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mothergoose
Garden Ornament
Thanks for the "how to start a cutting" instructions. It will be a first for me as well.
Figs zone 5 or further north?
- Thread starter mothergoose
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TheSeedObsesser
Deeply Rooted
Mary,
You either make perfect sense, or I also speak nonsense. Scions are only for grafting. The cutting will produce it's own roots.
You either make perfect sense, or I also speak nonsense. Scions are only for grafting. The cutting will produce it's own roots.
Nyboy
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I think the same can be said for most members here!!! Your top of list.
Ridgerunner
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I've never been successful growing figs but the figs can't be grafted if they could ever freeze. They come back from the roots so you would lose the graft and only get the root stock if they freeze.
A question for those with figs, don't they grow more like a lilac or maybe forsythia than a bush? Don't they send up many stems from the roots and form more of a thicket than a plant with just one trunk? A friend had one when I was in south Louisiana and I remember that thing as very big around and dense with growth. That's been a lot of years and I don't really trust my memory.
From what I read about Brown Turkey and Chicago Hardy they both have fruit on old growth somewhat early in the growing season if you can get some to live through the winter, but they will produce a second late crop on new growth so you might get two crops in one year. That second crop may depend on how long your growing season is. Even if it freezes to the ground and you lose all your old growth you might get some fruit on the stuff that comes up from the roots.
Mary, if you set that out in your yard, I'd expect it to take up a lot of space once it grows. I have this vision of you not having a lot of space. Maybe you could set it in a container of some type in the ground to restrict its growth and try to keep a handle on its size. That ay you would not have to treat it as container plant to keep it a manageable size. Again I'll ask people with figs what they think of that. As I said, I don't have direct experience.
A question for those with figs, don't they grow more like a lilac or maybe forsythia than a bush? Don't they send up many stems from the roots and form more of a thicket than a plant with just one trunk? A friend had one when I was in south Louisiana and I remember that thing as very big around and dense with growth. That's been a lot of years and I don't really trust my memory.
From what I read about Brown Turkey and Chicago Hardy they both have fruit on old growth somewhat early in the growing season if you can get some to live through the winter, but they will produce a second late crop on new growth so you might get two crops in one year. That second crop may depend on how long your growing season is. Even if it freezes to the ground and you lose all your old growth you might get some fruit on the stuff that comes up from the roots.
Mary, if you set that out in your yard, I'd expect it to take up a lot of space once it grows. I have this vision of you not having a lot of space. Maybe you could set it in a container of some type in the ground to restrict its growth and try to keep a handle on its size. That ay you would not have to treat it as container plant to keep it a manageable size. Again I'll ask people with figs what they think of that. As I said, I don't have direct experience.
ninnymary
Garden Master
Ridge, I had a Black Mission fig tree for about 5 years in the ground. It was a semi-dwarf with a good medium size. It had one main trunk and then branched out. I'm not sure what a lilac or forsythia looks like, so I can't compare it to those. It produced many figs but they never had time to ripen. I finally deided to replace it with a Violett de Bardeu It is 2 yrs. old and 4-5' tall. Last year it produced about 20 figs that were delicious. I was so happy that they ripened. It is considered a small tree and good for containers.
I once saw a fig tree in a pot that was small, alittle sprawly but nice and it produced figs. I've thought about getting another fig to put in a container on my deck but now since Nyboy has offered one, I will use his.
Growing trees in containers is challenging and don't produce as much fruit as ones in the ground. But since I already have Violette I don't need more fruit. I just like their big leaves and style of growing. If it gives me good figs that will just be a bonus.
Because of my small yard, I plant only semi-dwarfs and keep them prune to about 6-7'.
Mary
I once saw a fig tree in a pot that was small, alittle sprawly but nice and it produced figs. I've thought about getting another fig to put in a container on my deck but now since Nyboy has offered one, I will use his.
Growing trees in containers is challenging and don't produce as much fruit as ones in the ground. But since I already have Violette I don't need more fruit. I just like their big leaves and style of growing. If it gives me good figs that will just be a bonus.
Because of my small yard, I plant only semi-dwarfs and keep them prune to about 6-7'.
Mary
Ridgerunner
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So now we know,. Mary is our resident fig expert. I bow to your experience and wisdom.
ninnymary
Garden Master
baymule
Garden Master
For ya'll that will soon be rooting fig cuttings, here's a little secret. Find a willow tree, cut about 2' from the tips of the branches, several branches worth. Strip leaves, take one of your branches and cut in half, one foot. Snip this one foot of willow branch into 1/2" to 1" pieces, soak 3 days in water. This in your rooting solution. Put the fig cutting in this water, start another one foot of willow branch. Every three or four days, change the water. When roots start forming, plant in a pot sized for the size of the cutting. Continue to make your willow water, dilute 1 part willow, 3 parts regular water, and use it for watering your newly planted, rooted cutting.
meatburner
Attractive To Bees
There is a lot of good information on youtube on fig propagation. I am in zone 6 but it is still iffy to have inground figs here so mine are grown in containers and moved into the garage for winter after they have gone dormant. Here is a cutting of an Unk Yellow Greek from a figs4fun forum member planted in a quart container on Dec 5th and sitting on a heat mat. There are a lot of easy successful ways to root cuttings.
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