Steve, I had similar problems with mine, but have turned them around through adding fertilizer and watching to keep moisture content stable. Since potting your fig, have you fertilized it at all? and has it had any heat or water stress within the past few weeks? we can help with an Rx better if we know what kind of conditions it's gone through. Mine had some hot days, not enough water, and definitely had a need for nutrients, which they weren't getting near enough of. The leaves started turning scroungy and falling off. I treated them with care, now many have new growth on them and look vastly improved. What's your fig been dealing with lately?

Sherry
(the one in the "justbeentheredonethat" tshirt

Steve, try using the cheap Steer Manure with compost that you get at Home Depot. It is 99 cents. I don't even mix that into the soil, I just leave a layer on the top, and water. Eventually, the nutrients will leach downwards into the root area with the water.

Also, how big the size of your container really does not matter. It is always better to have bigger than smaller for the roots. I suspect the problem is not coming from too much water, unless you water everday. The problem might be that when you transplanted the tree, the roots were all bunched up, and tangled up, and formed a very dense root ball. When you planted that into the bigger pot, and watered, none of the water was getting into the root ball area because of the root density. Instead, the water was traveling through the sides of the container where the soil is more loose. So despite the attempted watering, the root ball might have been in fact dry. So try dripping water into the center one drop at a time for an hour.

By the way, I never use chemical fertilizers. That stuff is just bad news for your soil. It kills all the microbes, earthworms, and makes your plants totally dependent on it for future nutrients. In the beginning the chemical fertilizer will look like it is working, but as time goes by, you'll find that you need more and more of it, since it has killed all the beneficial organisms in the soil which helps your plant absorp nutrients. After that point, then you'll notice the problems come out.

So instead of chemicals, I put in a layer of dead leaves as mulch, compost, manure, bone meal, and any fruit scraps from the kitchen. I use that as fertilizer.

If I think the plant needs a little nitrogen, I don't buy that. I just pee in a bottle. Mix that urine with 10 parts water, and water the plants. Total cost: Free!

I have had a similar problem. The past few days one of my potted fig trees has only some of the leaves yellowing. I live in CT and we did have a heat wave for 3-4 days but I did water. I will try putting a layer of cow manure fresh soil.

why have leaves only on some braches turned yellow? the figs right next to the yellowing leaves still look fine. Will they be OK?

Sherry and Jonathan, thank you for your suggestions. Like most of the country, Portland is in a heat wave, but although interestingly yesterday was a record-breaking 104 degrees and the fig looks better this morning, though perhaps that's because three yellow leaves fell off.

I hadn't fertilized the plant at all since its planting this spring, and the watering has been around weekly, although my roommate may be watering it as well and I'm unaware, which I'll clarify. I will try a bit of steer manure. To Jonathan's suggestion, I don't think it's rootbound because it's a very small plant, 1' tall.

For anyone curious on this topic, the forum had a very robust conversation on about potting mix, fertilizer, container size and root pruning last year that I found interesting:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fig/msg1208343429674.html

Thanks,

Steve

if your leaves are yellowing from the bottom up, this is most likely a case of overwatering. Otherwise, you are looking at some sort of nutrient deficiencey. It may be due to lack of feeding or it may be a root problem. If you wish to email me, I have a breakdown of the primary macro-, secondary macro- and micronutrients, their role in plant health and the effects of excess/defeciency on the plant I can send.

It is important to remember when dealing with potted trees/plants is they are dependant on you for care... from proper pot size to proper growing mix to proper watering to proper feeding, its all about you. Also, mistakes made in a pot are more serious than those made while caring for a tree in the ground. For this reason, I prefer using a COTS product to feed my trees. From bottle to bottle, I am reasonably assured of what I am putting into the pot and I don't have to worry about how soda, coffee, water, beer, etc. is going to effect the quality of my urine before pouring it into my trees.

~james

I converted it to a pic and here it is... the relative % is the nutrients composition in a plant in relation to the amount of nitrogen (hence, nitrogen is 100%).

James, thank you for the nutrient breakdown and the tip on COTS, although I'm sure it can't compete w/ Jonathan's homemade product for economy.

Steve