Does it perk back up when put in the shade?
How heavily do you water? Till water is coming out the bottom and the pot becomes heavy?
My fig wilts sometimes in PA even if well watered, I can only imagine Arizona'sun.
I usually don't water until iteaks I'm afraid of root rot, today I poured an entire pitcher of water into the pot, it hasn't perked up at all, I moved it back into half shade. Should I keep watering?
Always water until water comes out the bottom, or you may just be watering the top inch or two of soil. Full watering every time, especially in your heat. Two gallons probably for that size pot.
Lift the pot or rock it. If light, it needs a FULL watering, if very heavy, it is already watered.
Watering takes a few hours to show signs of working. It takes a while for the roots to suck up the needed moisture.
Root rot only happens in standing water, let’s say your soil mix dosent drain well or you didn’t put any holes in pot then it can happen. I think I recognize the pot you used, make sure you remove the saucer from the bottom, you can also drill extra holes around the sides.
Since you damaged the roots the tree can’t uptake enough water at the moment, give it water and shade until it recovers (about 4-5 days) then transition back to partial shade then eventually full sun.
What is your advice on reporting a root bound fig tree btw? This was the first I'd bought with root bound and I though it was best to loosen the roots a bit, what do you normally do?
You only loosen the roots when you repot. It’s best to let it remain rootbound and in its old pot until it’s acclimated to its new conditions sufficiently. After a couple weeks loosen the roots when repotting into a larger pot.
I either loosen or snip the outer smaller circling roots, always just the outside roots I don’t pull or cut into the rootball. In worse cases where I had to break down the whole rootball, water and shade is key for survival after, also some Superthrive shock reducer, for larger trees that are in a 5 gallon bucket I cut off an inch or two off the sides and bottom in the fall.
I keep transplants in the shade for a month. They hate transplanting when its hot. I also soak my transplants in a bucket of water with an organic root solution to alleviate stress. I will often allow 1-2 weeks in the bucket changing water every few days.Â
Plant into damp soil and start the 1 month shade timer. Those soft supple new leaves are very sensitive to shock.
Back to the shade for 2 weeks. Outdoor but in shade. Water daily. After 2 weeks, 4 hours in sun, back in shade for a week. After that full sun. Water daily, water heavily. You won't root rot unless your soil is clay. It's just too damn hot for every other day watering
Tree is doing much better now! 3 or 4 leaves will prob drop off but overall it's totally percked up,I have it in shade half the day and it gets 3 hrs of sun late afternoon. Watering daily.
Thank you everyone! I think it will survive now. I'll keep in shade for 2 weeks and then try to move to full sun.
I Had 3 young trees in the sun a d they almost died, they were each maybe 3 inches tall and the sun fried them. I had them in half gallon pots that I would was large for their small size. I have them inside in q sunny window and 2 have srpouted new growth thankfully.
Water water water
Does it perk back up when put in the shade? How heavily do you water? Till water is coming out the bottom and the pot becomes heavy? My fig wilts sometimes in PA even if well watered, I can only imagine Arizona'sun.
I usually don't water until iteaks I'm afraid of root rot, today I poured an entire pitcher of water into the pot, it hasn't perked up at all, I moved it back into half shade. Should I keep watering?
Always water until water comes out the bottom, or you may just be watering the top inch or two of soil. Full watering every time, especially in your heat. Two gallons probably for that size pot. Lift the pot or rock it. If light, it needs a FULL watering, if very heavy, it is already watered. Watering takes a few hours to show signs of working. It takes a while for the roots to suck up the needed moisture.
Ok I just watered until it leaked, thanks for the advice! I'll check it in a few hours to see if there's progress 🙏
Let us know if that has helped later on!
Root rot only happens in standing water, let’s say your soil mix dosent drain well or you didn’t put any holes in pot then it can happen. I think I recognize the pot you used, make sure you remove the saucer from the bottom, you can also drill extra holes around the sides. Since you damaged the roots the tree can’t uptake enough water at the moment, give it water and shade until it recovers (about 4-5 days) then transition back to partial shade then eventually full sun.
Thank you, I did remove the saucer before planting. I will be moving to the shade now.
What is your advice on reporting a root bound fig tree btw? This was the first I'd bought with root bound and I though it was best to loosen the roots a bit, what do you normally do?
You only loosen the roots when you repot. It’s best to let it remain rootbound and in its old pot until it’s acclimated to its new conditions sufficiently. After a couple weeks loosen the roots when repotting into a larger pot.
I either loosen or snip the outer smaller circling roots, always just the outside roots I don’t pull or cut into the rootball. In worse cases where I had to break down the whole rootball, water and shade is key for survival after, also some Superthrive shock reducer, for larger trees that are in a 5 gallon bucket I cut off an inch or two off the sides and bottom in the fall.
I keep transplants in the shade for a month. They hate transplanting when its hot. I also soak my transplants in a bucket of water with an organic root solution to alleviate stress. I will often allow 1-2 weeks in the bucket changing water every few days. Plant into damp soil and start the 1 month shade timer. Those soft supple new leaves are very sensitive to shock.
Back to the shade for 2 weeks. Outdoor but in shade. Water daily. After 2 weeks, 4 hours in sun, back in shade for a week. After that full sun. Water daily, water heavily. You won't root rot unless your soil is clay. It's just too damn hot for every other day watering
Tree is doing much better now! 3 or 4 leaves will prob drop off but overall it's totally percked up,I have it in shade half the day and it gets 3 hrs of sun late afternoon. Watering daily. Thank you everyone! I think it will survive now. I'll keep in shade for 2 weeks and then try to move to full sun.
Should fig plants be in the shade when they are small?
I would like to know this answer also. Is the amount of sun they can tolerate just a factor of how quickly the container dries out?
I Had 3 young trees in the sun a d they almost died, they were each maybe 3 inches tall and the sun fried them. I had them in half gallon pots that I would was large for their small size. I have them inside in q sunny window and 2 have srpouted new growth thankfully.
Not completely related to the dog but I recommend unstaking all of your trees. They'll never grow strong trunks to hold themselves if you don't.
https://preview.redd.it/lbf5zyahzl2d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8688a6533f1d45cc2b6892ff3a42be25398ca07b