Terry...
Basically, you will un-pot the tree and wash away all old potting medium to expose the root system. You'll want to cut away most of the thick, woody roots, and keep most of the healthy, thin, fiberous feeder roots. Also cut away any roots that look diseased, or rotten, and cut back about 1/3 of the feeder roots and any thick, woody roots, growing straight down. You can re-pot the tree in either the same pot, or a larger pot, but use new growing medium of your choice...but it should drain quickly, and not be a medium that stays soaking wet and cold. This heavy medium could likely sour, and rot the roots. This is done just before the tree starts to break dormancy, as the buds start swelling. If the trees have sprouted new leaves, it's too late.

This forum has plenty of information about re-potting and root pruning fig trees. Also, Youtube has this information in video form. Pruning methods can be found on Youtube also.

Have fun, and happy growing.

Frank

Thanks again Frank. I will do dome more research. I'm not needing to prune roots yet but want to be prepared for when the time comes.

You may find the info at the link below to be helpful. It covers repotting, root pruning, and offers a lot of information that will help you maintain trees in containers over the long term.

Al

Here is a link that might be useful: Click me for more info ...

Thanks Al, I will read the posts, I think I have read part of that thread before but will read the entire thread as homework lol! One question I thought of right away after reading your first post in the top of the thread, do you cut off the entire tap root at the top? I guess that you do this because it would try to grow straight down, which it can't do in the pot.
Terry

I always remove anything growing straight down from anywhere near the base of the trunk. I don't always do it all in 1 repotting session, but that is always my aim & I git er done over the course of as many repots as it takes. That's mostly because I'm a bonsai practitioner and a broad, fat root base is a very attractive feature that may be of no consideration to you whatsoever.

Plants from cuttings really don't have taproots, but the plants are genetically smart enough to know they need anchoring, so they're programmed to send out taproot replacements in the form of roots that grow downward from near the base of the tree. These roots serve no purpose in containerized trees, and will need to be removed anyway, as soon as they hit the bottom of the pot & start circling or growing back up into the root mass, so it's better to just eliminate them as they occur.

This is a maple, but pretty much how I treat figs, too:
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Other roots after pruning:
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From this
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to this
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Al

Tapla, those are really nice pictures, I wonder if anyone has ever grown a bonsai fig.
Terry

Lots of species of Ficus make excellent bonsai - but the hardy fig usually discussed here doesn't make a believable bonsai because of its very large leaf size, long internodes, and generally coarse growth. To be believable, F carica would almost HAVE to be a very large bonsai to keep leaf size in scale.

Al

A willow-leaf fig, tied into the pot because it was recently root pruned & repotted. It needs pruning badly in this pic.
{{gwi:3269}}

That is really a beautiful bonsai.

I just started a thread for creating a fig bonsai. I always wanted to try this difficult plant material, and I realize Ficus carica bonsai will always have limitations, but I am encouraged after reading your postings, and seeing what beautiful, bonsai-figs are being trained in Europe. Amazing!

When I first started growing bonsai, I never realized that all the photos shown in publications were usually taken AFTER the trees had reached the refinement stages. I didn't realize that I was seeing already trained trees, and wondered why my trees never looked like the photos after a few years. Now I know. Bonsai is a work-in-progress up until the last stages. Patience....patience...

Thanks for the photo-essay.

Al, may your base spread wide! : )

Frank

If I root prune now will I still get fruit this year?

I have been told that it is safe to root prune when the tree is
dormant. I think it is ok to loosen up the roots if the tree is potbound and you are putting into a bigger pot and it has not leafed out too much yet...and water plenty afterwards. I did that recently with a new fig tree we bought this week...we drove past a nusery in Virginia and brought it home to NY after buying it there. It was so potbound when I watered it at the hotel we stayed at the water ran right through... there was hardly any soil in the pot to retain the water. Well I guess I should have expected that since I only paid 35.00 plus tax for a 6 ft Italian Honey Fig Tree. The tree survived the trip home because we repotted it right away during the trip. It has some green leaves at the top that look healthy.
Terry

Terry,

If it were mine, I would just leave it be in its larger pot until it goes dormant. It will put out new roots into the new soil around the root ball.

I have taken a plant stake and poked holes through compacted rootballs to help water get into the root ball before with no negative effects, as a stopgap measure. Let your new tree get settled in its larger pot with more soil and see how it does.

Good luck with your "rescue" fig tree. It will have a great home with you.

noss