Pot size for fig tree?

[Gryfon]

Hiya

Local garden centre has some nice pots cheap at the moment so I was thinking of getting a nice one to put the fig tree in and move it into the greenhouse (when I have a floor). So will it be alright in a pot above ground? Don't want the roots to bake. Also it's only a tiny tree so do I put it into the biggest pot it needs now?

Thanks

[Galileo]

A pot is fine for a fig tree.

Most books tell you to increase pot size gradually. This is because if you pot into a large pot straight away the roots dont get into a lot of the soil for a long time and the soil can go sour from being cold and wet. So when the roots get to the soil eventually it is not so good for the tree.

However I now pot into the final pot size immediately. This is from bitter experience of trying to repot largish fruit trees from 18inch pots to 20inch pots. I damaged the trees in almost every case and in one case broke the pot. A 18 or 20 inch diameter pot filled with John Inns no3 (Recommended for Fig trees) is very very heavy and you will need about four people to do it safely.

I have had no problems potting into large pots immediately regardless of what the books say . Put the empty pot in its final position before filling though!!!!

[Gryfon]

Thanks Got the pot, just need the greenhouse floor now!