try starting with the info here. good luck.

http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/figs4funforum/vpost?id=2288561

>>>I have never taken care of these figs
>>>The figs are mature about 10 tears old.
>>>We always have a bumper crop.
That is good news!!!
How big a the pots and fig-trees?

Sometimes I wonder if I should re-start figs (from cuttings
rather than going through this whole root pruning ordeal;
(have plenty of them due now or very soon).

George (NJ).

The best time to do root work is just before the bud breaks in the spring.

For a mature tree (especially if mobility is an issue) you may want to use the pie method Al has mentioned a few times. First remove the bottom 2-3 inches of the root ball with a saw. Next remove 3 pie shaped wedges that total about 1/3 of the remaining root ball. Add a few inches of fresh growing mix to your container, then place the tree back into the container and back fill the pie shaped wedges with fresh growing mix. Water in well. Every year, do the same removing different segments of the root ball. Every three years, you will will have a complete change of roots.

~james

Thanks to Steve, James and George for the help. The pots are very big...the bigest ones the nursery had. I own a hardware store and my sources don't carry larger ones. Can I root prune if there are small leaves ? They winter in a garage (in Massachusetts) so they don't go outside until late May. midgeb

Since you have large trees and access to copper pipe, you might want to try the stab and stuff method I outlined in the tread linked below. Generally, major root work should be done while the tree is dormant. For the method in the link, you can do a little bit at a time while there are leaves on the tree without setting the tree back too much.

~james

Here is a link that might be useful: stab and stuff