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2-3 year old fig trees not ripening?! + Rooted small fig branch!!

7 years ago

Hello all!

I am a fig newbie, my desire to have a garden in my rental this year was big! So big along with my two fig trees I have loads of other vegetable and fruit plants! I got these beautiful trees one Celeste and LSU Purple for 40% off coming at a total of $45 for both of them! They already had loads of little figgies on them when purchased, so I decided to not do any major repotting, just loosen the roots and transfer them into a bigger pot to give the trees (which were in 5gal. pots at the time) room to expand and focus on fruiting more.

It is now almost July and for the past couple weeks I've noticed no growth on the figs, some even looked wrinkly like they were shriveling up! I quickly cut off half of the figs thinking the tree is still so young and 30-40 figs on each tree was to much for them.

So many question to all of the fig experts on this amazing page is:

One, I never got how old these trees actually are, how old do they look to you with your experience? Is there anyway I can tell for sure?

Two, did I do the right thing with cutting back half of the figs on the trees? In what way can I help these trees along with ripening?

Now to a fun story:

The LSU Purple I bought had a small branch at it's base, so during potting up I snapped the branch off and stuck the twig in a pot of dirt not expecting much from it.

It is now a month later and this twig has not only rooted itself but has new growth! Just goes to show how resilient and amazing these trees are! Just makes me fall in love with fig trees even more.

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Comments (4)

Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
7 years ago
Congrats on your little clone! Your fig trees experienced stress when you repotted. Stress causes them to drop their fruit and concentrate on growing. Don't worry. Some will ripen. There is always next year for a better crop. We don't know what planting zone you are in. Could you go to your profile and add that? That would help us help you.
Ariel thanked Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
Ariel
Original Author
7 years ago
Hey Suzi! Thank you for your reply!

I live in Dallas, TX so from what I can tell a prime spot to grow fig trees! I have them in pots because I am renting and have heard they do well in pots. When I moved the trees to a bigger pot I did my best to not disturb any roots. I just teased the bottom and loosened up the dirt because I didn't want the tree to stress out.

Despite my best efforts I think you are right in that the trees are slightly stressed. I know this is the breba crop, so hopefully come fall I will get loads!

How old do these trees look to you? And how many figs would be appropriate for a tree as big as this one?
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Normally figs are pruned while they are dormant. Some people do so shortly after they go dormant, and some wait until a few weeks before the plants break dormancy. Before I knew better I sometimes pruned my trees after they had budded out in the spring. They seemed to do fine in spite of this. I'm sure it did set them back a bit though, but I'm in the deep South with a pretty long growing season. Your tree will likely grow straight up this year, and it sounds like it might even produce some main crop figs. It may ripen a breba or two, but it will likely drop them. What variety is your new fig? Next year before it breaks dormancy you can prune it back to whatever height you want the branching to take place, and it should branch out just fine. You will have some nice cuttings at that point too if you want to make some new trees. Good luck. Henry
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Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
7 years ago
Your trees were pruned to be trees, not bushes. They appear to be at least 3 years old. Really hard to tell age because some trees are more vigorous than others. For instance, I had a Fig in a pot for two years, then planted it in ground. Suddenly that little thing trippled in size and it's trunk(s) became thick. Now it's huge, and I think nobody would guess it's only 4 years old. It's got about 15 figs per branch and there are a lot of branches.

Every year, as your trees grow older, they will put out more figs. Really hard to know what a potted fig can produce. A lot depends on variety too. I don't have LSU Purple, but my Celeste is very productive. At 2 years old, it has about 20 figs, but it's still in it's pot and has worked it's way into the ground. This year when it's dormant, it will be planted in ground. You'll just have to be patient and wait. The figs will come.

We get mild snow fluries here in winter maybe for a day or two, so planting in containers isn't important, but many who live where it snows have to bring their containers in for protection from freeze. I know you rent so want to take them with you. Good plan! :-)
Ariel thanked Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
Ariel
Original Author
7 years ago
Just thought I would share that I ordered Dyna Grow Foliage Pro 9:3:6 for my plants and have since fertilized. All the figs on my Celeste are getting bigger and on my LSU one fig in-particular is soaring in size!

I am excited to share that their is one fig on each tree that I think will ripen first!!

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