So 4 days ago I planted 4 brown turkeys.i took out of pots and each one of them I clipped a good amount of roots from side of soil ball.those are doing good.2 days ago I planted two brown turkeys in different areas,those two I shook off all potting soil and planted in ground.those 2 are still welting.a buddy told me shaking off soil is ok because these trees have been in the pots for a good amount of time so roots are probably tangled up,dude I bought trees from said to clip the roots but when I asked him about shaking off soil he said it’s fine.im paranoid the leaves ain’t coming back.what y’all think?
If you shook off all the soil all of the fine root hairs that absorb water and nutrients were likely damaged/removed leading to quite a bit of stress for the plants. This is ok for dormant plants but not when they’re leafed out.
Keep them well watered and if you can you might want to provide them some shade.
3 Likes
Those trees are suffering from lack of roots and/or moisture.
2 Likes
Also figs are commonly not grafted so if the tops die they may come back from the roots and it will be the same variety you wanted in the first place.
1 Like
So I should be fine with clipping some roots I see on side of rootball before planting?
I wouldn’t clip anything approaching pencil-thickness, but loosening the rootball on a severely rootbound plant should be fine.
If I’m potting up anything smaller than a quart-size I rarely do much more than just try and pull the bottom apart in roughly 4 directions (N-S-E-W).
Scott
1 Like
Place something next to it to provide a bit of shade while it recovers. The issue is that the surface area of the leaves is releasing water faster than it can pull water in through the roots. Also, water it well and if necessary cut some of the leaves in half to reduce surface area.
2 Likes
They should come back. Well rooted figs are hard to kill. The current leaves are probably toast. But they’ll put out new growth with new leaves.
On the top plant, I’d cut off that horizontal shoot at the top. You don’t want a lop-sided plant like that.
Keep the roots moist not wet. Unless something else goes wrong they should be fine.