your right mg doesn't hold water all to well.
it seems once the soil dry out it never really hold water all to good after that. when i water it the water goes right to the edges and run down not even soaking into the potting mix. it can become really compact after that. I keep a plastic bag over the soil to keep some moister in. i don't believe there is a problem with allow pots to sit in water as long as its not to deep and allowed to drain a bit between watering.

I live in Florida and we get about 1/4 - 1/2 inch of rain a day right now during the rainy season. My LSU gold in a two gallon pot is growing out of control. I fertilize it regulary and I added pine shavings to my soil so it stays moist longer.

I think it also depends on your varity weather or not its roots can handle moist/wet soil.

bill:
May I ask, what kind of fertilizer do you use and how much of it do you apply and how often? Thank you. Leon

Ox,

As fig roots grow the kind of root hairs that form will adapt to the particular environment into which it grows. Water adapted roots will form and grow into a water rich environment and do quite will as long as the environment into which they grew stays moist. Remove that source of constant moisture and those water adapted roots will struggle again as they re-adapt to a drier environment.

Dan

So from what Dan says, figs are flexible but they like consistency! They can adapt, but show you their dismay when their environment changes.

The moment my one baby fig went onto the same drip system that waters our citrus and pomegranate, it got very happy! It lives in temperatures exceeding 109 degrees on most days, and receives 3 hours of water on a 1/2 gallon emmitter every other day.

I listened to advice here about pinching when I saw 5 leaves, and it killed me to do it, but the results are amazing! New branches and bright green everywhere. This is it's first year, so no figs yet, but I can see it grow and that makes me happy!

I also thought if the pinching works for figs, why not citrus? So I pinched the ends of some of my citrus branches, and guess what! New branches and tons of new leaves popping out everywhere!!

Thanks for all your good advice. My best comment here on this thread would be to go to Home Depot invest in a timer run drip system, and your life will be easier! As the seasons change, you can adjust the timer to water less or more as needed, and you can even go on a trip with no worries!
Suzi

Suzi,

Yes. I really like the way you put it:

"figs are flexible but they like consistency! They can adapt, but show you their dismay when their environment changes."

Excellent description.....and the same principle applies when rooting cuttings......they really like that "consistency" element.

Dan

Suzi:
I have the drip system, but I have not installed it because all my trees are on the patios, front and back. If I lay lines to them the grands will trip and fall and generally tear up the system.

So, I have to adapt to the environment.
Ox

OX,
I've been thinking along the same lines. I don't think we had one 24hr. period without rain in the entire month of July. Yesterday it rained so hard for three hours straight that it was scary. I kept peeking out at my, "baby figs", started this January, feeling so sorry for them being drenched again. I needen't have worried. These little guys are only 12 to 18" high but very robust and have 10 to 15 good size figs on them. A few have already ripened and they were good. My 2 and 3 yr. old trees have more figs than ever before, 50 to 65 figs on some trees. All my trees are in pots. Most of the pots are too small but the trees grew faster in all the rain than I could keep up with the repotting, then set the fruit and by that time it was too late to repot. On the rare occassions when the sun does come out for 6 to 7 hours they wilt if I don't water them and perk right up when I do. fasinating!

Peg

I have about 75 figs in 5-10 gallon pots. Once the temp is over 80 I need to water everyday or leaves start wilting & folding. I'm slowly getting 16" plastic saucers to put under all the figs & it makes a huge difference in regulating & maintaining a steady level of moisture & reducing stress to the plants. I also tend to bottom water then, to allow the plant to uptake what it needs.

A few years back on this forum someone also mentioned that particularly when one is ripening fruit, you want to make sure your container figs don't dry out or it affects the quality of the fruit. I would say this has been my experience also.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dreamtime Village

I have a bag of citrus granular stuff. Off the top of my head its 12-8-8 or something close to that. If we get rain like we did this past week, 5 days, 4 inches, I can getaway with adding fert about once a every other week or so. I put about a 1/2 table spoon or so. I dont measure, just guestimate. The ones in the ground I use citrus tree spikes, the same, 12-8-8 or so. I noticed my celeste has taken off and about doubled its yearly growth this past week with all the rain. I also put a tree spike in the ground about two weeks ago too. Might be the combination of both. Ill post some photos of the figs just for kicks.