There are many variables to be considered in a discussion about soils. I'll tell you a little about 3 different soils & you can decide how different they are and if you think compaction/soil collapse will be a problem for you. Peat based soils, like MG, break down quickly - within a single growing season. When you use them, you have to hope the container size and o/a plant mass is enough to compensate for the collapse toward the end of summer. Hopefully, the roots have colonized the container and the planting has matured to the degree that the plant is able to use the water from compacted soils quickly enough to avoid root rot. We hope that roots are healthy enough that they actually become a part of the structure of the soil and function as aids to the soils ability to hold air. For maximun vitality when using these soils, the plant should be bare-rooted every year. Conifer bark-based soils break down at a rate around 1/4 that of peat soils. They virtually guarantee that the roots will become a part of the soil structure w/o much concern for root rot, as long as your irrigation practices are reasonable. The 5:1:1 mix of pine bark:peat:perlite is a good example of this type of soil, and there are hundreds of GW folks growing in it with very good results. You should expect at least 2 years service from this soil, as opposed to 1 from those based on peat. Your trees should have some attention paid to their roots every two years - 3 years maximum, so this is a good soil to use for your trees. The third type of soil is the gritty mix described way upthread. It consists of equal parts by volume - pine or fir bark:Turface:crushed granite. It is 2/3 inert, so it breaks down very slowly and will still be very serviceable long past the time appropriate for you to do a repot/root-pruning. This soil retains its structure for a very long time, and could easily be pressed into 5 years service if the plant's becoming badly root bound before that wasn't a consideration. Clay pots (or other containers that have gas-permeable walls) will always be healthier for your plants - no matter which soil you choose. The price you pay is the need to water more frequently, but that act of watering drives damaging CO2 from soils and brings in a fresh load of air - greatly beneficial to plants, both. Can a clay pot help compensate for a collapsing soil? Yes, to some degree it can. Roots begin to die only a few hours after being deprived of adequate aeration. The small and most important roots die first - then progressively larger roots until air again returns to the soil, allowing the plant to start a rejuvenation process. This cyclic death and regeneration of roots due to collapsed soil is very taxing from a stored energy perspective. The plant uses it's reserves or current photosynthate (food) production to regenerate roots. This means less increase in mass in other organs - including fruit. How the clay pot helps is by allowing air back into the root zone quicker, so not as many roots die when using a soil too water retentive. Al

fireweed22: Many, who grow figs in containers/pots will get figs off their plants. Obviously something is going wrong with your culture. Your varieties all have the potential to give you ripened figs in your climate zone. You don't mention: Pot sizes Growing medium Pinching techniques to ripen figs earlier Breba figs? If your pots are too small, the roots may be restricted. Your plants should be in a minimum of no less than 5-gallons of growing medium....a quick-draining medium, like a 5:1:1. This forum is loaded with postings that have various growing mix recommendations. Figs need at least 70-120 days of good sun and heat to ripen main-crop figs. In your climate zone, pinch off all breba figs, and allow only main crop figs to develop. If growth is very vigorous, pinch back all new green stems and leave 5-8 leaves on each branchlet that has main-crop figs growing. This will divert energy into ripening those figs sooner in the season. You don't mention if you allow your trees to first go dormant before bring them into your sun-room, so now I'm just guessing. If you have a warm Sun-room, if you can, bring those potted figs out of dormancy in March, and let them grow, in full sun, until temps outside can support the new growth without doing damage to soft tissue. You can even bring them outside on warm days, and bring them back into a warm room at night. Many growers do this "fig shuffle" in short-season areas. This "stretches" the growing season, and gives you more time to ripen figs. If possible, try sinking your figs halfway into the garden soil, and heavily mulch up the sides of the pot. Plant them in full sun, and let the roots run free into the surrounding soil....but beware!...roots growing from drainage holes under the pot will be difficult to cut when you have to lift the pots for Winter storage. If drainage holes are at the bottom-SIDES of a container, run a spade down the sides, in August, to sever the roots for easier lifting in late-September. Don't over-fertilize with high-nitrogen formulas, and stop fertilizing by mid-July at the latest. Also top dress the growing medium with a good handful of granulated limestone to counteract the acidic conditions that chemical fertilizers can cause in potting mediums. Figs hate soggy conditions, so try not to over-water. If you use a quick-draining mix it will be virtually impossible to over water. You also need to do something to stop the Spider-Mite infestations. Plants weakened by insects, etc. will be slow to push fruit. Once growing conditions are corrected, and good culture takes over, you will get to eat properly ripened figs, even in Zone-6. I have been growing in containers since 2007, and get figs each year. Most of my fig trees are planted into 18-gallon storage tubs that I purchase at Home Depot. I convert them by drilling 3/4" holes along the bottom-sides....never into the bottom surface. They are filled with modified, 5:1:1 mix and I use a granular limestone as a top dressing 2X per season. I use "Espoma, Iron-Tone" (organic fertilizer) and supplement with a dilute - (1 tbs/5-gallons of water) - "Miracle-Gro 24-8-16" tonic, 2X per month, until mid-July. The Espoma, Iron-Tone will continue to release small amounts of residual food until trees go dormant, sometime in mid-October. I also pinch back all branches growing figs, but keep 6-8 leaves. I keep doing this pinching if necessary. Roots like to be kept cool...a difficult thing to do when trees are grown in containers....that's why I suggested sinking your containers and mulching if possible. Don't give up on trying to grow figs. Some years are good, some are great, and some are terrible, like this year. Hope this will help you. Good luck. Frank

Ha, that's weird. No idea why that is in the description. If you have a store near you, check it out. You need to run it over 1/2 inch hardware cloth to screen out any big particles,but most is fine enough to go through. It's much better quality than the stuff at big box stores, and a lot more affordable than the reptile bark. Also, the reptile bark is bigger in the big bags vs. small bags. So you will see people say it doesn't need to be screened, but that's only true in the tiny bags. If you get the bigger bags, it seems the bark size also increases. I had to run it through my chipper machine to get it to the right size...What a pain! @gardengal - Well... Someone on gardenweb used a temp gun to measure soil temp vs. a 5 gal black pot. Temps in 80's, soil surface was similar, but the pot was 147.... That's not surprising to me. Think about how much hotter black pavement or a black car gets in the sun. Maybe the plants in larger pots can tolerate it, but why add the stress to the plant. I think smaller bp & 1g pots are at extra risk, especially when they have just been up potted. I'm not willing to test this theory.... I just sink the pots in the ground or provide shade cloth. Now...On the cold, I disagree. z7a on the east coast is way different than the west coast. I an 1/2 a zone colder than the OP and I have definitely lost z5 hardy conifers to cold when they are left in pots, above ground, without protection. Again, pot size plays a big role here. A 5 gal pot is going to be able to absorb/buffer the cold much better than a BP/1g... Those are just my thoughts/experiences... Maybe I am over cautious, but I don't want to add unnecessary risk... http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2111205/can-black-pots-cook-roots

This is all the shrub that grew back the last couple of years. I had it hand cut down as far I could, but keeps coming back. Right side of the yard. We still want to leave some there so we have privacy. The shrub had taken the yard over to the white stick. The family (kids of the lady) didn’t do anything in the 50 years she lived in the house. they let their mom live in this house where the windows where so broken they couldn’t be closed. They stayed open about 5 inches even in winter. To cover the issue the children (already in the 40’s we met them at closing) put plastic flowers in front of the window. I would be ashamed letting my mom live in such conditions. Anyways back to the yard ... here is my hubby taking such a crabby shrub out of the ground where I started my Hosta bed. Stones are for a patio we are going to lay this summer :-) Here is a shot of my “woodland” Hosta garden. (Not macht erfinderisch:-)