Well Jose the wait was worth it. I give the Zumwalt/Desert King breba figs high marks and I would rate it a 9 out of 10. The fig has a pleasant melon flavor and the skin is tender. I only had 6 breba since I have always heavily pruned my Zumwalts to share with friends. Now that I understand that the breba are the best crop I don't plan on pruning my Zumwalt this fall or spring. I did prune this tree this past spring and I have several young plants. I picked the first breba fig from the Zumwalt too early but I gave the others a couple extra days after I thought they were ripe. I couldn't find a yard stick to lean against my tree so I asked my youngest son who is 5'6" to stand next to it. By the way I gave this tree to my son 3 years ago.

fireweed22: Many, who grow figs in containers/pots will get figs off their plants. Obviously something is going wrong with your culture. Your varieties all have the potential to give you ripened figs in your climate zone. You don't mention: Pot sizes Growing medium Pinching techniques to ripen figs earlier Breba figs? If your pots are too small, the roots may be restricted. Your plants should be in a minimum of no less than 5-gallons of growing medium....a quick-draining medium, like a 5:1:1. This forum is loaded with postings that have various growing mix recommendations. Figs need at least 70-120 days of good sun and heat to ripen main-crop figs. In your climate zone, pinch off all breba figs, and allow only main crop figs to develop. If growth is very vigorous, pinch back all new green stems and leave 5-8 leaves on each branchlet that has main-crop figs growing. This will divert energy into ripening those figs sooner in the season. You don't mention if you allow your trees to first go dormant before bring them into your sun-room, so now I'm just guessing. If you have a warm Sun-room, if you can, bring those potted figs out of dormancy in March, and let them grow, in full sun, until temps outside can support the new growth without doing damage to soft tissue. You can even bring them outside on warm days, and bring them back into a warm room at night. Many growers do this "fig shuffle" in short-season areas. This "stretches" the growing season, and gives you more time to ripen figs. If possible, try sinking your figs halfway into the garden soil, and heavily mulch up the sides of the pot. Plant them in full sun, and let the roots run free into the surrounding soil....but beware!...roots growing from drainage holes under the pot will be difficult to cut when you have to lift the pots for Winter storage. If drainage holes are at the bottom-SIDES of a container, run a spade down the sides, in August, to sever the roots for easier lifting in late-September. Don't over-fertilize with high-nitrogen formulas, and stop fertilizing by mid-July at the latest. Also top dress the growing medium with a good handful of granulated limestone to counteract the acidic conditions that chemical fertilizers can cause in potting mediums. Figs hate soggy conditions, so try not to over-water. If you use a quick-draining mix it will be virtually impossible to over water. You also need to do something to stop the Spider-Mite infestations. Plants weakened by insects, etc. will be slow to push fruit. Once growing conditions are corrected, and good culture takes over, you will get to eat properly ripened figs, even in Zone-6. I have been growing in containers since 2007, and get figs each year. Most of my fig trees are planted into 18-gallon storage tubs that I purchase at Home Depot. I convert them by drilling 3/4" holes along the bottom-sides....never into the bottom surface. They are filled with modified, 5:1:1 mix and I use a granular limestone as a top dressing 2X per season. I use "Espoma, Iron-Tone" (organic fertilizer) and supplement with a dilute - (1 tbs/5-gallons of water) - "Miracle-Gro 24-8-16" tonic, 2X per month, until mid-July. The Espoma, Iron-Tone will continue to release small amounts of residual food until trees go dormant, sometime in mid-October. I also pinch back all branches growing figs, but keep 6-8 leaves. I keep doing this pinching if necessary. Roots like to be kept cool...a difficult thing to do when trees are grown in containers....that's why I suggested sinking your containers and mulching if possible. Don't give up on trying to grow figs. Some years are good, some are great, and some are terrible, like this year. Hope this will help you. Good luck. Frank

Well I wasn't the only one watching for results from oiling. One of the two lone figs on my Jack's QP was apparently responding rapidly, was almost 3 inches across an just starting to turn color when a critter decided it was ripe enough (even though it wasn't ripe yet the insides that were left had turned a medium light red), also got to my Conadria. Luckily I was able to get a couple from the Batatglia SV untouched, not quite as sweet as earlier but still tasty. One of the oiled figs on my Magnolia is swelling and turning color, hope it stays untouched until I can try it. Still have had no response From the Alma or any others. With the weather they are forecasting ( low 40's at night and 50 to 60 days)I have probably seen the last of the figs for this year, time to hit the Jordanian market and stock up on Turkish figs to stave off withdrawal symptoms. Seems like a long time until my "children" will once again provide me with the joys of summer. Woody.

raee - When I did my sister's previous fig the final year that I got chance to wrap it (2007), I actually ended up using an old full-sized comforter to form a tube (needed a step ladder because by then, it was about 6ft tall) and covered that with a heavy tarp... and that time, I remembered to use a stake and bungee it to that in order to hold it up because the previous winter, the wrapped "tube" ended up being bent over with snow and from the prevailing winds that winter. The one thing to note with figs though is that because their trunk/branches contain latex, they are very bendy and can take quite a bit of movement before a branch might break. I was going through some older photos and found one for my sister's original fig the spring after its first year in the ground, not long after unwrapping - (sprouts from the bottom of trunk - top part had died back - 5/29/05) (a couple weeks after the above - can see the original size/shape when first planted and the expanded shoots coming from the trunk bottom vs from the roots - the original was about 3ft tall) 2ManyDiversions - I wish I had thought about using that hot water heater jacket 14 years ago as it is nice and stiff when rolled around a tied-up fig and makes it easier to form a tube without trying to do it with a wire cage (another method people use). The cage method is when people will create the tube around the tied fig and then fill it with leaves and then put something around the outside (tar paper or carpet and/or a tarp, etc). The thing with the leaf fill however, is that over the winter, they will eventually settle and then compact down, often leaving an exposed gap at the top of the tree/bush, so that method seemed to be a bit of a no-go for me in that spot - mainly because of the wind exposure where the tree was situated, with not that much blocking of the westerly and northwesterly winter winds (based on how the neighboring houses were staggered). Often the thing that kills a tree to the ground outside of severe cold, is branch desiccation from dry cold winds (which is why I also used anti-desiccants). Folks just have to try a method and see how it works and then tweak it (although realizing that winters can vary from year to year). And regarding the bungees - I must have bought containers and containers of them. lol I use them all over, including in my car's cargo area, but mostly for some of my container shrubs and perennials as well as container tropicals so they don't tip or blow over. Home Depot has all kinds pretty cheap, including containers of assorted sizes of them (different lengths and thicknesses)! Love my bungees!! :-D