My fig tree is dying. Any ideas?

This is the fourth of our fig trees to die in the past three years. It's been the same with all of them. First the leaves start curling



and turning yellow



before dropping off. One of them died in sections; several branches died one year, and the rest of it the next.

Could age be a factor? I have no idea how old they are. They were mature trees when we bought the place 15 years ago.

This one has fewer figs than usual, and they're beginning to ripen very early. My usual fig harvest is in August, but here it is early June.



Does anyone have any ideas? It's always sad to lose trees, especially when they're part of our food production.

As for the trees died before, have you checked the trunks or roots to find the cause? Such as fungal infection or nibbles eating the roots? Maybe asking experts in the ourfigs forum will help you. Also, summer is a good time to do air layering and salvage big branches in case you might lose this tree.

Howdy,

I grew up outside of Fresno, California. Our 2.5acres was surrounded by fig orchards. When we saw trees (big,mature,not dwarfs) dying or dead it was usually because of ground squirrels building a huge den under one tree. So I would suspect some kind of underground damage, especially if they seemed very healthy producing trees.

My fig trees always have root suckers coming up every year, which I have pruned and heeled in other pots and give away living trees. My trees have very little little dead wood on them in the spring. I know figs like a compact clay type soil.

Google says it could be overwatering (too frequent watering), root rot, insects, nitrogen deficiency.

I’d check that the soil is well-draining. Let dry-out between waterings, check for insect infestation, feed say an inch of compost per year but also ensure soil is still aerated and draining.  

my figs look like that when we get too much rain. i have one planted on a slope now to avoid this, and another in a pot, and it seems very happy.
something else I learned (after killing many, many figs) is that they seem to do a lot better when you cut them down. The more youngish wood and the less old wood, the better. Everyone's always horrified when I cut them way back but they usually come back with a boom. David the Good had a good video of him cutting his neighbor's figs a few years ago, you might find it interesting.

To Mike and Tereza's point about rain, we have been getting a lot of rain, especially this spring. I can't recall the last several years, but I should have rainfall records somewhere. I'm not terribly hopeful that it can be saved at this point.

Lot of other good ideas here; things to look into. My saving grace is a newly sprouted fig tree that is doing really well and looks very healthy. That might be one to cut branches for propagating. It will be some years before we get good fig harvests again, but figs are worth waiting for.

Leigh Tate wrote:To Mike and Tereza's point about rain, we have been getting a lot of rain, especially this spring.

It's very unusual for an established fig tree to die like that in our climate (I'm also in the South, just a half zone warmer). I suppose excessively wet soil could be doing it. Is that area also fairly shady? Figs don't take well to shade, so wet shade might be enough to do them in in wet years.

I know root knot nematodes can kill figs as well, but I would be surprised if you've got them bad if you're in 7b, especially if you have heavy soil.

If it is too much rain causing wet soil, then it might be worth trying a variety with Ficus palmata heritage in it. Both Alma and Cherry Cordial would fit the bill. The palmata genetics seems to make them more moisture-loving than straight F. carica. And while I only have experience with Alma, I can vouch for its exceptional rain resistance when ripening fruit.


Here's an Alma after several weeks of almost daily rain. That's not water dripping, that's syrup! Even with all the rain, the figs were unspoiled and very sweet.

So yeah, if the issue is excessive moisture, you might could try Alma or Cherry Cordial. It's no guarantee, but I think you'd have better odds. And of course, give them as much light as you can and trim any trees that might be shading them.