Fabric Pots suck for figs

After a few years using fabric pots. I've come to the conclusion that they SUCK for figs.

Old posts

I was doing some maintenance in the yard when I began to notice that there was a trend to all of my figs in air pots. They all looked terrible! These were DIY pots that I created which were equivalent to about 3 gallons. They definitely worked the same as regular fabric pots but man after a couple years the results were very telling.

Check out the difference of the figs in self watering pots vs fabric pots. It's drastic. The figs have only been in these pots about 2 yrs. The ones in Fabric pots look dry and have very little new growth.

Well that was enough for me to load them up into the wheel barrel and re pot them into regular 5 gallons.

When I unpotted them, which was a pain to do, the roots would grow tangled into the fabric, I noticed that they were all very dry. The fabric pots caused the roots to dry out too quickly.

After the re pot. I've noticed all of the old leaves have fallen off and new ones all have grown in their place. The new pots are making the figs much happier. I'm even seeing figs on them now.

1 week later this is how they look like. The leaves look full and healthy!

In all fairness. I think fabric pots serve a purpose and do a great job at keeping plant roots from become root bound. The reality is they probably do too great of a job of helping plants great a robust root system. Which means they outgrow their bags faster than normal pots. Which also means if you don't up pot them more regularly, you'll end up with a very sad looking plant. 

Air Pruning Pot Update 7/26/15

It's undeniable that air pruning pots are the way to go with growing bigger healthier plants. These are Kadota Figs rooted at the same time in the same medium.

*The only one thing to note is that the air pruning pot does have a higher volume of soil. Which may account for some.

Air Pruning pots for Figs update

7/7/15

Air Pruning Pot update. A little over a month and I'm starting to see some major difference in growth between two kadota fig cuttings. Both were started at the same time and size.  I purposefully chose the slightly smaller plant to go into the air pruning to pot.

Today it looks healthier and bushier than the control plant.

See the initial plant here.

Here they were in June. The air pruning pot on the left just looks healthier and bushier.

I may have to go and get a few more of these.

Update on Figs in Air pruning pots

I'm not sure if the air pruning pots are making much of a difference on the figs. They seem to be growing at the same rate as the others in regular pots.

Let's see if it will outgrow the control plant on the right which is actually larger at the moment.

Here's how they looked 3 weeks ago. Only time will tell. Let's check in on these in July.

Air pruning pots #1.

Air pruning Pots for figs

Air pruning Pots for figs.

I was walking through my local Mclendon HW store and saw these pond pots. They turn out to be great air pruning pots as well. The water in the trays is the same as what I use in my hydroponis systems.

They may grow crazy or rot. Because this is more of an experiment. I used an extra Kadota and Negronne.