It's so late in the season, I would expect some leaf drop. Also those poor plants have probably been in pots sitting around at Lowes for many months and a few weeks for you. That in itself would cause some stress and more leaf drop. Unless the plants look like they're croaking completely, I doubt you have anything to worry about. Get them in the ground so they have some time to establish themselves before winter - assuming you are in a colder climate. You don't give any info about where you're at. Kevin

woodmanca, I'm from San Francisco too, and started growing figs this year. I collect numerous kinds, but mostly varieties that need less heat to ripen fruit. I beleive mission needs more heat to ripen fruit that what we have. I've visited someone down in the mission district who has a huge mission fig tree at least 15 years old. And they tell me that they rarely get any sweet ripe mission figs. Most of them are bland, and the birds get to them quick. Just curious, has the mission fig ever ripen for you in the past in San Francisco? Squirrels will eat your figs. But birds are also a nightmare, especially for dark color figs. Two weeks ago, just before my 1st Osborne Prolific fig was changing color to half-purple, the birds started pecking on it, and left lots of peck marks on the fruit. I was curious to see if the fig was really ripe, and why the bird chose it, so I washed the fig, and ate the remaining fig. The fig at that point was not even close to ripe. It tasted very bland, and had no sweetness. If I left it to ripen in another 5 days there might have been some flavor. After that, I started covering my figs with zip-lock bags with lots of small holes punched in them so the figs do not rot. This worked great. I was able to let the figs ripen, and try them at the best instead of having to race the birds to them, and settling for figs that weren't fully ripe. Just tried a Desert King fig that just ripened 1 week ago. It was big and juicy. I also tried 3 Osbourne Prolific Fig for the first time about 2 weeks ago. It was good too. I also have an Excell fig tree that is big. I bought a big tree because I was impatient. I heard Excell works for SF. I'll find out this year. The excell fig tree is loaded with lots of medium sized fruit, but they aren't ripening yet. I think maybe I can get those by September? Maybe? Will report back.

Are you spraying.

The containers will probably improve with more steady feeding. Rain and watering leach fertilizer faster from a container than the soil. The one in ground will eventually get nutrients from the mulch as it decomposes but depending on conditions could probably use some extra fertilizer at times to grow well. If the leaves start having problems again take some more pictures. You should also learn about pruning, trees that are weedy and dense are more vulnerable to fungi that attack leaves.