How to: Overwintering Fig Trees

So, you've tried your hand at propagating fig trees, via either soil or water, and want to know what to do now that the weather is turning cold. Well, good news! After all your hard work at getting your little cutting to leaf and root, you're about to get a little bit of a break.

By now, the leaves of your tree are probably starting to turn yellow, or may have begun to fall off. This may seem like the tree is not doing well, but in actuality this is exactly what is supposed to happen. This is the natural process of the tree going into dormancy for the winter, and is a sign that it is about time to overwinter your tree until the spring.

What does it mean to overwinter your tree? It means to provide your potted tree with a space to spend the winter in dormancy. The tree essentially goes into hibernation and will wake up in the spring when it begins to grow new leaves. To effectively overwinter your tree it needs a cold environment but away from the elements of frost and strong icy winds.

When should you overwinter your tree? When the last leaf has fallen off of your tree naturally.

What's needed to overwinter your potted fig tree? An area of your home, like a garage, that is unheated. Some people specify that the area needs to be without light, but our garage gets a good amount of sunlight and I've never had a problem with it affecting our fig trees. The area however should remain unheated, as the presence of heat can effect the tree's natural cycle.

How to care for your overwintered tree? When I said you get a break, I meant it. Once the tree goes into dormancy it does not need a lot of care to survive. One to two cups of water (depending on the size of the tree) every two weeks is all the tree needs to survive. (Many say you only need to water the tree once a month, but I prefer twice a month.) For our trees in large pots, I give them two cups of water during feedings, and one cup of water for the trees in smaller pots at those same feedings. Once the tree begins to grow new leaves, usually in the early spring (though this may vary depending on where you live), I slowly ramp up how often I feed the plants. By May 10th, back outside they go.   

 



Now wish your tree a happy sleep and good luck!

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey 



A very special 3rd birthday.

Happy 3rd Birthday to my first propagated fig tree! (Yes, I'm that person.) No but seriously, this is a really big deal. This is the first fig tree that I ever propagated, which means that this is the tree that started everything! By learning how to properly propagate fig trees, with this once little guy as my guinea pig, I not only found an obsession a hobby and new skill, but something I'm so passionate about that one day I hope to not only have a fig orchard, but also sell fig trees to the general populace. This is the tree! Right here!

 

I've learned a lot in the three years since I sneakily took my pruning shears down to one of our village trees to cut off a 12 inch branch. Most of what I've learned has been trial by fire. I now have 10 large fig trees in large pots, and 12 small fig trees in small pots, here in the Duggan Terrace Orchard. We are currently in our second year of getting actual ripened figs and being able to enjoy the fruits of our labor (pun intended). I've learned to propagate cuttings directly into soil, and also by submerging them in water. I've learned when to repot them, and when to leave them be. But the most important thing I've learned? Don't let anyone tell you that trying to grow something is a stupid idea. Plenty of people scoffed when I told them what I wanted to do, and I know now what I would have missed out on had I listened to those negative nancies.

 

Want to grow your own fig tree? Here's two ways!

 

Propagating figs directly into soil.

 

Propagating figs in water: A 10 week experiment.    

 

And again, Happy Birthday not-so-little fig tree, and thank you for showing me something new each and everyday. Now get busy ripening the rest of those figs. Just because it's your birthday doesn't mean you get the day off...

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey 

A perfect Monday.

 

What, it doesn't look like a perfect day? I beg to differ. After 3 days without internet, phone or tv (because apparently paying for 2 months of service instead of just 1 angered and confused our French communications company), I'm excited to spend this cool, grey and rainy day catching up on the interwebs, drinking smokey early grey tea, reading "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," washing baby clothes, getting inspired on pinterest, and watching Netflix. That to me equals perfection.

 

 

And after all, this really is my favorite weather. Grey. Chilly. Fall rain on our ripening apples. If only I felt well enough to go out for a little walk in my wellies.

 

 

The Dracula clouds that I love so dearly have made an appearance at times over the last few days, which just warms my heart. Not much says "curl up and relax" to me more than that.

 

 

And to add a little sweetness to the pot, we were able to pick and eat the first of our fall fig crop this morning. I don't know the variety of the tree, I merely refer to it as the location of the original tree in our village. This makes two trees that have given us ripe figs so far this year (the first was a Brown Turkey fig tree), with many more (fingers crossed) on the verge of ripening.

 

 

How's Monday in your part of the world?

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey

Fig drop: Update

 

 

Remember my post last week about having some fig drop and fig yellowing problems with one of our potted fig trees? Well, it appears that my efforts were too little too late.

 

 

Figs have officially begun falling off on their own, and all of the figs have turned a pale sickly yellow.

 

 

This makes me sad, but I take solace in knowing that I learned something from this experience to add to my "gardening toolbox"...but I take more solace in knowing that our other 6 or so trees that are producing figs look healthy and green. At least I haven't screwed up our entire fig harvest (yet)...fingers and toes crossed!

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey



Fig drop.

 

 

As you guys know, my gardening skills have been earned trial-by-fire-like here in SwitzerFrance. Having no prior gardening experience prior to 3.5 years ago, I've learned everything by doing. That means that for all of the victories there are also some inevitable setbacks.

 

 

This is our second season getting figs with our potted fig trees, though the first year for all but one of the trees.

 

 

Of our seven fig trees in large pots that are currently producing figs, all look healthy and happy, except for one...

 

 

...hello sad little yellow figs.

 

I did a bit of research on why the figs on this tree are turning yellow, and I can pretty safely say that the cause has been lack of consistent/enough watering.

 

I've definitely been a little lazier this year when it's come to watering the plants, being pregnant and all, but coming into this season I was also wrong in assuming that being somewhat established trees (over 2 years old for all but one of them) would mean that they would not only need, but want, less water.

 

I was wrong. Apparently this is only true for established trees that have been planted in the ground. Why is this? Because their roots can search deep in the ground for the appropriate amount of water, where potted figs are slaves to their pots (and those caring for them).

 

I guess I should feel lucky that only one fig tree is having this problem. It's definitely gotten me to step up my consistency with watering all of the trees though, as I'd love to be able to have a nice harvest in the next month or so.

 

How do you recognize this problem before it's too late? These figs started looking a little dried out, and felt a little soft and spongy to the touch. Since I obviously didn't correct the problem, they then continued to turn from green to yellow. None have fallen off on their own, however I have knocked into two of the attached yellow figs and knocked them off that way (not on purpose). I'm pretty sure that falling off on their own would be the final step in this tree's 2013 fig harvest demise.

 

So how do you fix this problem? According to what I've researched, if the problem is lack of watering or consistency in watering, well, change that. If you catch the problem soon enough you shouldn't lose your whole harvest. I noticed that with my French Brown Turkey tree I was able to correct this problem when they were at the spongy and dry looking phase by giving the tree some extra water. That tree has looked great ever since, and has 20 medium sized figs on it that I hope will continue to ripen. It may be too late for this little Italian cutting however, as we're at the yellow fig phase, but hey, you live and you learn.  

 

If for some reason the changes I've made make a difference I'll be sure to let you guys know.

 

 

Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that my other six trees continue looking healthy and give us some treats in September!

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey



A (very) small bounty.

 

Yesterday I had a tasty little treat to go with my breakfast - our first fig of the 2013 season!

 

 

This delicious little guy came from a winter fig embryo on our French Brown Turkey tree, (ie a fig that didn't ripen last fall, but didn't shrivel up and fall off the tree over the winter, and matured early summer), which I propagated from a cutting 2 years and 7 months ago.

 

 

This guy was tiny, but sweet and delicious.

 

 

This looks like it's all of the breba crop we'll be getting this year, thanks to the lack of sunshine here in SwitzerFrance from April - May, but we've got 10-15 little figs growing on each of 5 of our other trees. Fingers crossed for a fig filled fall in the Duggan Terrace Orchard!

 

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey

 

P.S. Want to grow your own little fig tree? Here's one of my past postings on how to propagate your own tree from a fig cutting! Good luck!



A Tutorial Follow-Up, Trebek: Propagating Fig Trees DIY

Remember a ways back when I wrote a post about the way in which you can propagate a fig tree from an existing one? Yeah neither do I, but luckily a few of our readers do, and have asked me for an update on the state of those fig branches that I used in the post. Well, voila!

{They're ALIVE!}

All 6 branches were successful in rooting and growing leaves. Hooray! Within 3 - 5 weeks each showed signs of life, at which point I moved them from the garage to the terrace orchard. No figs yet, but since we seem to have skipped summer and gone straight to November, that's kind of to be expected for such wee little arbres. (At least that's what google tells me...)

Have any of you tried to propagate fig trees yet in your neck of the woods? Tell me all about it!

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey