"Duncan Langford" wrote in message
...
OK, people - VERY many thanks for your responses to my request for help on
how often to feed/water my fig-tree-in-big-pot.

Sadly, though, I'm now in a state of total confusion, because the advice
seems to be contradictory...

Heaven knows, although keen on my tree, I'm a very long way from being a
gardener... so I really do need expert help!

Nick Maclaren told me:

... water it only in severe droughts (and I do mean severe).

'Ah!' - I thought - 'that's the answer; I'm obviously overwatering'; and I
felt sure this must be true when Tony Anson agreed:

Good advice - remember where figs come from...

Which would have been fine; except that David Roberts, in a really helpful
posting, advised looking at http://www.easyfruit.co.uk/figs/.

So I did. It's a most interesting and helpful site - BUT - it clearly
says:

Figs require copious amounts of water through the growing season and
depending on your your pot size and growing medium will require watering
daily. If the tree becomes dry at the roots then it is likely that the
developing embryo figs will drop off.

Which seems clear enough!

Last year, when I had mucho leaves and no figs, I didn't water very much.
This year (in Canterbury, if that helps you experts!) so far I only have
small leaves: larger, 2-3cm, at the bottom; smaller, 1cm, at the top. They
look healthy...

And, as I said, I've been watering on an almost daily basis... but now, I
don't know WHAT to do!

Could someone who's actually grown a fig tree in a big pot maybe advise me
what worked for them? Please?

In hope...

- duncan

Well I have and am in the process of growing figs in the open ground and as
such rarely need to water them. I think that to say taht they come from hot
countries therefore wont need watering is a bit simplistic, they grow
perfectly happily in this country in the open ground if against a wall etc
and thus get whatever water falls in a season. Pots will naturally tend
totdry out more than the open ground and thus to maintain them at the same
sort of moisture level then I reckon you'd need to water.

Having said all of that, right now it's probably still too cold to be
watering every day, since if the roots and compost are very wet at night the
tree might get a cold shock or some such esp. since we could still have a
frost, heaven forbid. So I'd say slow down the watering a bit, I have lot's
of bananas in pots some outside, and they are watering on average every five
days or so at the moment, and they come from usually damp, humid conditions,
but then where they normally come from it's not as cold as it is here.

Hope it helps, but doubt it.

Duncan