Tampa Bay fig grower here. Figs grow in abundance here. Tarpon Springs has a large number of Greeks, and most of them have fig trees in multipe varieties. All of my 14 trees (including new cuttings) grow fine here and the fruit never splits if the trees are in rich soil with a layer of mulch on top. South Florida can indeed be a challenge, but you just take precautionary actions, like, you can grow them in large containers with which you can make a container cover for the rainy season(s). No matter what the problems, in Florida, you can grow figs and reap the benefits. It's always harder for our northern and western friends. Drought and cold are the real killers.

They are different. The fruit of the first is large on a small, shrubby plant (12-15') with a reddish brown skin and strawberry colored flesh. The Black Italian is a larger (25') tree and with fruit with jet black skin and dark red flesh.

Bought current house 30 years ago and started growing a veggie garden . Had all sort of things growing including different melons ,squash etc. The small bee's that pollinate the flowers have been much much less to visit over the years they still come but their numbers really have dwindled , this i noticed easily . Without these pollinators well.................. Martin

Tell us more about what you want, a shade tree or figs to eat. If you want to eat figs, that 'bush' is well formed. I had 4 plants in a 12' x 14' space between 2 driveways in Palo Alto, CA. Each year there is at least the chance of a few days in the mid to upper 20's F. I learned about controlling height after the largest had grown so that I needed a ladder to reach the top. I used it to test out new varieties by bark grafting fresh new growth on the donor tree. I'd suggest pruning to restrict the tree to main crop figs; they are the best tasting in my experience. After the last chance of a hard frost I'd cut last year's growth back to 1 bud facing where I wanted the branch to grow. When that reached 6-8 new leaves I'd start pinching out the new growth buds until the season ends. Some varieties only need one pinching, others send up a new shoot that must be removed before it grows to a point that is out of reach. Do an image search on your favorite search engine for the string "fig pruning" to see the possibilities. Remember, main crop figs form at the leaf nodes. Enough for now, baumgrenze Below are 2 photos, one after pruning in late January 2016 and another in mid-May.