I’ve wanted to try this for a while. I took out the big fig tree from that I planted over 20 years ago at what is now my mom’s house because it was way too tall and too close to the house and generally blocking things since it hasn’t been getting managed.
Even though I already have 2 of these Violette de Bordeaux trees at my place, I kept a 4 foot long limb and buried it shallowly about 6 weeks ago in mid April.
Looks like it wants to grow. I guess I should probably put some rabbit protection around it:
It isn’t the best place since it gets late afternoon shade. But its out of the way, and can get as big as it wants. We’ll see how much of a moldy mess the main crop make when they don’t ripen in time.
I understand, I’ve experienced it many times. It doesn’t kill the whole branch.
If I don’t get to it in time, I prune the moldy part back and get more branches for brebas in 2 years. When I have limited motivation, I try to get them all off of at least one of the 2 trees during the winter so I don’t miss a year of fruit.
VdB seems the worst variety for lingering main crops that didn’t ripen. But the outstanding fruit is worth the hassle.
Hmm, interesting. Every branch I’ve left some fruit on has experienced dieback. I’ve also seen this in many people’s trees around here. Maybe it is a climactic thing.
