with powder is more composted, and I have observed containers with well composted bark do a lot better than those with uncomposted bark. The larger pine bark usually is greener. I do not like it.