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Post by gray on Oct 24, 2011 13:15:06 GMT -5
Most people think I have a green thumb. But I have had no success with fig trees. the first ones I bought and planted grew well the first year then the next year all the dead branches were dead. New branches came up from the ground root system I assume. Its like every year they start over from new shoots from the root and the previous years shoots die. What am I doing wrong?
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Post by turtleheart on Oct 24, 2011 13:25:22 GMT -5
you are letting them get too cold, even in north carolina they need help. you need to get the heat of the earth trapped with the aerial parts through covering and mulching. some people use tarps and garbage bags throughout the winter. i never have bothered with them for fear of your predicament, but i know it can be done becuase it is colder here in pittsburgh, and there are alot of italian families here that still keep figs in the city. if they can do it here, you can do it there. try to insulate them when it is cold. if they are containerized you want to have them close to the house for warmth and then you can insulate it flush against the wall. build up leaves in a tall mound around the base.
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Post by canadamike on Oct 24, 2011 18:14:52 GMT -5
That is a perfect advice. You definitely have cultivars built up for warmer places, even if for me close to Montreal you live in the tropics. You can grow almost any very very southern figs even up north, there is a guy in Toronto growing something like 60 or so cultivars with success. He has built an enclosed space that he covers in winter. Another friend of mine in MOntreal simply uproot them in the fall then put them in a tarp and replant them every spring. They are weeds in disguise. There are italian people near the Jean-Talon market in Montreal that have beautifull mature fig trees with a 6-8 inches girth. I admit there is wall protection around, the city is a micro climate in itself and all that jazz, but darn, even with protection from the wind and the heat from the cars and houses, MOntreal will never be the Carolinas... For mature trees, work on your cultivars, for ANY FIG that you want prepare to protect them. If I was in the Carolinas I would have a fig orchard with loads of adapted cultivars..look here for fun, you will be amazed at the variety of figs grown way closer to the north pole than you are  : www.adrianosfigtrees.com/They have many cold tolerant figs. If you cannot get them for a reason, call me, where there is a will there is a way. |
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Post by steev on Oct 24, 2011 18:45:03 GMT -5
I read about a guy in Chicago, I think, who had to have a fig tree, regardless of the climate. He planted it against a south wall for the sun, splayed flat. When Winter came, he would loose it from the wall and lay it flat, having kept the roots pruned to only two majors parallel to the wall. Then he'd mulch it well with dry leaves and a tarp over all. In Spring, with the snow gone and hard frost past, he'd tie it back up against the wall.
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Post by castanea on Oct 24, 2011 22:01:32 GMT -5
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Post by steev on Oct 25, 2011 1:53:14 GMT -5
Cool! It's amazing what works in practice, if you're crazy enough to give it a shot.
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Post by gray on Oct 25, 2011 8:18:38 GMT -5
Thats awesome guys! Thanks so much for the info. I would never have guessed it was to cold in NC. I am only 50 miles from the SC line. I believe most people grow figs close to brick houses here for warmth, now that I start to look around. Would they by ok after they are more mature? I do see some figs out in the open that are huge trees and prolific producers. Maybe they are cold tolerant varieties? Thanks again for the input. Gray
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Post by castanea on Oct 25, 2011 8:54:58 GMT -5
Thats awesome guys! Thanks so much for the info. I would never have guessed it was to cold in NC. I am only 50 miles from the SC line. I believe most people grow figs close to brick houses here for warmth, now that I start to look around. Would they by ok after they are more mature? I do see some figs out in the open that are huge trees and prolific producers. Maybe they are cold tolerant varieties? Thanks again for the input. Gray The big trees are probably somewhat cold tolerant varieties growing in warmer microclimates, but they are also probably losing tips of branches in the winter. Figs are very vigorous and big trees can regenerate lost branches very easily. |
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Post by Hristo on Nov 17, 2011 18:41:31 GMT -5
The best method I found to grow and overwinter figs is by growing them as 2 years old branches, or more if possible. Because figs form many suckers/branches after the top has been winter killed, and these 1 year old branches are quite flexible I simply bend them and bury them in the ground. That way even if the winter is very cold they will survive unlike other methods of protection I have used. Next year they produce a good crop. When 2 years old they are thicker and not that flexible, but still if I can I bury them, if not there are other young branches...
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Post by canadamike on Nov 17, 2011 19:42:22 GMT -5
I want to insist on hardiness, and excuse me if I repeat myself, but there are plenty of hardier cultivars. And the big fat fig trees downtown Montreal are a testimony that more mature trees are hardier. I have a friend who is pushing the northern colder boundary of mulberries simply by grafting branches that survived harsh winters and making trees out of them. He claims they are now zone 3 plants...frankly, I doubt it, simply because I have not seen any in that zone yet, so my doubts are about precaution more than disbelief, but they do very very well in zone 4. That I have seen... And they are supposed to have it hard in zone 6... The guy, Dr Ken Taylor, is an authorithy on northern fruit trees. I met him in the early ninetees. Last year, he told me ''I thaught I knew about fruit trees then, I now know much more now''. He starts a lot of trees from seeds. The common thinking was that when grafting a young branch on an older tree it would behave like an ''old'' branch. Now, he simply cut the tops of his seedlings and graft them onto the next seedling close by, top of A grafted to B and top of B grafted to A kind of thing, and although all the plants are young, they behave like older ones and he gets fruits sooner. His advice on peach growing in a northern area: grow them as espalliered on a low wire like for grapes, and the snow cover will protect them. You can grow a peach tree grown from a Georgia fruit pit in Canada this way.. Me just moved, me just will do it next year on me new garden  |
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Post by Hristo on Nov 18, 2011 5:44:57 GMT -5
I have a friend who is pushing the northern colder boundary of mulberries... I have never seen injuries on our mulberries (M. alba's) even when temps have been in the -22-25C range, and I do not think our "varieties" are any special, so zone 4 sounds pretty plausible. With some selection maybe even zone 3 could be possible, why not. Now, he simply cut the tops of his seedlings and graft them onto the next seedling close by, top of A grafted to B and top of B grafted to A kind of thing, and although all the plants are young, they behave like older ones and he gets fruits sooner. This is interesting to try. Could be useful for some slow to bear from seed trees. Maybe it's the injury which speeds up bearing, similarly to the technique where you cut a thin strip of bark around the trunk (do not know the English therm). |
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Post by ottawagardener on Nov 18, 2011 9:26:30 GMT -5
I've wondered about this technique and thought perhaps its the communication from the branch and the root stock but then growth restriction sounds like a plausible explaination as well.
P.S. When it damages the tree, it's called girdling. I"m not sure if there's another technical word for doing it to induce fruiting.
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Post by Hristo on Nov 18, 2011 11:28:32 GMT -5
That's right, it was girdling, thanks! And yes it's the broken connection between the top (green) part and the root system. That way the sugars accumulate in the branches and this could lead to flower buds set.
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Post by DarJones on Nov 19, 2011 1:08:19 GMT -5
Figs are highly susceptible to nematodes. NC happens to have a very large population of nematodes. The solution is to plant fig trees next to your house. The roots grow under the house and into the soil which does not support nematodes.
Figs vary in hardiness. Brown Turkey is commonly available and hardy here in the south but only if it has some protection from prevailing winds. Plant them against the south or east wall of a house and they will thrive. There are plenty of other hardy varieties if you do a bit of searching.
DarJones
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