Does grafting figs work like with apples? You get the scion fruit?

General Fruit Growing
#1

Does grafting figs scions from one type to another give you the scions fruit type, like it does with apples? I know that may sound obvious, but I never see much about fig rootstock, so I wasn’t sure, though I have seen a lot fig scions for sale. Most grafting I read about is apples and citrus kinda of things.

If I graft a Black Mission Fig scion on a Turkey Fig tree, do I get a “real” Black Mission Fig? It won’t be some kind of hybrid will it?

#2

Yes, if the graft is compatible and it “takes” then you will get the fruit of the scion. You can buy franken fruit trees like this from the nursery. Peaches, Cherries, and Plums all on one tree

Here is a really extreme example Tree of 40 Fruit - Wikipedia

#3

John, your wood in that example would produce Black Mission from any growth in that stick. In areas warm enough that figs won’t die back, this is a very viable option for getting a good selection. The challenge for many on the forum is that their figs die back to the ground (or close to it) during the winter, so anything grafted would be lost and a huge waste of time. In z7 you might be ok without any dieback, but I would take cuttings as a backup yearly if I was going to try it in case you have a particularly cold winter. That said, if the graft itself is a backup, there should be no problem.

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#4

You can graft figs onto other figs, look at youtube for many examples. You get the grafted variety above/beyond the graft, but if it dies back to the roots, only the base variety. Lots of fig people graft onto something very common, in order to establish a rare or hard to find variety, then root it by layering, so you have it on it’s own roots. Rootstock for size control doesn’t exist for fig.

#5

Grafting works well with figs, although I’ve had miserable results. I am trying again as I want to top work one of my inground trees. The one thing you need to watch for are suckers coming up below the graft point. Figs love to put out suckers and they can be very vigorous. They should be chopped back to the ground so that the tree puts all of its resources into the grafted scion.