I have only Heritage. Right now the canes that produced fruits are out there waiting for me to cut them back to about 12-18 inches. I will also prune out any puny ones. They are kind of brown and scaly looking and they are the only canes in the patch. They will provide a crop on side shoots starting about late June here, for three weeks. When they are done I will cut them down to the ground. While they are fruiting, the new canes will be growing up through them. They will be different looking, strong and new and green. ( They make picking the fruit kind of hard since they are so full of leaves and surround the fruiting canes so I am somewhat glad to prune out when the time comes.) They are the main crop - is the right name primocane? They will begin blooming quickly and the fruit will start on the tops sometime in August here. The lateral shoots will form fruits all through September into early October if the weather permits it. Next late winter they will be cut back and bear again. I also cut out bits of the plant during the fruiting season after they are complete to encourage branching and more fruit. It is February and my Early Sensation Daffodils are blooming! Love them. Everyone who loves spring and gardening should grow them.

Now I see what you mean. The tree was a leftover - one no one wanted, but the repotting work wasn't done in a demo or workshop setting. That's where I got confused. Pete says/asks: "Al, in that workshop tree, it seems there are a lot of fine roots which I thought was desirable and after pruning it seems the majority are gone. Is that related to the fact its a bonsai?" When you repot, leaving lots of fine roots is always desirable because it helps ensure a rapid rebound from the root work and the plant's continuing viability. Something the average hobby grower needn't worry about is reducing the root mass to the point where the plant will fit into a small bonsai pot. In order to hasten the process, the bonsai practitioner often has to rely on experience to tell him/her how much (root removal) is not quite too much for the plant to tolerate. That I'm very familiar with the natural vigor of F. benjamina "Too Little", and could see that the plant's level of vitality was extremely high, left me fairly certain that in this case the tree would tolerate such a severe reduction. Too, being familiar with appropriate aftercare is a big plus in the grower's favor. In mid-July, I did another severe root and top reduction and repotted that tree again. It's recovering and back-budding now in a bonsai pot just a little larger than it needs to be. I'll be focusing primarily now on thinning branches/foliage and mostly the 'clip-and-grow' method of shaping the tree. When replanting trees ^^^ grown as houseplants, leave plenty of fine roots, and shape the root mass so it would fit over an imaginary soup bowl. You'll want to get rid of ^^^ roots growing straight down from the root to shoot transition zone. As shown by the following sequence representing a first repot, you'll want to arrive at a disc-shaped root system through a regular process (every 2-4 years in MOST cases) of removing thick roots in the wrong places and promoting fine rootage. Al

Lou, I would be very interested in seeing the state of the roots for the tree you dig up. So if you are of the mind, post pictures of what you find. The first Sugar Maple I planted did not survive, so when I replaced it, I took the dead plant and cleaned the roots as an educational experience. Having this stump, and a good deal of research online about ornamental tree production taught me allot about what to expect from my new plantings. Particularly in respect to most trees in containers are containerized, and not grown in that container. Meaning, they are field grow, bare root harvested, most roots removed, then planted in a container, then given a growing season to recover before being shipped out that fall or early the nest spring. This was absolutely the case with the tree that did not survive. This solved allot of my questions as to why I was seeing the pattern that I was from previous years growth. Namely why the current years growth was so much less than previous years. Also taught me that the replacement will not behave normally for at least 2-3 years if not more. As for my own tree, I do believe it can be saved. The ground rarely freezes very deeply, or for a prolonged period, so it will have time to recover some before spring. Visually overall the tree looks good, but I recognized problems due to a pause in growth when it should not have, growth rate did not increase this year over last, growing leaflets paused turned black before growth again resumed after a few weeks, oddities in the trunk etc., and just did not grow as much as it should have. Fertilizer is not a problem, as the lawn gets what it needs, and it does not show any sign of nutrient stress, and I do I keep the grass away from the tree. I have also been working to improve the soil, and now beginning to find a small population of earthworms, along with some fungi appearing after rain. All of which tells me I'm making progress with the soil and it's ecology. I don't expect it to grow as fast here as for you in north Texas, but I'm sure it can do better than it did. It's nice to know what yours have done from a personal experience, it gives me a measuring stick to to speak. Anyway, I for one would appreciate hearing what is happening with yours particularly since they are from the same grower. Hope your others turn out to your liking. Also if you seedly does not change, and is consistent in a variety of environments, you just may have something worth developing. Arktrees

Quick return to this thread (I'm trying to get in a flurry of replies, been short on time): Al, you said As far as root-pruning goes, you will likely only undertake it every 3-4 years. Those plants that you have buried will be easy. Depot, saw the bottom 1/3 - 1/2 of the roots off, clean the roots & prune the fat ones. Then - right back in same container. You will likely see a diminished crop in years that you root-prune, but subsequent crops should be greater as a result of improved vitality. Does this mean, though, that as Herman had mentioned, whenever I root-prune yearly to unclog the bottom of the container, that I'll have a diminished crop from the pruning? it didn't sound like that was everyone's experience necessarily, so I want to understand the relationship between the degree of pruning and the lack of productivity, when it sounds like it might be the inverse from some of Herman's recommends. Also, with my figs being so young, I'll just mention that I don't need a saw, only a scissors to prune them at this point! (on a tangential note, I ended up pruning more than roots last night, when de-potting one of my figs: I found a rather large, slightly-slumbering arachnid of a copper-red shade lurking in the roots as I untangled them with my fingers - ICK! the scissors came in handy, rapidly, and now shredded spider parts are a component of that last batch of soil 8-p ) Again, from Al: With regard to your soil choice: A plant that is grown in a container that is not in contact with the soil will benefit more from the gritty mix than those you sink, container & all, in the ground. The reason is simple: there will be no perched water table in the containers that are in the ground. The surrounding soil will act as a giant wick & drain the water. So are you saying that ones being sunk into the dirt will have more wicking action and need a *more* moisture-retentive soil mix used? and that the ones above ground will need the better aeration qualities to avoid a PWC making the bottom portion of the container too soggy for roots to colonize effectively? just trying to clarify my understanding (I do appreciate having grasped the entire PWC concept, that's helped me strategize how I re-pot and mix my soil combos). And a flag to Herman, I don't know if you saw my query? (see above in the thread): Herman, do you trim your container figs to any particular size or shape? (Some of mine were pruned to single stem by the nursery; some seem to grow upright with less branching as a natural habit, others want to branch a *lot*.) I have quite a few single-stem cuttings that are little (24" or less) and have hardly any branchings - I don't want to pinch out the top growing tip on these this spring to make them branch, do I? this is an area I'm not familiar with, is how to prune and *when*, to encourage the fruit. I checked the archives in this forum and saw things about pinching back growing tips, but how big do you let the figs get first before touching them? Thanks for help, everyone! (still looking for Leon to chime back in about his grandfather's fig and any pruning that might've been done when unearthing it in the spring) Sherry (counting down with 15+ figs to re-pot)