Help training a fig

[Oli]

Hi all,

I've been given a fig tree which we are delighted about as absolutely love them and would really like to fan train it against a fence.

This is what I have:



This is what I would LOVE to end up with:



Apologies for the stolen photo!

Is it possible? If so where do I start?

Failing that could I do this?

[Kirk]

This is going to be a challenge for VC.

[Oli]

I'm hoping VC is about to become my new best friend!!

[BUFFS]

first off when February you will need to snap off the leading shoots to encourage more branches, this will give you something to start with, mine now has 9 stems and I take the growing tips off each year means it produces loads of figs , the bulk of which we have eaten this week, and it sits outside all year and we are as far north as Moscow........

[marchogaeth]

first off when February you will need to snap off the leading shoots to encourage more branches,

So if I've got a fig which is a straight stick about 3' high should I snap off the top tip next spring to encourage branches further down. I want to keep mine quite small and bushy. Also the leaves on mine are turning autumn yellow, is this normal - seems a bit early to me?

[rhonsal]

first off when February you will need to snap off the leading shoots to encourage more branches, this will give you something to start with, mine now has 9 stems and I take the growing tips off each year means it produces loads of figs , the bulk of which we have eaten this week, and it sits outside all year and we are as far north as Moscow........

Oooohhh Buffs hopefully you can give me some advice - I'm in West Lothian and was given a little fig plant as a gift this year. It's a "Brown Turkey", and i've planted it in a large plastic pot. It's growing well, but i wasn't sure the best way to look after it over the winter, i.e. should i moved it to a really sheltered spot in the garden or put it in an unheated greenhouse?

Any advice welcome!

[BUFFS]

the fig I have is a brown turkey that I got from a magazine for the price of postage and it was 4ins tall and has been very easy to look after, for a young plant I would make sure it is in john innes No3 compost as this is much better than mpc and I would put it into the unheated greenhouse for this winter so it can really bulk up its root system before it has to survive all year round, the pot needs to be about 20ins across and deep when the plant is ready to fruit, I picked up 2 earlier this year off e bay, for £6 each delivered, decide how tall you wish it to grow and if it was say 6ft I would trim it to 4ft in feb, to allow it to grow fruiting stems. I give mine a small handful of bfb fertiliser in march. when you have your branches(it will keep producing more each year) then remove just the growing tips at the end of feb and it will then produce plenty of young figs that should be really juicy around the end of august and fresh and warm straight from the plant...magic. it will produce more , quicker in a greenhouse but I use that for melons so it sits outside, facing south, and has survived 2 winters(not last winter) of temps down to -13/-16 for weeks and just shrugged it all off, i do give mine a weekly feed of tomato feed from about mid summer to keep the fruit developing, I don't know if this is really correct but I work on the old saying of "an empty sack wont stand" so it gets about 1/2 gall of feed and it doesn't seem to do any harm and the fruits are lovely , it certainly works for me...good luck..

[eospete]

Good advice. I've just had one fruit on there all year and I don't reckon that will ripen. It's only in its first season coming up this autumn though. P

[rhonsal]

Cheers for the advice Buffs - I'm looking forward to tasting my first home grown fig!

[Oli]

Thanks for the replies so far. So is the consensus that anything is still possible given what I have? I'll pinch the tips in February - is this the only time of the year I should be pruning?

[veggiechicken]

This is going to be a challenge for VC.

I'm hoping VC is about to become my new best friend!!

With unruly figs like mine, you'd soon dump me http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1039503

I think Kirk may have been taking the proverbial

[BUFFS]

we had the last of our figs last night, lovely sweet taste, planning for next year now , might get another fig...

[Kristen]

I bought my Figs based solely on Flavour. Brown Turkey is the most common (I think?) in the UK, and is rock-hardy ... but I think the flavour is disappointing. The ones I have are not properly hardy, so have to come in for the Winter which may not suit everyone of course. The plants are young, so I can't tell you how outstanding they taste as yet but I have tasted the varieties I choose and was very taken with them, but I'm a firm believer in growing-for-taste, and choosing suitable varieties for soil/conditions etc., rather than price. Lots of great deals on Fruit plants each year, but if they are the wrong variety / pollination partner / rootstock whatever then I don't think they are a good investment and the wait of a few years to then find that the plant is unsuitable (flavour / soil / whatever) is another potential disappointment

Figs is perhaps a bit different, but for most fruit plants the "value" of the crop over the lifetime of the plant far outweighs the cost of initial plant.

Of course if the variety / rootstock / etc. that you want is on special offer then bring it on

[BUFFS]

I might have tried some other figs if I could leave them in the greenhouse but with the toms, melons ,peppers, chillies and cucumbers and herbs, there is not a lot of spare room, but our big freezer is full to the brim again with the gardens produce, we found 3 more figs today, hidden behind the foliage but that's the lot, next year we might try fig ice cream to see how it tastes..

[Oli]

Hi everyone, so we're now into January and the fig looks the same as the original photo but leafless. Could I trouble you for some advice as to where I should be cutting each side to try and achieve the ultimate fan?

Many thanks

Oli