Heat can do that. What kind of temps are you experiencing right now?

You can protect your pots by putting them behind concrete blocks so they don't get direct sunlight on them. Figs love the heat....but not their roots.

I think that as long as you have new growth and the new growth looks healthy you are probably OK.

Hi Jaybird,
this has been my experience thru out the years growing fig plants in containers.

When plant display yellow on upper part of plant it needs water .
When plant displays yellow on bottom part of plant its from constant days of rain (too much water) .
There might be a chance you are giving too much water and or the soil is staying wet not draining inground where you have plant.
Martin

Yes. Heat can and will do that to a fig tree and it also depends on the tree and it's location. I have several in the ground. My White Marseilles does that every time everytime temps get above 92 degree for several days in a row meaning the roots are getting too hot! Even it you water the tree, it won't show signs of recover until the sun is off the tree and the roots a cool. But by that time your tree may lose leaves and maybe drop fruit. My White Marseille just turns leaves yellow and then brown. But it does not drop fruit and right now I have 3 huge figs on it. My celete will drop some fruit anytime it is stressed. My Celeste is one great tasting fig tree but it is very sensitive. But I would recommend transplanting the tree this Fall where it will get zero direct sunlight especially if the tree is under 5 years old. A farmer friend of mine has a HUGE celeste fig tree. He never trims it and he sells tons of figs to passer-bys every year. the tree is 17 years old and beautiful. His tree never gets stress. Its over 15 feet tall, 15 feet wide and he never gets stress because of it's age and solid root system. You should see the birds attacking his tree when the figs get ripe! He never gets to the figs at the top, only those he can reach with an 8 foot ladder. Dennis

Ya, the heat can be a killer for a young tree. Here in Arizona we are getting triple digets daily right now, along with...on some days...15-20 mph winds. Many of our daytime temps currently exceed 110.

I have 20 trees that have been in ground less than a year. When temps exceed 105 for days at at time they get watered daily, and all are protected with shade cloth...especially on the side where they are exposed to the wind.

I have seen young trees go from healthy to dead in less than 24 hours.

Protect those roots. The upper part of the plant can take a lot of heat. The roots can't.

JB - Even though you said you 'planted it', I'm still wondering if your tree is in the ground or in a container?

Al

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I planted it in the ground right after I purchased it. Like most new fruit tree growers, I am learning from the school of hard knocks. It is probably 3 to 4 feet tall with 4 or 5 young figs on it and several nice leaves. Just worried as the yellow then brown effect has gone up the plant to effect about 3 large leaves and given the young nature of the tree, I am worried this trend will continue. I am growning an odd affinity for my fruit trees!

We have a very good local nursery and I guess I had either gotten the advice or misunderstood the advice and I planted in direct sunlight (he did warn me to cover the roots with pine straw to help with heat on the roots). It has been very very hot up here in the panhandle of Florida(after we had record rainfall for June). I feel like I planted it towards the end of the rainfall, so I believe heat is the issue at hand. (my satsumas and meyer lemons are living it up, but the celeste fig does seem stressed.)

Al, thanks for the great lesson on 5:1:1 soil. I have made some good batches of that for my container plants and it looks and feels fantastic, plants seem to really be taking to it and drainage is outstanding.

Probably should have started the fig tree out in a pot until I learn something. Thanks for all the replies. Any advice on helping the plant out after I made the mistake of planting it in direct sunlight?

Hi Jaybird,

Yes, use some shadecloth. I'm thinking of getting some of that for the top of the netting frame, for my larger Celeste tree to keep the sun from being so strong on it all day. It will get sun from the sides and filtered sun from the top that way. Don't know if it will work, but I sure can't move the tree at the size it is now.

Vivian

thanks. Not a bad idea. I think I will double up my cover over the roots and try some sort of shade sytem to give it a break (especially from that mid day heat around here).

Thx!