Figs water needs: thought they were a desert tree
kumquat1
13 years ago
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frozenjoe
13 years agowabikeguy
13 years agoRelated Discussions
need help with my fig tree - photos included
Comments (12)Next time you water, go back to the fig and water it again with lots of water, this will remove any extra salt/fertilizer. Your potting mix may also be suffocating your trees roots because peat moss can deteriorate quickly and compact, if water sits on top of the soil for more than a few seconds it is draining poorly. And if you have not amended with dolomitic limestone then you should dissolve 1 T. in its water to add back Ca and Mg. It could be some micronutrient deficiency caused by low ph (no calcium) as well. Good luck/...See MoreNeed help for my fig tree cutting
Comments (3)Fungus gnats are puppies and kittens compared to their primary food source, fungus. Fungi can eat wood! No animal alive can do that, termites "eat" wood but they rely on microbes in their guts to digest the cellulose for them. Fungus gnat larvae can only eat delicate root hairs, fungi can eat a mature tree. "Dirt" is not the right term to use, did you use soil? Potting mix? Compost? The shock from adjusting to water may have been the problem, tough to say really I have only tried water a few times and it did not go well for me. Soil is not meant for containers, it might work sometimes but never as well as a proper potting mix. Did you unpot the wilted ones and look? The longer you wait the more chance you will miss what the real problem is....See MoreNeed help for Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree
Comments (23)Hi, Amy. Unlike animals/humans, plants don't grow new tissues in the same spatial planes as the damaged tissues, so the blemishes left by photo-oxidation (sunburn) will be a part of the leaf until it's shed or you snip it off. There are good soil and poor soils, with varying degrees of good and bad within the category. I don't think a soil can get a 'good' grade unless you can water plants in it to beyond saturation w/o having to worry the soil will remain soggy so long it has a notable impact on root health/function. It's hard to make a difference when you "amend" MG potting soil by adding perlite or even pine bark because in order to realize any significant increase in drainage and aeration, the coarse fraction of the ingredients needs to be several times larger than the MG you started with. Using the 5:1:1 mix as an example - it has 5 parts of pine bark of suitable size, one part perlite and one part peat or a soil like MG. That means it has 6 parts of coarse material and 1 part of fine material, which is where the superior aeration and drainage come from. It's kind of hard to say you amended your MG potting soil if it's only 1/7 of the total volume of the mix. I never start cuttings in water because of the issues associated with that practice. If, for some reason I HAD to start cuttings in water, I would move them out of water into a very well-aerated, damp/moist/never wet mix as soon as root primordia (the white bumps) became conspicuous. Good job, BTW. Al...See MoreWhat do you think of this young Black Mission fig?
Comments (15)melikeeatplants, no, it wasn't about the fig tree. I was just saying that gardening in this climate is rather challenging for me. In the northeast yellow leaves generally meant overwatering (for both in-ground and potted plants). The soil, weather and growing conditions being so different. Here I have a brand new garden (the previous owner had nothing but grass, I think we bought the only house in the whole SoCal with no mature trees or vines) so for the past eight months, this has been a continuos and very challenging learning experience. I under-watered everything for the first four months, poor plants. I think I gave them just enough water to survive... Every time I watered the mandevillas I would see more yellow leaves, same thing with the sun camelias, bougainvilleas, plumbagos, roses, etc. One day I finally clicked. They all need more water! The plumbagos have gone wild, the bougainvilleas have very large leaves and bracts, the mandevillas and roses are exploding with blooms. More water and some fertilizer was all they needed. The fig tree was the very first to react to the changes in watering, it was amazing to see those leaves grow overnight. :) Yes, I will let the figs shrivel up a bit before harvesting them....See Moregirlbug2
13 years agonoss
13 years agowabikeguy
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13 years agofoolishpleasure
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13 years agogreenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
13 years agojolj
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12 years ago
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