Hi -

I have a few questions on optimal growing of fig trees.

I have seen the many posts by Al T and have benefitted from his posts and his kindness of emailing and talking directly to me. Thanks Al!

I have transferred a number of plants including a fig to the gritty mix with good success. To this point however, I have put plants in pot sizes that have required only about 3 quarts of the gritty mix.

Now on to most of my fig trees which are currently in 44 quart cylindrical containers containing miracle grow potting mix amended with perlite. Container dimensions: ~ 17.5 inches tall and ~ 18 inches across (internal diameter).

Some of my plants have been in the same mix for about 7 years.


When the first couple of trees were new to me I used miracle grow 24-8-16 to fertilize them at package strength every week or two and got a good number of figs from them in the first few years. For the last couple of years they haven't produced that much. Last year I did root pruning on them and put them back in the same miracle grow potting mix. Also, last year I was unable to fertilize them as much as I should have so I know that is at least part of the reason the yield was poor. I am curious is that likely to be the primary reason or is it more likely to be a result of the combination of the root pruning, the miracle grow potting mix which I know is not ideal due to perched water and compaction, and the age of the soil in general (some ~ 7 years old)?

I would like this year to try to put at least one tree in the gritty mix but I am concerned about the weight issue of the pot. I estimate that a 44 quart container containing gritty mix will weigh nearly 100 pounds before addition of water, which will obviously increase the weight.

For those that plant in gritty mix how do you handle the weight � use a 2 wheeler to move the pots? Or, do you reduce the size of the pot to say half of the 44 quart size? I can imagine that moving a pot of this size/weight (44 quarts) to and from the garage will become tedious very quickly unless the 2 wheeler makes the move quite easy.

I am concerned that by reducing the size of the pot to make the weight manageable, because the soil volume is reduced, then the yield will also be quite reduced.

Or are people using the 5-1-1 for fig trees since it will be lighter?

Martin D. �

I have seen many posts of people saying you grow fig trees very well. I seem to recall at one point you using the gritty mix. How did you handle the weight issue? What is your preferred soil mix, fertilizing schedule, etc. If you use something other than the gritty mix or 5-1-1 do you put the pot in direct contact with the earth so as to help with the perched water table as Al T has described?

Al �

I believe in one of your posts I have seen horticultural perlite can be substituted (after screening) for the gran-i-grit which will lighten the pot. Should I do this (I�m in St. Louis area) to better manage the weight of the pot? Should I substitute only a portion of the gran-i-grit or all of it? I assume the weight of the turface will be enough to keep the pot from blowing over in case of a strong wind.

Since our weather is improving I would like to in the following week do some root pruning and address the soil issue.

If I can�t find an effective way to deal with the weight of the gritty mix in the 44 quart container then I�d like to know if I should buy new soil (miracle grow potting mix or promix or something of the like) to replace the 7 year soil mix to hopefully get better yields - with of course more frequent fertilization?

Thanks all for any advice.

Brian