Looking for advice. Purchased this fig 6 years ago when it was in a 10" planter, single branced ~5ft tree. It's been repotted three times at my old home, from 10>12, 12 > 14. Both of those were tapered pots. The final repot is this 16" non tapered one pictured. Its been in it's new window at my new home for long enough to warrant a repotting. I've got quite a lot of circling root growth growing from out the bottom of my pot, but I'm trying to decide between a 17.7 tapered vs a 19.7 tapered. Each of those pots taper ~4" to the bottom, so the 17.7 – roughly 12" at the bottom vs the 19.7 being ~14".
I find i use an excellent soil mixture and have never had issues with soggy soil. Fox farm, pumice, root bark, worm castings.
It grew up with a NE window and 2 grow bulbs, but now its sitting in corner which is south and southwest sunlight.
Do i take the conservative approach with the 17.7 or jump to 19.7? I think the ID would be closer to 17.2 vs 19.2 if this matters. Looking to try a pot from Bergs Potter which is why im comparing these 2, thanks!
by cs_mansion
1 Comment
It’d be fine to size it up again. As long as you are using well draining soil, it doesn’t really matter that much how much bigger the next pot is.
When you repotted, did you just slip pot into a larger pot or did you do a complete repot? If this were my tree, probably just keep it in the same pot as it’s already pretty big! I think if I were in your shoes, I’d prune it back fairly hard, so that each branch is about 8 inches long. This will make it less likely to fall over, it will also give you several new branches near each cut point AND it will reduce the number of leaves that the roots need to support while they adjust after being repotted.
Then I’d pull it out of the pot and prune off any root that is circling around the pot or forming a solid mat on the bottom. Then I’d remove all/most of the old soil. Then look to see how big the root ball is in the old pot. If there isn’t much space, I’d prune the roots back just a bit more so that it would have room for the roots to grow and then just replant it into the same pot again.