Figs!

[estación seca]

Edible figs grow as large, spreading trees that naturally branch close to the ground, especially if grown from cuttings. There are some smaller-growing varieties that will produce in large pots you can drag into the house for a long, cold winter. Violette de Bourdeaux is one of these; there are others.

[Diane56Victor]

Figs will take over if planted in the ground here, so hubby keeps them in large pots and they grow as is.

[Ray]

Spring of 2020, a neighbor gave me a 2-gallon pot containing a ‘Dr. Clark’ heirloom fig. Dr. Clark apparently was a horticulture professor in the New Orleans area who developed the cultivar, so the fig ought to do well hot and humid. It’s fruits are yellow-green when ripe, and the birds have not yet figured out to steal them.

That first summer, we got 4 figs on a plant about 3’ tall. Last summer, the plant reached about 8’ tall x 10’ wide after getting Osmocote in the spring, with regular KelpMax and Quantum treatments. We got a dozen figs in the spring, and about 3 dozen in late summer.

My tiny lot doesn’t have room for another plant, so we’ll be grafting another variety onto this plant in the spring.

[Clawhammer]

I bought a Celeste fig today, known as the "sugar fig". We have a wonderful fruit tree nursery here in Portland called One Green World that has a nice online presence. I'm obsessed with the place.

I also found a random restrepia sanguinea at a local nursery today for $15, so today was a success Never had seen a restrepia/pleurothalid locally before.

[rbarata]

Fig trees are not meant to be grown in pots. They can fruit but they become large trees and give you hundreds of figs (if large enough).
Here they grow literally everywhere, in gardens, in properties, on the road sides...everywhere. Usually they have never any figs because everybody collects them as soons as they are ripe.
This abundance is not enough to lower their price.

We have here two fig seasons: in June/July with large and suculent figs (to be eaten fresh) and Sept/Oct which are smaller and drier, to be dried under the sun and eaten as raisins usually in Xmas.

If I remember, tomorrow I will post some photos.

[Dimples]

All the commercially grown fig trees I’ve seen are grafted so be mindful of how deep you plant your trees and don’t let the graft shoots (“suckers”) get away from you. At work we’ve had a number of trees get overtaken by the rootstock and once it really gets going there’s nothing to be done to reverse the process. Even if the top stock survives they never do well and keeping up with the rootstock regrowth is nearly a full time job, so we’ll be replacing them instead.

Once they’re a few years established the rootstock isn’t so much of an issue (unless the tree gets very stressed). They’ll still send up a RS shoot every now and then but no more than any other grafted tree.

I’m partial to Large Brown Turkey but it’s not as common as the smaller fruited Brown Turkey. The Large BT has fruit big enough that 2-3 will fill a large man’s hand. Sweet, sticky, floral, delightful.

[SADE2020]

I have a big fig tres, I don't know what kind

To get big figs, you have to avoid water the tree during the warm month (summer). Normally I have fruit from august to october.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by SADE2020

I have a big fig tres, I don't know what kind

To get big figs, you have to avoid water the tree during the warm month (summer). Normally I have fruit from august to october.

My local “expert” suggested that at 3 times per week, I was overwatering ours! I don’t think I can bring myself to cut it to zero, though.

[WaterWitchin]

I've had one Hardy Chicago fig tree in a big pot for three years now. I keep it in the garage for about three months every winter. First year three figs, squirrel ate them. Grrr. Second spring squirrels pruned the branches. Took all summer for it to recover. Third year (past summer) it was growing well again but no figs. This coming summer I better get some figs, or I'm doing something really wrong.

Got a second one this past spring. It doubled in size. Maybe figs coming in 2022? Theory was maybe first fig tree was lonely and wanted a companion. We'll see. My fig growing is abysmally lacking so far.

If the three-year-old tree goes into year four without giving a fig, I won't either and will try putting in a sheltered location in the ground. We'll see if it prefers that, or the winter cold kills it off.

[Ray]

Figs are interesting plants.

I wondered why they don’t flower, until I realized the fruits are the flowers, just inverted.

My wife freaked out a bit when she read a wasp pollinates the flowers, then becomes a part of it, and the fruit. Fortunately, that is not true of all figs, and ours is not in that category.

It’s also interesting that they have two fruiting cycles - the “brebas” or spring cycle is fruits growing on last year’s growth, while the “normal” fruiting occurs on this year’s growth, appearing in late summer/autumn.

I cut mine back to 50% of its size, to try to keep it more bush-like, so I don’t know how many brebas fruits I’ll get this spring.