Who gives a Fig?

[ancee]

I've just gone onto the link and ordered it, hope the offer is still on and I haven't missed a 'best before date'. It accepted my card payment anyway, so i'll either get it or they'll send me something random lol! Thank you vc x

[veggiechicken]

Let us know when it arrives ancee

[zazen999]

So....

Last Friday I was quite ill and the doorbell went. I thought 'oh, I remember ordering a book' so I ran down [read, slowly crept down as fast as I could but I was ill, and dizzy, and was in pain so it actually took about 5 minutes but anyway]...and I opened the front door and there on the threshold was...

a 4 ft fig tree.

Stunned, I sat down and laughed thinking I must be hallucinating. Surely.

10 minutes later, I remember that my tutor recently emailed me saying she'd dug one up and did I want it and she'd bring it over this week. [She taught me my PTLLS a couple of months ago but we've made chums and I've been to her house, it's not that weird, stop it].

10 more minutes later and I realise that I'd better actually drag it indoors. So I did. then had to sit down for another hour to recover as it was flippin heavy. For someone who was ill.

A few hours later when Mr Z came home - he opened with the line...There's a fig tree in the front room, am I hallucinating?

It's not going to be sited at home, it's going to the community garden but am looking forward to a crop!

[veggiechicken]

Nice one Zaz When I read 4' I automatically stood up to get some idea of the height - that's about shoulder height I don't think the freebie ones will be that size!
Its a good job yours didn't arrive in December or Mr Z might have been looking for the baubles

[sugar]

A rather late reply. I have 6 fig trees over here (rather young plants): Ronde de Bordeaux, Rouge de Bordeaux, Madeleine des Deux Saisons, Pingo di Mel, Del portugallo and Dalmatie.
The poor weather early this year caused all fruit to drop, so I haven't got a single fig this year (I had some fruit last year).

Three plants are grown in (very large) containers (100 l)

The other plants will be planted next year in a sunny spot in the garden.

[veggiechicken]

I hadn't realised there were so many varieties of fig, Sugar!!

[sugar]

There are several hundreds of varieties of figs. All with different coloured figs, differences in taste and leaf shapes.

[veggiechicken]

Makes my Brown Turkey sound really boring

[ancee]

Mine's arrived! It's about the size of the tip of my finger to my elbow! Really pleased with her! She's on the kitchen windowsill at the mo, but will she be ok? The garden is still a wasteland, so I've no idea where to put her yet. Also, the blurb that came with said that if I wanted it to fruit I should restrict the roots. So does that mean planting into a container restrict how (sounds a bit mean!)? It says that if the roots are left to grow as they wish then it'll just be a lovely lush green plant and not fruit!!

[Marcher]

Mine is still small enough to have indoors. I'll let it go dormant in winter (they only need a short period of dormancy) and then put it in a window from March. Then once summer arrives it can go outside. Maybe I'll get some figs that way.

[veggiechicken]

Hi Ancee - Glad your Fig has arrived! I'm no expert on figs - as you can tell by reading this thread! All of mine have been grown from cuttings, so would be about the size of yours now. I keep them in the greenhouse overwinter (while they're rooting) and put them outside in the spring. After that, they're on their own. I'm guessing yours is in a small pot. You could, maybe, move up to something like a flower bucket next year.
As you can see from some of the previous posts, a dustbin will be ample for some years. Perhaps this is one thing not to plant out!!

[fishpond]

VC
How and when did you take the Fig cuttings and how did you propagate?
Love You

[veggiechicken]

Oh, Fishpond. I didn't know you cared
I suppose you're expecting an intelligent answer about fig cuttings..........no chance!!

They would have been new shoots, probably taken in autumn during pruning/hacking back and stuck in a bucket of soil. Sometimes just in a bucket of water - and they still root Cuttings probably about 18" - 24" and poked in to about half their length.

Whatever time you're pruning, its worth turning the best bits into cuttings. That's why my garden is overrun with fruit bushes

[fishpond]

"Oh, Fishpond. I didn't know you cared."
I do, I do.
My legs have gone all weak at the knees (It might have something to do with carrying compost and chicken feed through the mud)
Many Thanks for your answer, I will give it a go next year.

[starloc]

I took cuttings in march in Bulgaria so march should be fine here, just stuffed it into the soil in the garden, no rooting powder and forgot about it, it was about 1 foot high cutting with 2 leaves, by July it was growing new shoots and transplanted into a 10l pot

Air layering is better and can be done anytime the tree is growing , more reliable

But if you are pruning a plant, just stuff them in the soil and most plants will grow.