it has happened every year all year if it was water I would have thought the other fig trees would be doing the same?

Cityman, I'm in a fairly similar climate in North Carolina. I wonder if you have acidic, mostly clayey soil as well. To the extent that our conditions are similar, figs definitely stand out on your list as a very rewarding fruit to grow, requiring practically zero purchased inputs. For me the different rabbiteye type blueberries varieties have got to be my next most rewarding, easy-to-get-to-succeed fruit. They take some work as far as keeping weeds down, and I watered them pretty carefully (even more so than the average fruit tree) the first year or two, but they produce lots of high quality fruit without any real troubles. Muscadines would be another similarly naturally-happy-in-my-location fruit, although I don't value them quite as highly as figs and blueberries. There are lots of other options for fruit that will be more like your figs if you want to take the path of least resistance, some of which I've seen succeed for other people nearby but have only recently planted myself. Especially given my low-input management preferences, I should have invested heavier in some of those less common fruits instead of the fruits I was used to eating from the store. I think hardy kiwis are about the best fruit ever, for example, but I've only gotten to eat fruit from other people's vines so far. As far as the other trees you already have planted, pears, especially if they're fireblight resistant cultivars and your general location and specific site aren't too prone to fireblight, may be your next easiest fruit to produce a good crop with. Some pears just take more time. (Asian pears are really tasty, easier to ripen -- you can just pick them ripe off the tree instead of the more involved process with regular European pears -- and they come on faster.) Some sour cherries also seem to be pretty easy to grow. I have a sour cherry tree that was planted in an out of the way place before I moved here, and with no more care than bush hogging around it once or twice a year it produces a good crop about every other year. Birds take up to half the crop in the good years and about all the remaining crop in years with late frosts. I would expect sweet cherries, peaches, and plums to be your most challenging crops because of fungal diseases and insect pests (and possibly late frosts and with the sweet cherries additionally birds and cracking.) Some people seem to be able to grow apples with mostly just cosmetic issues with hardly any inputs and other people seem to struggle to get anything even with multiple sprays. If I had given more attention to grass/weed competition I might be able to say more about apples already. Some trees, like, for example, my pears, chestnuts, peaches, plums, mulberries -- selected native and native cross mulberries are another easy-to-get-to-succeed fruit, by the way -- seemed to get by fine for me with very minimal attention to grass/weed competition, but other trees (most notably pawpaws) seem to really languish under that kind of competition. I guess one thing I'm trying to recommend is that you figure out which of your trees have decent hopes of succeeding in your location with the kinds of inputs (whether sprays, watering, mulching, bird netting, trellising, amount of pruning, etc., etc.) you're willing to invest in them and then concentrate on those trees and possibly find new additions that will match your style and location best. If you can find other fruit growers in your immediate area and find out what works for them with what kind of inputs I think those are possibly your best places to start the process of learning what you're wanting to learn. I also wouldn't underestimate how much better cultivars of the same fruits there may be for your location than what the local big box stores sell.

Hi, I'm in central CA, where the summer heat is pretty intense too. Last couple weeks were over 100, this week high 90s. Very dry and hot. Here's how I help all my plants survive, and thrive even. Keep in mind that I just started this over a month ago, and already see much more growth on them. I have some fruit trees that are not native to my area, and they seem to be doing OK. I have 2 fig trees, about 5' tall, planted about 2.5 years ago when much smaller. They were exposed to the intense heat and cold winter, up until 1 month ago. I built "tree shades" to put around them. Basically, 2 x 4 to form a square base, 2 x 4 for the 4 columns, 1 3/8 to form the square top. Then use some type of tarp, screen, weed screen (I use screen for some trees and weed screen for others) for the roof, and the sides if need be. I don't cover all 4 sides, that's too much enclosure, the plants need some wind, sun, rain exposure too. If you want, I can post some photos. The 2 fig trees have plenty of fruits on them now. Good luck,

It does not seem to late for 2 options. Option 1. Serverely prune the tree and pretty much leave prune very long major branches back to about 2 feet long with no minor branches. The tree should look pretty bare at this point, with very few leaves to catch additional wind. At this point I would prop the tree up to a few fence posts installed to keep it up. This method may work, but the problem is the weak root system, and it may be prone to blow over again. Option 2. If it were my tree I would cut the tree off leaving only a foot worth of trunk. I would also cover the entire trunk with dirt or potting soil and keep it moist. This will help the remaining roots worry about getting restablished rather that support the top of a tree that will prob die anyways. When the tree suckers I would then reprune to train a strong sucker to be my main trunk. My two cents.