Let me start by saying I'm a complete fig newbie. I've done a lot of reading but still have a lot of questions.

Anyway, I purchased a Chicago Hardy fig tree from Raintree nursery in march. When I received it the fig was potted in a tall square slender black nursery pot and was about 36" tall straight whip with a diameter of around 1/2". I bought a 14" pot from the local big box store and drilled about ten 5/8" drainage holes all around the bottom of the planter. I made a 5:1:1 potting mix with a little lime granules mixed in. I clipped the top 8" of the whip and bagged it as a cutting. I then pulled the fig from the nursery pot and the root mass/potting soil was very hard. I tried to break it up some prior to potting but it was very difficult and I was afraid to damage the roots. (In hind site I should've taken a garden hose and used water pressure to break up the root ball a bit). Regardless, I planted the fig whip in my potting mix and added about 2 inches of pine bark mulch to the top of the pot. I watered it in well and the pot drains well. Fast forward exactly 31 days later and all I have are the top 2 nodes of the fig tree has small tight leaf balls that look like little brussell sprouts the size of a green pea. That haven't even opened up and hardly seem to be changing at all. In contrast, the cutting I took from the plant that is still in a zip lock bag with sphagnum moss has bud sprouts 3-4 times larger.

Did I do something wrong? Should I have cut the whip back more? Should I have broken up that root ball better and fanned out the roots? I will take a picture when I get home tonight so you can see how piddley this thing looks.