Apples vs figs

You would think that here in western Missouri growing organic apples would be much easier than figs. I just realized that this is wrong.

Apples have many diseases and insects that can ruin the apples and even kill the trees. They can die from a drought or from root rot in a wet year. Sometimes I don’t get any fruit without mayor insect damage.

Figs here have no diseases. A few ants. The birds, possums, and raccoons here haven’t realized that figs are food yet. Figs are extremely drought tolerant. They don’t mind wet weather. They are easy to propagate. Mine still freeze back every year, but I always get some good figs. They aren’t very productive because they have lots of immature fruit when they freeze in the fall, but they don’t take up much room because they freeze back. They can get 8’ tall in one growing season. If I can get one trunk to survive the winter, the older wood will be much more cold resistant and more productive.

This is a couple years ago and later in the summer.

I had read that figs are deer resistant. They do not like the waxy texture. Because of the bushyness of the tree, girdling by deer scraping the velvet off their antlers is not an issue either. So this moves figs up on my list. I also removed their cages and so far so good.

Mine are same as yours currently. Unripe figs when frost comes. But each year they get bigger.

The biggest thing was a video i watched of deepsouth homestead canning figs. He canned them whole in a half strength simple syrup. Most days this is his breakfast. The reason this was huge for me is it looked good and it keeps and "I CAN DO THAT!" I am looking forward to a harvest of these more than any tree currently.

Watch "Whole FIGS in a JAR!!! | Canning | EASY!" on YouTube

Wayne, are you getting any ripe figs? What variety do you have? Mine are hardy Chicago.

I do not track varieties but i think "turkey" is in the name. I had unripe fruits last year that frost took out. But i hope this is the year for my largest tree.

wayne fajkus wrote:I do not track varieties but i think "turkey" is in the name. I had unripe fruits last year that frost took out. But i hope this is the year for my largest tree.

Probably Brown Turkey then. We grow it up here but I haven't eaten one yet. I've got a young tree

Wayne, you might try a Hardy Chicago. Maybe it wouldn’t freeze back. It’s supposed to be the most hardy variety that is readily available.  How cold does it get there?

James, yours probably don’t freeze back in Washington?

My fig tree is definitely the most vigorous fruit tree in the yard, it's 8 feet tall and fruiting 1 year after I planted it at 3' from a 1 gallon pot. Perhaps making a 10' diameter, 1' tall mound to plant it in will help the root rot? And if you keep it pruned to a manageable height you could toss a tarp over it on nights where you expect early frosts in the fall? Might get some extra weeks out of it that way.

Fig is definitely one of the planned 'Mediterranean' species I plan to try in an Oehler-inspired greenhouse up in zone 6. I'll probably include a climate battery as described in The Forest Garden Greenhouse which is a good read on growing plants in areas 4-6 zones colder than they can tolerate. You could probably start with a simple cover, bending pvc pipe up and over the tree and tossing a cover on that as needed. You just remove the cover and leave the pipes in place in the fall, so quick to go out each night and cover it as needed.

Here is mine.  The 2 varieties i see at nurseries is chicago and Turkey.  If i dont have chicago, i will soon enough.

I think 17 deg f is our lows. Some years the freeze is only overnight. Every few years we get one that stays below freezing for 3 days.

I have 2 fig trees inside in pots and one of them keeps dropping leaves and looking awful. Any fig growing tips?

I planted a brown turkey last year. It died back over the winter.  I'm not sure if it's dead but the top is.  I'll try a Chicago.

elle sagenev wrote:I have 2 fig trees inside in pots and one of them keeps dropping leaves and looking awful. Any fig growing tips?

Do you put them outside in the summer?  I'd guess that a bit more sun and fresh air would help.

Elle, I second the idea to move them outside. Repotting might help. They could be root bound.

They will probably both loose their leaves when you move them outside. It won’t hurt them.

Mike Jay wrote:

elle sagenev wrote:I have 2 fig trees inside in pots and one of them keeps dropping leaves and looking awful. Any fig growing tips?

Do you put them outside in the summer?  I'd guess that a bit more sun and fresh air would help.

I haven't put them outside but our summer only started this week. Rain and cold until now. lol

Ken W Wilson wrote:Elle, I second the idea to move them outside. Repotting might help. They could be root bound.

They will probably both loose their leaves when you move them outside. It won’t hurt them.

I just got them in November. Can't be root bound yet. One of them is fine. The other one is attempting death every few days. Driving me nuts!