Hi,

Yes, that looks like it could be a fig tree. Most varieties have a distinct 3-5 lobed leaf but when they are young, their leaves can look like what you have. I have a Verte variety that looks similar to the one you have although its leaves are much bigger at the moment, but dont have the typical 3 lob leaf shape. If you showed us the stem we can make a clear ID as to wether its a fig or not.

It should have a smooth greyish/brown skin depending on the variety. It may take 1-3 years to bear fruit for you. Enjoy!

Sir,

Thanks for your kind reply. I will Take a picture of it's stem and post it tomorrow. 1-3 years? seems to be a long time for me to waiting around smacking my lips in expectation. The man at the nursery told me that I would get fruits in 6 months. May be he was trying to make me feel hopeful :)

Ram

Ram,

If your tree fails to give you figs in six months, then you have a good excuse to buy more kinds of figs!

It worked for me.....HEHE
Good luck
Cecil

yes it is a fig tree.
you might get figs sooner than you expect them since
you live in a good climate for figs.

your fig looks very good, just make sure you water it
promptly.
also, i would suggest you put some stick close to it
and tie it up so it doesn't break.

****don't worry about 3 lobes or 5 or any of them.
there are different kinds of figs.

***** do you have any relatives and/or friends in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, and if they go to visit Madras I
can send you some cuttings I got from Serbia (former Yugoslavia) and some from Palestina (Middle East) which is not lobbed at all.

Good luck and Welcome to Fig Forum.

Hello Ram,

It's premature to try to identify your fig at this point. I think you definitely have a fig though. When it fruits post some pictures of the ripe fruit (inside and out). Also, as the tree matures the leaf shape will likely change from these leaves on your baby plant. It looks very healthy and vigorous. Good luck with it.

Henry

Very kind of you all to have answered my post. I am relieved to know that I might have a fig after all. Anyway, I took some pictures of my fig stem, first thing in the morning and am posting it for your kind perusal.

http://force4x4.com/gallery/index.php?spgmGal=HORTICULTURE/Koyembeduplants3&spgmPage=8&spgmFilters=

The first picture does not reflect the true colour as the flash went off in a very short range and white washed the picture. I have also posted pictures of the green shoot at the top.

I will post pictures of my plant at regular intervals. Here in South India we dont have winters. The minimum winter temperature is around 23 C (which is around 75 F I guess ) and people bring out their woolen sweaters. There is Summer and Monsoon.

Ram

Ram,
the plant you have is defintely a fig.
What the other forum members posted is great advice, your climate many here would envy especially me. No winters must be nicc, although i do like the changing of the seasons except winters here seem to long as i have gotten older.
Next year you have a good chance of getting figs if not the following year for sure, 1 to 2 years may seem long for some but the rewards are terrific.
Martin

Ram:
Your little fig is getting after it. Three months should produce a nice little plant. I have plants started from cuttings in March that have figs on them now. If yours does the same yours will ripen, mine will not because winter is coming.

I am intrigued by the soil shown in your pictures. Is it rocky? Calcareous? Have you amended it with some kind of top dressing?

Your okra looks good too, though the leaves are not exactly like the kind I grow here. I suspect you can grow okra year-round; are the plants perennial there?
Ox

Hello all,

I was glad to see a new leaf sprout out which finally looks like a fig leaf. I am relieved. My fig has been growing steadily and is about a foot in height now.

You can see the picture here. BTW, I have made a seperate folder to track my fig plant.

http://force4x4.com/gallery/index.php?spgmGal=HORTICULTURE/fig&spgmPic=9&spgmFilters=#pic

Here is a link that might be useful: FOLDER TO TRACK MY FIG

Oxankale,

The soil is clay. The little rocks you see are debris from the construction that took place in my plot. The contractors simply dumped the waste bricks and cement in the soil, instead of cleaning it up. I am removing it slowly and I suspect it will take years for me to clean it up. However, the waste is only a couple of centimeters deep.

Before I plant any sapling, I use red soil, clay, screened sand, vermicompost and goat dung in 3:2:1:1:1 ratio. It seems to work for most plants.

In India we do not get garden supplies, you got to make it yourself. I cultivate spinach, use natural fertilizers till it grows and just plough it back into the soil, to increase the humus content. I use coir ( husk from coconut ) as mulch around the roots to stop evaporation. I use ash from fire wood on the leaves to stop attacks from aphids ( works 80 % of the time ).

With regards to Okra or any other plant, We grow it all year round.

Anyway , I am just too excited to finally see a little leaf that looks like a fig leaf.

Hello Ram,
good to hear your happy about your fig plant knowing it is a fig. Im curious are they popular in your country and other than eating fresh what type of cooking if any are done with figs there.
Martin

Sir,

They are not very popular as the infrastructure for storing and transporting such a quickly perishable fruit becomes prohibitively expensive. ( we pay 1.20 USD for a litre (1/4 gallon) of petrol ). But it is not a new fruit to us, there have been mention of it in ancient texts over 4500 years ago.

People who live around fig trees use them as a vegetable (unripe figs ) and cooked with pulses and spices.

For people like me who don't mind paying the extra buck, there are a few shops that sell so called fresh figs. But these are picked when unripe and boxed and shipped to stores. When they ripen, the sweetness and taste is not quite there.

Mostly figs are dried, and strung like a necklace and sold as dried fruit as it keeps for a long time. Lots of people buy it and eat it as a natural laxative, but thats about it. There is no fan following for figs, if I can say so.

As I was unhappy with the choices I had of either eating them dry or eating figs that were picked far before they started ripening, I decided to plant a tree of my own. :)

Ram

Thanks for posting , thats great you will have fresh figs then much just be careful some tend to get many more tree's after sucess. I also dried some figs this year and they are good but will not last me as i was hoping for long, next season i will dry more.
Martin

I just saw this thread and the pictures of your fig tree. It looks a lot like a Ficus palmata hybrid fig that I rooted from University of California Davis cuttings.
I tried to find a picture of F. palmata, but was unsuccessful. I did find some information - click the link below.
This fig is from your part of the world - making the possibility a little more likely. Perhaps you'll be able to track down some pictures to verify or eliminate it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ficus palmata information

Mine made 2 more new leaves. I am very excited indeed. Both leaves are triple lobed.

http://force4x4.com/gallery/index.php?spgmGal=HORTICULTURE/fig&spgmPic=12&spgmFilters=#pic