AS you've got nothing to lose, I would pop the plant out of the pot for a minute and look at the roots (white good, brown ok, black bad, little balls/nodules on the roots also bad). This will also give you an idea about how the potting mix is as well.

Worse comes to worse, get it to limp through the growing season and try rooting some cuttings.

~Chills

I can't tell for sure, but it looks like there is some rust on the leaves. This usually means too much water. If the plant is stressed for some reason I would think twice about removing it from the pot. As Chills said, if you can get it to survive during the growing season you can repot it in a better medium for next spring. Unless the soil is dry down a couple inches in I would see how it does with less frequent watering. If it got stressed it might just come out of it and have a growth spurt soon.

Theres some good branches for air layering. Theres many posts on air layering & its a very simple option. Probably easier than trying to nurse the plant back to good health. If successful, U should have at least a couple of brand new plants.

I've brought home plants from the nursery in much worse shape than this. You might want to add a dilute fertilizer to your watering regime and re-pot next year into your normal growing mix.

~james

dancinglemons :)

You asked, if there was a fig doctor in the house?

Well in my oponion, ya got 4 specilist's

Cecil

Opppps,
I meant opinion !

Damn brain flatus's HEHE

Cecil

Do what Chills say and check for nematodes,first.
If clean then you got a reason to baby it,and it will respond.

Dancinglemons, If it's the fig in the large black nursery pot, I don't see how it can be so dry that it needs to be watered every day - even if the mix is airy. It could just be too much water as hlyell suggests. Check the drain holes. stick your hand in or lift the pot to gauge how much moisture is in there before watering.

WOW -- You guys are really great!! I did everything that everyone suggested. First - no nematodes but this baby is so pot bound that I could sell the roots on eBay and retire for life :-))

We pulled Stella out of the pot and found that the roots go round and round and round all the way from top to bottom. Roots are mostly off-white not dark brown and no black roots were seen. AND just as hlyell surmised the bottom of the root ball was nice and moist. The top however is dry each morning - I will cut back on the watering.

Should I leave Stella in her 3 gallon pot until spring 2009 OR should I repot now and cut some of the roots?? I also have the option of putting Stella in the ground but I would like to wait until tree looks a bit better.

Just my opinion - I'd repot now. The tree is in distress, and will probably respond favorably to root pruning and new soil. Just keep it in a sheltered spot for a few days.

fignut,

Thanks! Stella will get a new pot and live in partial shade for few days.

DL

I'm no expert, but when I get a clearanced distressed plant, I usually soak the entire pot in a bucket of water for about 10 minutes or so....to make sure the entire root ball and soil is saturated. Then I will repot it into a larger container with potting mix... This usually does the trick... Often there are air pockets in the soil and the water flows through the pot.

Robert

rjlinva, I understand what you are saying, but this plant has been watered daily for a while with very little foliage to pull the moisture out of the pot. I don't think adding more water is going to be helpful when too much water is the problem. I had considered suggesting waiting to repot until the plant had dried out a bit, and had a chance to "breathe" and recuperate, but just getting it into a better situation won out.

Haven't been following closely, but I WOULD NOT repot or root-prune at this time. It would probably kill the tree (it's obviously been growing under extreme stress). Potting up would be ok, but deciduous trees should never be root-pruned/repotted (except in extreme emergency) while in leaf.

Repotting/root-pruning now would almost surely cause loss of foliage, and the period between summer solstice and killing frost is critical to storage of reserve energy - the tree needs all its photosynthetic machinery (leaves) until frost.

I would pot up and bury the pot up to the soil line until after killing frost and dormancy. Water by allowing the hose to trickle on the plant & do a complete repot in spring before budswell.

Al

Hi folks,

I took all of the wonderful information I was given and used it well. I took Stella out of her cramped condo and cut off 30% of her root ball. I then cut wedges into four sides of the root ball. I put Stella in a pot just slightly larger than her original pot with fresh potting mix in bottom and around sides. I used 3 cups of BioTone Starter Plus mixed into the potting mix. I watered and waited. I figured she would live or die. Well thanks to you good folks Stella is alive and beginning to thrive. She now has new leaf clusters on each of the old leaf cluster points. I will post updated photo soon. Now mind you Stella will not win any robust fig tree contest this year but she is 'in training'.

Now for the final question - Will Stella survive if I put her in the ground in September?? Sorry to keep talking about this fig tree like a person but it has been quite an experience - I'm a total newbie at this.

DL

I will not put Stella in the ground. Let it sit in your new pot to gain the extra mileage in growth. Less disturbing its recovery the better. If U want to put it into ground, the best time is in spring when it is about to break buds.

paully22,

Thanks. I will wrap Stella up in a thick blanket/quilt when it gets cold here and the leaves drop off. (November probably)
Do you think an outside screen porch with no heat will be OK for this fig? Do I water the fig during the winter?

Thanks,
DL

Just wanted to update all of the Fig Doctors who saved Stella's life. I will post new pictures of this tree today.

Cheers,
DL

A great BIG thank you to all who gave suggestions to help Stella live. Below you will see this fig as it was in July 2008 and below that you will see this fig as it is today.

Cheers,
DL