First, where are you located geographically? That makes a big difference on appropriate advice :-)

Second, figs are native to the Middle East so sun is not an issue. In fact, it is an asset both for fruit development and ripening and to ensure hardiness of the tree in areas where that may be marginal. The response to more shade may just be a factor of yours being grown on in black nursery pots which heat up and dry out quickly.

And if all the shoots are coming from the same root source, you might want to give all of them (except the best/largest) away and if you want more fig trees and have the room, select a dfferent variety.

I thought I mentioned it but it looks like I neglected to. I am in zone 9 California, more specifically the SF Bay Area.

I planted these in Black cheap pots from Costco because of financial constraints. What kind of pot should they be planted in? Size/material? I do believe the black plastic was negatively affecting these plants, because the more full sun they got, the less they seemed to thrive.

I gave away 12 + trees. I kept 8 with the idea in mind that if I accidentally killed one (or more than one) I would still have some extras. If they all Thrive I would be happy to give start giving them away. It's not so much about wanting figs - both Neighbors on either side of me have absolutely giant fig trees of the same variety, and I don't even particularly like figs, though my husband likes them ok. I'm keeping them because I like trees and plants and was looking at it as a gardening adventure!

You live in fig heaven, so I doubt there is much you can do to obstruct the growth :-) My older sibs grew up in that area before I came on the scene and they still regale me wih stories of "fig wars" betwen them and the neighbor kids. Every garden had a fig tree!

I would still just keep one and plant in the ground. They grow beautfully in that area and will get large and it is much harder to maintain a tree properly in a container than it is in the ground. And in your climate, there are SO many other trees and plants you can select to accent your garden that I personally wouldn't waste a lot of space on more of the same......unless you want a mini fig forest :-))

that's why I was hoping to keep them in containers, preferably all of them, because I don't particularly like/need figs and I'm devoting valuable Garden space to the trees I like/need. So you think I should just give all of them away? I was hoping to have a new experience learning how to grow container figs.

Spend some time on the Container Gardening forum before you come to that decision :-) It is a LOT more work!!

Tristan,

Sell or give away the potted figs. Plenty of folks will be happy with them. Grow what you like to grow in your garden. It's your garden!

Moses

Well said Moses.

I'd keep at least one! Keeping figs in containers is not too difficult. Black pots may not be the best, but they will work fine. The pots should be sized according to the size of the tree (there's a thread on proper sizing of pots and why it's not good to go too big right away on the container forum here), it looks like yours has plenty of room to grow. Once you've settled on your final pot size (15-20 gal is very common for a decent sized tree) and it's grown out, the tree will need regular root pruning every couple of years or you will risk it becoming pot bound and declining. Keeping the fig tree in a 15-20 gal pot should provide you plenty of figs, particularly as you are not a fig fanatic as some around here are.

Best of luck!

This could be a seedling that will never fruit.

I see no fruits at all in the pictures.

They fruited last year but this year we had a pretty rough summer. I had the pots in the very sunniest location but it was hard to access them with the hose and at one point stuff got too dry. I moved them at one point to a location thats easier to water and that helped a lot. Hopefully I'll be better with them next year so they can fruit again. My husband does enjoy the figs so Id rather not give all of them away just yet.