I, too am new to growing figs. I grew up in Los Angeles and a neighbor had a fig, so fresh figs have always been a favorite of mine. People who think they don't like figs have generally never tasted a tree ripened one fresh. Since I planted mine I've been doing a bunch of research, so I'll try to condense what I've learned.
Sexually, figs are kind of strange. Male and female flowers are on different plants. The "fruit" is actually a flower cluster with a thick meaty surround. The little hole on the bottom is where tiny wasps would get in to pollinate the flowers so the seeds would be fertile. Male trees have similar structures that hold male flowers and the wasps actually live inside them! The figs we generally plant are female plants that hold on to their flowers even when they are not pollinated, so they don't need male plants and they don't need pollination at all. These plants are propagated by cuttings. There is another kind of fig that is cultivated called Smyrna or Calimyrna where the females don't hold on to their flowers if they are not pollinated. These need male trees (with wasps) and a climate like California's. These are the figs with lots of crunchy (pollinated) seeds. For lots more information and tons of varieties see
www.treesofjoy.com In warmer climates they are evergreen and grow larger every year. Fruit occurs on last year's growth. In colder climates they may freeze to the ground but the more vigorous varieties can grow fast
enough to make a crop later that year. They are not bothered by many pests and don't need a lot of nitrogen. Like the rest of the fig family, they have a large, vigorous
root structure that can invade pipes, so be careful where you plant them. They can be trained as trees or as bushes. Trees are hard to maintain in colder climates and its easier to reach the fruits on bushes. They grow to about 15 feet in height and width if not frozen, varying by variety.
From my own observations - one of my recently planted figs already has a fruit on it. Mine are planted on the west side of the neighbor's
concrete block garage (painted white) about 5 feet out from the wall and about 10 feet apart. They get full sun from about 10 am on in the summer. The more vigorous one (Brown Turkey) will get some shade in the winter from trees that are on the lot of the neighbor to the south. I put a deep mulch next to the wall a few weeks after they were planted and they have not wilted in the afternoon since I did that, even in 100+ degrees F. The mulch is essentially partly decomposed
compost with mostly leaves, some twigs and branches, vegetable scraps and sod I removed when I planted the figs. It started out over a foot deep and has now settled down to about 4 to 6 inches. This goes out from the wall about 3 feet then there is large chunk pine bark mulch, then fine bark mulch right around the figs. More large pine bark is in front of the figs up to about 5 feet in front of them. They look kind of dwarfed in this bed currently, but they
should eventually grow to almost fill it up. Right now I have some flower bulbs between them and some fibrous begonias in front of them because these plants would have been in the way when we replace the
fence on the south side of the yard. It's an urban lot with poor depleted soil that I'm just starting to improve and plant, so mostly I'm looking for smaller plants to go along with the figs.
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