I'm in northern California. Very dry and usually 90's plus all summer long. I use 4" deep water trays (mostly plastic dishpans from the dollar store) to catch the water that drains through the nursery pots that I use. My trees will suck up a gallon of water (or more when it gets REALLY hot)a day so the trays cut watering down to about every three days versus every day. My trees never wilt with this method. This would notbe a good idea in humid areas, as the roots would rot. This is strictly a low humidity area method. My trees love all the moisture. They are growing like weeds. I found out that low fig production this year is due to abnormal late freeze we had last month. A visit to all the mother trees (to my cutting grown trees) proved that to be true 'cause they are, for the most part, devoid of figs, also. Try the water tray thing. The wider the tray the better. This way, water has more surface area to pick up oxygen from the air. Keep an eye on your trees and see how they react to his method. Good luck. FF

Ox, I bury many of my pots about halfway in the dirt. I rarely water those particular pots and only water them during a drought or signs of stess. Most of them send out roots from the drain holes on the side of the pot which I cut when it is time to put them away for the winter. I do have several larger pots (30 gallon) that I recently converted to Tapla's soil mixture and haven't buried so I can't really comment on how to care for those yet.

A friend on the forum previously cautioned that partially buring pots puts those plants at risk for RKN. I don't have any history of RKN but I did want to share that concern. Vinnie

Southern Calif desert here. Hot dry windy. Over 100 all summer. My container fig is in the morning sun and afternoon shade. It is potted in part potting soil, part vermiculite and part peat moss. I have a neat little tool called a "soil sleuth." Google it. It aerates the soil and also shows you how damp or dry it is. I use that handy little guy for all my containers. Good luck to you!

Hi Ox,
i know everyones watering needs are different depending on lots of things like where pot sits on grass on cement on a hot roof etc,etc.
Anyhoot here is my experience, i have grown acustom to lifting on lip of my pots to fell how heavy they are and then i water if need be even i do this with the big pots. In heat of summer usually every other day with my potting soil i use which can be miracle grow, Upm, or Shultz as i use all 3 still mixed in with a little pine nuggets the small ones. I do similar as you with hose filling a 5 gallon bucket the large pots each get a 5 gallon watering.
What i also use as well is a tree root feeder that i find comes in handy it attaches to hose and has about 2 and a half or 3 ft aluminum rood with holes at the tip and i can control the blast of water. I like useing this as it makes it easier on my back instead of lifting that darn 5 gallon pail for what seems an enternity, i just go from pot to pot with the root feeder massaging it up and down and around several spots in pot , it also seems to aerate the soil with that blast of water unless compact then the massage up and down losens up that area of soil if a little hard. My pots are on the rocks and cement patio in full sun.
Well Ox thats my story and im sure you will get more!
Best Health
Martin