Hi Grace! Thanks for replying! , I would love cuttings from your fig tree! I have beautiful cherry blossom trees in my back and front yard I can send you cuttings of or I can send you seeds of some exotic fruits I have (guava, korean melon) and some blackberry seeds as well that are leftovers from a trade ;). I do have some sort of wild green sour apple tree that blossoms beautifully but it's a bit of work to maintain because when it fruits (and it really really does) I have to prune and remove the excess fruits that are left over from all the birds, squirrels, rabbits, foxes and deers my yard gets lots of foot traffic;P Yang

If the tree is not too large you could snip or pinch off the little figlets as they appear. If that is not an option then contact your county agricultural agent and see if he can suggest some sort of hormone spray which impedes fruiting. I have hunted squirrels for about sixty years (started when very young) and have never observed that type of food-source protection. Are you sure this aggressive display is associated directly with the figs, or could it just be too much familiarity with humans? And yes, squirrels DO EAT figs, at least below the United States-Canadian border. Granted, it is an acquired taste for them as figs do not occur naturally.

The Gillette tree was started from the top half of a 1 year old Gillette tree on approximately April 1st 2010. I am not sure when the Malta Red Purple tree was started from a tree clipping of the parent tree although based upon it's size and growth I am guessing that it was started in May 2010. When I took these pictures the Gillette was 23 and 1/4 inches high. When I took these pictures the Malta Purple Red was 15 and 3/4 inches high. The above pictures were taken September 28th 2010 when the Gillette tree was about 5 months and 27 days old Fig trees are really huge bushes and just like people each variety has it's strength and it's vulnerabilities. Fig tree bushes like some other plants (when they are old enough) their nature allows us to naturally clone them with tree branch cuttings, cutting half the tree and growing that (if the tree is still young enough). Or from the roots. Many people clone fig trees bushes without even realizing that they are cloning them from their parent. That is why if you get a Gillette fig tree it and it's fruit looks so much like all the other Gillette fig trees and their fruit. Although I feel that Gillette fig tree bushes are amongst the best examples of of evolution because of it's ability to change leaf shape

Hi ottawan, no they would accumulate the same number of chill hours. Figs trees in Hawaii or like I over wintered under 1,200watts in my garage do not lose their leaves. The same is true of deciduous trees grown in an environment where they have enough heat and light hours to keep from going dormant. They may lose leaves that are damaged by wind insects or disease. However they do not defoliate if the days are long enough and warm enough. For the most part deciduous trees lose their leave/go dormant when daylight hours shorten and it gets colder. It is thought by most that this is done to conserve energy. And this is because the leaves are not able to produce enough energy under winter conditions to both support themselves and the tree so the tree aborts them. When a deciduous tree lives in an environment where it's leaves can produce enough energy through photosynthesis year round the tree no longer has a reason to abort them/go dormant. With most fruit trees this will put them in a constant vegetative growth state that ebbs faster and slower with the seasons and they will not transition into a flowering state and thus will not produce fruit. Others are able to flower while going through vegetative growth or are able to somehow adjust to the more subtle changes in seasons and flower and produce fruit in spite or the constant vegetative state. I know this is not true of all deciduous fruit trees as stone fruits need a period of dormancy. I think their obvious need for dormancy is one reason why most think that all deciduous fruit trees require a period of dormancy in order to flower. Apparently not all deciduous fruit trees are so rigorously bound to this. Does it hurt them over time I can't say. I only did this one year but in Hawaii fig trees can go many years without going dormant while maintaining fruit production. I know this flys in the face of conventional wisdom and I'm not sure I explained everything right but what I said about the trees flowering and fruiting without any chill hours or a noticeable period of dormancy is true. My guess is that conventional wisdom will change over time to fall in line with the facts or there will have to be a new definition of dormancy that does not include what are today considered the obvious signs we all look for when we call a tree dormant. The obvious question is can a deciduous fruit tree be dormant when it's covered in green leaves and has fruit growing on it? If the answer is no then either they are not going dormant or we need a new definition for the word. Or perhaps some deciduous fruit trees do not need a dormant period in order to go though a fruiting cycle. wabikeguy please forgive my hijacking your thread. It was not my intention but things just kind of went in that direction.