Hey Ross, this is Sparky. That was my post on Ourfigs. You make good points about root temps early in the season. The wood mulch I get from our local landfill has a lot of fines from leaves and small branches in addition to the bigger wood pieces. It is usually steaming hot when I pick it up, so it is already in the process of composting. I will monitor the temp of the wood mulch and soil temp in the pots this year to see how fast it heats up the root zone. I'll post this info on Ourfigs.com later in the summer to let people know how it goes
I would use water solar panels and lay a pad of pipes under the trees which will be heated by the hot water produced. It may also help with a layer of black plastic on top to keep the heat in and retain moisture.
My grandfather did something like this. He would use wood chips, cow manure and large crushed stone mixed. He sometimes would cover some of them with tar paper after making the mound. You could use black plastic today to make that job a bit easier. He used to tell me that the figs like "Warma Roota" " No too mucha water" and don`t forget to feeda! Always the teacher !!.
Being originally from PA I learned real quick here in Texas that using wood chip mulch brought in the fire ants. The fire ants love warm/moist soil so any mulching I try to use pecan shells which are plentiful here and takes forever for them to break down. The size of the shells is about 1/4 to 1/2”. You just go to any quarry and get a truck load or bags very cheap.For me it keeps the soil moist but keeps the ants to a minimum. Just my opinion.
Wood chips will only steal the nitrogen from the roots during the first composting stages, so maybe you could pre compost them before adding them to the pile. That will also change their color and make them darker, I guess they'll absorb heat better if they are dark.
Hi Ross. I live in California and have a fig tree that is about 8 feet tall. I get the trimming of the tree for crossing limbs, dead etc. but how do I trim the very top to keep it from growing taller? I don’t want to cut 2 ft down just to have 5 branches grow out there. It is in a small beach lot. It is a single trunk shape like a vase. Top is confusing me. Thanks! Gale
Okay that is pretty cool. I got into figs this year and am constantly looking for innovative methods. Am definitely gonna be trying this! Would you root prune afterwards if moving into the greenhouse in the winter?
If the pile is large enough you may be able to heat it up with some sort of fairly fresh liquid biosolids. Or possibly use this wood chip method on a wicking bed where you electrically control the water temperature at the bottom of the roots using a pond heater. The wicking bed setup could double as a large flood&drain type design.
I've seen people use woodchips in thick layers for long term results but never as a growing medium succesfully. For example: layering 12 inches or more to suffocate grass or weeds over a layer of contractors paper. Then when it was ready, they'd dig down to the new soil level and plant there. The wood chips then begin to break down and seep nutrients to the soil. But over and over people have said it's not a growing medium. You could improve by using mycote though as fruit trees like fungal action over bacterial action.
Ross, I wanted to tell you my cousin who does landscaping has a pile of stump grindings and has measured with a two foot thermometer 135 deg. F in the middle of winter here in the N.E. The pile of wood chips was about 10 to 12 foot high and about as big in circumference. The only problem may be that to keep the pile going you would have to mix the bottom with the top because it may become anaerobic more so on the bottom of the pile. Like you said these chips have leaves , dirt ,etc... mix in which gets the pile going.
Thanks Ross. That looks like an interesting method. I'll wait and see how it goes for you. I clean the bedding out of my rabbit pen which was mostly straw and rabbit poop and piled that up over my vermicompost in worm pit. It's probably only two feet tall at the most and it heated up very well. I was surprised at how hot it is
I had a few cubic feet of compost delivered last year, and it was over 100 degrees a foot down in the compost for nearly two months after delivery. So, instead of wood chips you could partially bury the pots in a hot compost pile, which would probably be warmer plus have more nutrients.
Works even better in fabric bags it seems. See Lou Monti figs. And he plants them in a hole as deep as the pot. Then fills them in. He cuts holes only on the sides. Then in winter cuts cuts around the bag and easily pulls them out by the handles.
why not add the last 2-4 inches of soil on top since you had almost entirely buried those pots that one year and make it so the outline of the pot is only poking out of the top and maybe the additional inches would make a bigger difference in heat
I think whatever the material is... it would need to have a warming effect for my spring. In a long/hot climate, this could be used to lower maintenance for potted trees, but in that climate, why not just plant them in the ground?
i use a method similar to this. keep my pots raised about half way. in the dead of summer your bare pots get to hot. im growing in a colder zone than ross. heat is good but if your roots are to hot it can be a real problem. the pile acts just like a raised bed. warmer more stable temps. no compost. your not going to keep a pile hot with nitrogen all summer. if your putting grass in the pile every time you cut you must turn it. if it goes anaerobic you could kill your fig trees. compost for this just seems like a silly idea. you can add plastic around the raised mound for extra heat when its colder. very simple system..wood chips work well for this. just feed extra nitrogen if needed. if you can read plants. if your a beginner this might not be for you.
I actually stopped your video and did a little scientific research on nitrogen levels impact on fruit tree. I can see using this method on mature trees with pretty clear benefits regarding fruit production in the low nitrogen environment. But I wonder if leaf mold wouldn't be better for those first few years? Still watching.
Hey Ross, this is Sparky. That was my post on Ourfigs. You make good points about root temps early in the season. The wood mulch I get from our local landfill has a lot of fines from leaves and small branches in addition to the bigger wood pieces. It is usually steaming hot when I pick it up, so it is already in the process of composting. I will monitor the temp of the wood mulch and soil temp in the pots this year to see how fast it heats up the root zone. I'll post this info on Ourfigs.com later in the summer to let people know how it goes
I would use water solar panels and lay a pad of pipes under the trees which will be heated by the hot water produced. It may also help with a layer of black plastic on top to keep the heat in and retain moisture.
Can you explain a little more in depth ? Thanks !
My grandfather did something like this. He would use wood chips, cow manure and large crushed stone mixed. He sometimes would cover some of them with tar paper after making the mound. You could use black plastic today to make that job a bit easier. He used to tell me that the figs like "Warma Roota" " No too mucha water" and don`t forget to feeda! Always the teacher !!.
Them old timers knew their stuff ! LOL ! When nonno got done with a job he would say " Thatsa nica, nice ! "
Being originally from PA I learned real quick here in Texas that using wood chip mulch brought in the fire ants. The fire ants love warm/moist soil so any mulching I try to use pecan shells which are plentiful here and takes forever for them to break down. The size of the shells is about 1/4 to 1/2”. You just go to any quarry and get a truck load or bags very cheap.For me it keeps the soil moist but keeps the ants to a minimum. Just my opinion.
Wood chips will only steal the nitrogen from the roots during the first composting stages, so maybe you could pre compost them before adding them to the pile. That will also change their color and make them darker, I guess they'll absorb heat better if they are dark.
Hi Ross. I live in California and have a fig tree that is about 8 feet tall. I get the trimming of the tree for crossing limbs, dead etc. but how do I trim the very top to keep it from growing taller? I don’t want to cut 2 ft down just to have 5 branches grow out there. It is in a small beach lot. It is a single trunk shape like a vase. Top is confusing me. Thanks! Gale
Worms white 1/3 inch all around the roots of a new LSU fig
What ate they and how to get rid of them. Thank you.
Okay that is pretty cool. I got into figs this year and am constantly looking for innovative methods. Am definitely gonna be trying this!
Would you root prune afterwards if moving into the greenhouse in the winter?
Yes, root prune and put the pots in a plastic bag to keep them from drying out
If the pile is large enough you may be able to heat it up with some sort of fairly fresh liquid biosolids. Or possibly use this wood chip method on a wicking bed where you electrically control the water temperature at the bottom of the roots using a pond heater. The wicking bed setup could double as a large flood&drain type design.
I've seen people use woodchips in thick layers for long term results but never as a growing medium succesfully. For example: layering 12 inches or more to suffocate grass or weeds over a layer of contractors paper. Then when it was ready, they'd dig down to the new soil level and plant there. The wood chips then begin to break down and seep nutrients to the soil. But over and over people have said it's not a growing medium. You could improve by using mycote though as fruit trees like fungal action over bacterial action.
Ross, I wanted to tell you my cousin who does landscaping has a pile of stump grindings and has measured with a two foot thermometer 135 deg. F in the middle of winter here in the N.E. The pile of wood chips was about 10 to 12 foot high and about as big in circumference. The only problem may be that to keep the pile going you would have to mix the bottom with the top because it may become anaerobic more so on the bottom of the pile. Like you said these chips have leaves , dirt ,etc... mix in which gets the pile going.
Thanks Ross. That looks like an interesting method. I'll wait and see how it goes for you. I clean the bedding out of my rabbit pen which was mostly straw and rabbit poop and piled that up over my vermicompost in worm pit. It's probably only two feet tall at the most and it heated up very well. I was surprised at how hot it is
I had a few cubic feet of compost delivered last year, and it was over 100 degrees a foot down in the compost for nearly two months after delivery. So, instead of wood chips you could partially bury the pots in a hot compost pile, which would probably be warmer plus have more nutrients.
Yeah. Can't argue with compost tbh.
Works even better in fabric bags it seems. See Lou Monti figs. And he plants them in a hole as deep as the pot. Then fills them in. He cuts holes only on the sides. Then in winter cuts cuts around the bag and easily pulls them out by the handles.
I live in Massachusetts do you think it will grow?
Yeah, talking about the temps. Here in the south (Ga.) might get to hot and cook them? thoughts?
I accidentally did this last year but just the drainage holes though the leaves and mulch piled up and i had to trim the roots heavy when i moved it.
Storing them in a trash bag could help get those roots outside the pot through the winter. That way you don't have to prune them?
I'll try this and cover with black epdm
Permanently? I guess you could remove the pots every fall without disturbance to the liner?
Have you seen Lou Monti’s you tube channel. I’m gonna try his method this year. Burying figs in fabric pots.
why not add the last 2-4 inches of soil on top since you had almost entirely buried those pots that one year and make it so the outline of the pot is only poking out of the top and maybe the additional inches would make a bigger difference in heat
I also saw this post and thought about maybe sand? Your thoughts Ross?
I think whatever the material is... it would need to have a warming effect for my spring. In a long/hot climate, this could be used to lower maintenance for potted trees, but in that climate, why not just plant them in the ground?
Hey Ross thanks for sharing ! Very interesting.
i use a method similar to this. keep my pots raised about half way. in the dead of summer your bare pots get to hot. im growing in a colder zone than ross. heat is good but if your roots are to hot it can be a real problem. the pile acts just like a raised bed. warmer more stable temps. no compost. your not going to keep a pile hot with nitrogen all summer. if your putting grass in the pile every time you cut you must turn it. if it goes anaerobic you could kill your fig trees. compost for this just seems like a silly idea. you can add plastic around the raised mound for extra heat when its colder. very simple system..wood chips work well for this. just feed extra nitrogen if needed. if you can read plants. if your a beginner this might not be for you.
Tarp over it or large compost pile with tubes circulating hot water through wood chip piles
Sounds above my educational background :D
If you make compost from straw or wood chip plus cow or horse manure you WILL get plenty heat !!
I actually stopped your video and did a little scientific research on nitrogen levels impact on fruit tree. I can see using this method on mature trees with pretty clear benefits regarding fruit production in the low nitrogen environment. But I wonder if leaf mold wouldn't be better for those first few years? Still watching.
Personally I'll add a lot of stones the more stone the more heat mass 👍
That would definitely work well. Similar to having them on the patio or concrete though.
clay