Fig tree in a tub advice

[BeBe48]

Hi All

Hope you are having a good season!

I have a small fig tree that I would like to re-pot in a large tub. What compost should I be using? I was thinking either earth from the garden or a mature plant compost from garden centre or a mixture of both. Is there anything else I should add? I want to get this right as I love figs

Thanks

[Guest]

I don't think the compost itself is a major concern as long as you feed them either as a liquid feed or a slow release that you add to the soil and keep well watered. Mine is in mpc, vermiculite and slow release feed and has grown too well (it was in the greenhouse though) so is now outside.

[BUFFS]

I always use john innes No 3 and use a cut down old plastic dustbin with drainage holes put in, it is now fan trained and about 7/8ft across and 5/6ft high from soil level, it is sulking this year as I moved it to a better location and it didn't fruit after I shifted all the branches about. if it thrives up here though, sitting out in all weathers ,facing south, it will thrive anywhere. it was originally a freebie, just pay the postage and about 4ins tall when received but last year we had a good crop off it so good luck...

[BeBe48]

Thanks for advice. I will add a mix of both No 3 that has been lying around and soil. I make a comfrey feed - would that do?

[BUFFS]

don't give it too much feed(just a little ) or all you will get is leaves, in feb snap off all the branch tips and this sends alarm signals out and it puts out more fruit in an effort to survive, I give mine a handful of chicken pellets after fruiting and a light tomato feed once a month through the summer , so don't overfeed and keep moist but not really wet..

[BUFFS]

don't use mpc as a long term base for your soil as it tires out very quickly and could leave the plant in too wet a condition for the health of the fig, they come from dry , warm areas (I wish, its been raining again here) and the No3 nutrients will give it a balanced growth, good luck...

[Thelma Sanders]

I'm loving the advice, I hope it'll come in handy as I'm watching a fig on ebay bidding in a few days

[Stan79]

Any tips on fan-training BUFFS? I've built a trellis style frame and I think it's growing in the right direction but any tips greatly appreciated.

Ours has grown surprisingly quickly. It was a Christening present for my daughter in 2013 and was maybe 2 foot high originally. 2 years later and it's 5 feet high and about 4 feet wide!

[BUFFS]

Any tips on fan-training BUFFS? I've built a trellis style frame and I think it's growing in the right direction but any tips greatly appreciated.

Ours has grown surprisingly quickly. It was a Christening present for my daughter in 2013 and was maybe 2 foot high originally. 2 years later and it's 5 feet high and about 4 feet wide!

the branches remain quite supple even after a few years growth, if you are going to fan train then do it in the autumn, I did mine just as it was about to put out some fruit embrios( in the spring as I had to move the big greenhouse) and it promptly went into a sulk, not helped by the poorest summer locally in living memory, but it has put on some new stems and they have now been tied in, its on a south facing wall and the horizontal wires are at 6ins gaps going up from 12ins above the soil level for 4ft 6ins and an 8ft spread on the wires, the narrow gap lets you tie in growth without putting a strain on the stem, I hope this helps you as it works for me with a 25-30 usual crop...good luck..

[notmebud]

Any tips on fan-training BUFFS? I've built a trellis style frame and I think it's growing in the right direction but any tips greatly appreciated.

Ours has grown surprisingly quickly. It was a Christening present for my daughter in 2013 and was maybe 2 foot high originally. 2 years later and it's 5 feet high and about 4 feet wide!

very little feeding needed is it a main crop or second crop fig ?

[BUFFS]

figs are plants that survive in the tough dry areas of the med etc where the soil is always fairly poor, and we don't get a long enough summer in this climate to ripen a good second crop (unless you can afford a heated indoor conservatory or orangery), if you feed it a rich diet all you get is lush leaves, so breaking off the tips in feb triggers an all out flush, which given a reasonable summer will give you a fair crop of tasty fruit, I feed it some chicken pellet manure in the autumn, and then no more until the fruit are swelling, and then its just quarter strength tomato feed about once a month, I don't have to water it much as this is Scotland..simples..

[veggiechicken]

Just picked some figs - lots more to come if the wasps don't get them first!!
Never fed it or watered it and its enormous. Planted between 2 walls in a bed about a foot wide. Be warned - they grow huge

[BUFFS]

I cannot risk planting mine in the ground, it would be like day of the triffids ,so being in a big tub it has to be fed or would just run out of steam, the weather is starting to feel autumnal and it is still only august, so it will be like last year, a summer free area..again..