Hello, Having researched fig sites for the past few years, I am not immediately aware of a website that lists more than just a few diseases and pictures of the diseases. I may have missed it if there is one. I have however, found documents that list several diseases in one spot. I have pasted a few links that might help since they list several diseases. You will have to do a search to find a picture. Ingevald 2006 Florida Plant Disease Management Guide: Fig (Ficus carica) by Ronald D. French-Monar and Pamela D. Roberts from University of Florida Extension - http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PG010 Diseases of Fig by Themis J. Michailides - University of California, Kearney Agricultural Center. This is chapter 11(p. 253 in the book ÂDiseases of Tropical Fruit Crops edited by R.C. Ploetz. Saw it on Google Books but not all the pages are available. Figs - Texas Plant Disease Handbook from Texas A&M University http://plantpathology.tamu.edu/texlab/Fruit/Fig/fmenu.asp

I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as well. Our elevation is about 5500 ft. I live in the valley close to the Rio Grande river. It gets colder here than most places in the city during the winter. I had two five foot fig trees freeze to the ground as well. As I recall, we had several exceptionally cold days in December with temps into the single digits. Ironically, my trees are leafing from the ground level as well. So it sounds like we experienced similar conditions. I know of several folks in Albuquerque who had well-established fig trees die completely with no recovery whatsoever. It also depends on the variety of the tree.

I had a similar thing happen to me last year,so maybe it is the same thing as yours. I had placed my fig tree out for the season. Previously, it was in a florida room in my previous home. I guess I did not harden it off slow enough because the leaves got sun-scald, and turned almost a bleached color, greyish-white, and within so many days, they eventually curled up and fell off the tree, although some of the figs stayed intact. Especially if you are going through a heat spell, I would think your tree is suffering from heat stress. I am by no means an expert, but it does really sound like what happened to my fig last year in the heat. If it is this, do not worry, it will grow new leaves, but it will take a while, especially if the temps are really high. It took a while for my new leaves to come out, but they did, and by the end of the season last year, it totally caught up and you could not tell that anything had happened to it earlier in the season. So just give it time. I am in NJ too, Forked River, Ocean County, so I know what you are going through with the heat. Good Luck and give an update to what happens! Christy

The best way to water is by applying water evenly over the soil surface until the soil is completely saturated and water is draining from the drain hole. Stop watering. Return in 10-15 minutes and water again until at least 15-20% of the total volume of water applied exits the drain hole. Alternately, water slowly over the entire surface until at least 15-20% of the total volume of water applied exits the drain hole. This practice prevents an unhealthy accumulation of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil solution. Watering only until you first observe water exiting the drain, then stopping, ensures an accumulation of dissolved solids. Also, most hobby growers are using a soil that is overly water-retentive. In deeper pots, there can be several (up to 6 or more) inches of soil that is 100% saturated at the bottom of the pot when the top 2-3 inches of soil feels completely dry. Use a 'tell' to 'tell' you when it's time to water. When the tell comes out nearly dry, it's time to water. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al