I have some questions on same topic if I may; new to this forum, I spent last 4 days reading Al's extremely interesting/educational posts on container growing/soil/water retention etc. I will ask questions about 1 plant at the time (it may take forever since I have about 58 right now inside & they all need help). I just realized that I have tortured my potted plants & am very grateful that so many have survived for so long. I have 2 olive trees, do not have name since they were given to me (1.5yr ago)potted in 6"pots by friend who just divided/chopped off shoots from their original olive (brought abt.45yrs ago from Italy!). they keep it potted in regular potting soil&only advise I got is "do not water too often". I would think that they would do much better in Al's mixes-not sure if 511 or gritty. Do not know anything about olives.(They may be candidates for bonsai? I do not know anything about bonsai). They are growing in spite of present conditions(heavy soil). Planted in 7&8"pots respectively, 53&55"tall.(Don't know how to post pics). If Al or anyone else can give suggestions, will greatly appreciate. I am in Toronto & they are overwintering inside(warm&sunny-65-70*,south window-during day, abt.55*nights). Thank you. Rina

cfox, Where do you garden n in zone 3/4? The Mission fig is very delicious and prolific. Under pot culture you can grow the most winter tender figs, because they are out of the severe cold over winter. You must however, be careful to grow varieties that tolerate humidity and ripen quickly to prevent fruit rot, and figs not ripening in time before fall frosts. I don't think your fig tree is ready to be bumped up to a bigger pot going by the size of the trunk. You can easily slip it out of the pot and check the roots. If tightly compacted, just use a serrated knife, and make vertical slits into the root mass from top to bottom, to a depth of .5", every 2" around the root mass. You are disrupted any future root circling by doing this. Then pot it into your larger pot. If it is root bound, there is no good reason to root prune it (the above procedure is not root pruning, root pruning is cutting away, removing roots), if it is going into a larger pot. Just disrupt the fig tree's root circling pattern, if there is one present, by the means I outlined above. Root pruning is only done when the fig tree is returned to the same pot after the roots are pruned, generally not when it is bumped up to a bigger pot. Only the root bound, circling roots are slit to stop the circling root activity, which if unchecked, will choke the tree in time. If there is still room for more root growth, just return it to its current pot. You can check it again next spring. Now is the time to branch prune. Reduce the two lowest branches to app. 10" each, cutting 3/8" above the highest remaining node . This will cause branching. Trim the leader to about 16" from the highest up lower branch. Again, make the cut 3/8" above a node. Your fig tree will branch out very nicely. I like my pot cultured fig trees to grow multiple trunks, and branch down low for a number of reasons. It keeps the center of gravity low down so that the tree is more stable in winds. If blown over, the trunk(s) and branches are less prone to get damaged. Plus, closer to the ground the heat generated by the ground around the tree will promote faster growth. Heat, full sun, and low humidity are a fig tree's best friend. Your fig tree will break dormancy in its own time, as it warms up. If you still have late frosts, you can put your fig outside as long as the temperature is above freezing. Bring it inside every single time it freezes. This is called, "the fig shuffle.". Figs tolerate "0," frost, zero! They are extremely frost sensitive, especially new, spring growth. May I direct your attention to a recent Fig Forum post placed by Tropic of Capricorn, "Fig identification help," March 27, 2018. You may find the post helpful for your particular growing zone. Moses

Based on what I've observed, I can say that what Gudang said rings completely untrue. I've been charged with restoring the health of many rubber trees that have been pried out of dark corners, and haven't found their growth response to be anything like he describes. Nor have I found their response to be any different than smaller leafed varieties of the genus, except that they are slower to grow. I often prune top and roots of reasonably healthy rubber trees brought to me and site them in full sun on the same day, knowing the leaves will burn, drop off, and very quickly be replaced by a new flush of foliage perfectly adapted to whatever light conditions prevail where the tree has been sited. I'm not advocating that you follow suit, but I do this with other people's trees and don't worry about whether or not the tree will quickly recover. I can't remember the last time I lost a ficus that wasn't already trying to break down death's door. It's not that I don't worry about other folk's trees because I'm irresponsible; rather, I've repotted and revitalized so many rubber trees w/o loss that concern would pretty much be the equivalent of much ado about nothing. Al

The extracellular cuticle that covers leaf surfaces is composed of an insoluble polymer (cutin) and soluble cuticular lipids (wax), which work in concert to form a particularly effective barrier to transpirational water loss in F elastic. While there would be no reason to look for radiators to place your rubber tree in front of, radiators don't have the same inherent potential to stress plants that forced air heat vents have, unless you set your plants on or directly above the radiator. A radiator heats air that rises, as it rises, it creates a negative pressure that pulls the coldest air in the room, which is at floor level, toward it. As the air passes over/through the radiator, it warms and rises. This creates a gentle convective current that actually bathes the plant in cooler air. If you sit in front a radiator, you can't feel the warmth from the radiator, but you can feel a cool draft moving across the floor toward the radiator. I wouldn't recommend watering from the bottom. It's much less effective at eliminating excess salts from the soil, and it doesn't force unwanted soil gases (CO2, methane, ....) and pull oxygen into the soil as it flows downward. Once water moves through the soil and makes it's way into a collection saucer, there should be no pathway by which the effluent can make its way back into the pot. Plus, not all soils are suitable for wick watering. For instance, I grow nearly all my plants in the gritty mix, and if I depended on wicking to moisten the soil, I'd be in deep trouble. Most off the shelf soils hold an excessive amount of water, such that when the top 2-3" of the soil feels completely dry, the bottom 3-6" or more can be 100% saturated. Rather than use a digital moisture detector (a finger), you might try using a 24" piece of wood dowel rod as a 'tell', to help you get a better feel for what watering interval is right. You can buy one for a buck or less at any hardware. They're usually 48" long - cut it in half and sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and they'll last a long time. You'll be surprised at what you discover about how often you'll need to water. I'll leave something I wrote about using a tell below. There's a thread about growing Ficus in pots that you might find interesting; and, if you want to read about long term care of plants in pots, which includes information about repotting and root pruning, this thread about long term care of trees in containers will provide a lot of info. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al