Doing really well this year, did loose a few bits to the frosts... but fruit swelling well this season...
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e190/Plot52/DSCN2761-1.jpg)
8)
The yellow flowers in the foreground are Scorzonera for seed...
bump... :-X
ours has some decent sized ones on this year, first proper season, we've only had it 3 years ::) ;D
Great picture, :)
I have bought a standard fig this year, what do I have to do to get it to fruit?
get it root bound ;D
When is the best time to prune Brown Turkey figs.
I don't tend to prune it... in any technical sense. I cut off obviously dead bits after the leaves are out and cut off any bits I don't want after they fall. The best trick to get good fruit seems to be to keep the roots constrained and remove any figs at the end of the season after the leaves fall... so that it starts asap in Spring.
;D
On the pruning don't do it when the sap is rising in spring... they bleed a lot..
thanks all for advice, will have to be patient i guess :-\
I have one in the conservatory - do you all reckon it would move to a dustbin with hardcore at the base on the allotment without keeling over?
and drainage holes... it'd love it... :)
Growing against a south facing brick wall makes a big difference.Theoretically this year's fruit grow from the tiny fruits developed at the end of the previous year.(If these are any bigger than a cherry in November you should pick them off - they won't grow properly). But, like Saddad, I've found that it's best to combine this with encouraging the tree to go for the 'all in one season' approach.
Saddad, it's hard to tell from the photo but I would say that it looks as if your fig, like mine, is getting a tad straggly and would benefit from a bit of a prune :)
This RHS advice is based on the 'fruit from last autumn's buds' approach - not sure how useful it is.
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0103/fig.asp (http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0103/fig.asp)
It was getting quite pathetic after a decade in a big pot so I let it put on new growth for a couple of years. Some structural reduction is planned to make it more fan like...
The tiny buds from last autumn are about half the size of a little finger nail and make the best figs the following August. Any bigger ones should be removed at leaf fall... in the Eastern Med they can get three crops a year... :'(
Quote from: saddad on June 19, 2009, 11:12:39
The tiny buds from last autumn are about half the size of a little finger nail and make the best figs the following August.
Cherry sized too big then, Saddad?
Yes, those are the ones to take off... :'(
Now that's a happy picture. Makes my mouth water, Sadad.
Our Brown T. probably won't fruit this year- I tried to keep it going in the house all winter and it was fine til it was moved outside in the Spring when it dropped almost all its leaves. Now it has flushed out in lots of leafy branches but I don't see any fruiting buds. Maybe a bumper crop next year? If it survives a winter in the garage. ??? ???
Quote from: delboy on June 19, 2009, 10:27:50
I have one in the conservatory - do you all reckon it would move to a dustbin with hardcore at the base on the allotment without keeling over?
i've just done that with mine except it's in a large plastic tub with hardcore at the bottom, plenty of drainage holes and sunk into the ground in a sheltered spot facing south against a fence. it seems happy so far.
If you have it in a big pot Janet it shouldn't need to come in over winter... have you got a south facing house wall you can keep it against... :-\
Ours is about 3 years old, I think.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/photo04/flowers/fig2206.jpg
Well, I broke the rule about constricting the roots when I planted mine because I didn't know about it. It was a cutting from my brother-in-law's
tree about 6 years ago and was only about a foot high. Now it is at least 6 feet high and very very bushy. It has loads of figs on it now. It isn't in a sheltered spot and I don't protect it in the winter. I'll take a photo tomorrow when I go over there.
Quote from: saddad on June 22, 2009, 17:41:50
If you have it in a big pot Janet it shouldn't need to come in over winter... have you got a south facing house wall you can keep it against... :-\
Yes, we have a south-facing wall that is now deer-proofed but our temps (zone 7a) can drop to -15 F and sometimes lower. I just worry about losing it. Other folks around here actually bury them- flattening them against the ground and piling on dirt or wrap them up in layers of something which looks horrible. Maybe I'll risk it though. :-\
Sorry got my Grannies mixed up ..... :-[
Don`t make the mistake I made by planting one in a greenhouse-they grow and grow!!
Not so much `pruning` needed as major butchery :)
This is my fig tree, grown from a small cutting about six years ago. I asked another plotholder to stand next to it to give an idea of the size.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/Aragona/DSC_00161.jpg)
As I said before, I didn't know that I should have restricted the roots when I planted it, I don't suppose it would have grown quite so big if I had.
There are lots of figs on it, even more than last year
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/Aragona/DSC_00112.jpg)
Quote from: cleo on June 23, 2009, 16:34:08
Don`t make the mistake I made by planting one in a greenhouse-they grow and grow!!
Not so much `pruning` needed as major butchery :)
If planted in my walk-in coldframe it would surely survive BUT I'd have little room to grow anything else unless it was sternly pruned and trained. But maybe I'll think about that... hmmmm. So many ways to skin a cat.
That's still a baby Betty... they can reach 20' easily... there are some in the parkland attached to Anthony House on the south coast... :)
I still have one small plant that has not really grown much in its pot for the last 5 years....still trying to decide where to put it! ::)
Very useful thread! This is our first year with our fig tree and we've put it in a giant pot with some drainage in a suntrap area. Seems happy enough. I'll have refer back to this one in a couple of years when it decides to put on some fruit. ;D
Quote from: saddad on June 23, 2009, 17:33:34
That's still a baby Betty... they can reach 20' easily... there are some in the parkland attached to Anthony House on the south coast... :)
Oh dear, I'm going to need a ladder......
It should fruit next year Squashfan.. just keep cutting out the top Betty...and encourage lateral rather than vertical growth... :-X
Quote from: GrannieAnnie on June 23, 2009, 17:15:36
Quote from: cleo on June 23, 2009, 16:34:08
Don`t make the mistake I made by planting one in a greenhouse-they grow and grow!!
Not so much `pruning` needed as major butchery :)
If planted in my walk-in coldframe it would surely survive BUT I'd have little room to grow anything else unless it was sternly pruned and trained. But maybe I'll think about that... hmmmm. So many ways to skin a cat.
I don't know if this would work where you are (thinking of those winter temps!) but how I over :) winter some of my more delicate and precious plants in the garden (mostly yellow cannas) I get a bigger pot than the 1 they are already in, put some straw in the bottom, then put the plant & pot in then stuff more straw around the sides then shove more straw around the plant and then wrap in fleece. Nice and snug!! I remember seeing the banana plants wrapped up in a similar way at Christopher Lloyds garden, except they left them in the ground and then built a frame around them and filled the frame with straw, and covered with fleece. But this is all in East Sussex .....
1066
Meant to say that if you have a glut of figs, homemade fig jam is just the best!!
Quote from: saddad on June 24, 2009, 16:47:37
It should fruit next year Squashfan.. just keep cutting out the top Betty...and encourage lateral rather than vertical growth... :-X
I should have said that it is full of fruit at the moment, impossible to count how many. But your tip about cutting the top is correct. I did this a couple of years ago and it fruited well last year too.
We have one in a pot that we got from Wilkies last year. It had a fruit on which has now dropped off. :'(
Figs grow everywhere where my Mam lives, on the high plateau behind Trieste in Italy. It frequently drops to -15°, no idea what variety it is.
There is a Bavarian Variety that is supposed to be extra frost hardy... :-\
Quote from: saddad on June 24, 2009, 21:06:19
There is a Bavarian Variety that is supposed to be extra frost hardy... :-\
That would be Violetta (http://www.baumschule-plattner.de/en/Bayernfeige.htm) it's hardy to -20ºC (-4ºF), it produces very nice figs, survives outdoors in Wales without any frost protection, but dies if it gets covered in a highly concentrated mix of glyphosate & sodium chlorate by the idiot attempting to clear the plot next to yours.
Quote from: 1066 on June 24, 2009, 17:03:46
Quote from: GrannieAnnie on June 23, 2009, 17:15:36
Quote from: cleo on June 23, 2009, 16:34:08
Don`t make the mistake I made by planting one in a greenhouse-they grow and grow!!
Not so much `pruning` needed as major butchery :)
If planted in my walk-in coldframe it would surely survive BUT I'd have little room to grow anything else unless it was sternly pruned and trained. But maybe I'll think about that... hmmmm. So many ways to skin a cat.
I don't know if this would work where you are (thinking of those winter temps!) but how I over :) winter some of my more delicate and precious plants in the garden (mostly yellow cannas) I get a bigger pot than the 1 they are already in, put some straw in the bottom, then put the plant & pot in then stuff more straw around the sides then shove more straw around the plant and then wrap in fleece. Nice and snug!! I remember seeing the banana plants wrapped up in a similar way at Christopher Lloyds garden, except they left them in the ground and then built a frame around them and filled the frame with straw, and covered with fleece. But this is all in East Sussex .....
1066
Do you add water ever during the winter? Wouldn't it dry out?
Figs are mediterranean plants they like to be kept dry in the winter.
Would agree with Baccyman there, so no to extra water. Besides the pots are outside and the covering is permeable. If they were indoors then yes, but only a little and not very often.
1066