I’m wondering what I should do with the Hardy Chicago fig tree I purchased from Raintree. Its about 4-5’ tall, 1/2" caliper whip and it’s potted. How low do I want to encourage scaffolding? I’m assuming I should chop it off lower and use an open center style. I don’t want this tree to get too tall. Should it be cut around 24" and encourage 4 scaffolds? Or are there better plans for fig trees?
Figs have there own plan. Four scaffolds and open center might be your plan but don’t bet on it without constant pruning. Figs are nothing like trees and most grow as bushes due to constantly sending up more sprouts from down low.
I would cut it down to more like a foot and accept what form it provides. But you can prune as you like.
Lol. They have a mind of there own huh? Come to think of it in most of the pictures I’ve seen they are kind of wrinkly and spirally. I’ll cut it and see what happens!
I’d go with your plan of cutting it at around two feet and use the pruned section for cuttings. You could probably end up with 3 or 4 trees out of that one tree.
That’s an interesting thought but if there is one thing I’ve never had any success with is cuttings. I’ve never tried it with figs before but I’ve tried it with a lot of flowers and ornamentals.
Are figs easy to root from cuttings?
Figs are probably one of the easiest trees to root. I stick mine in a baggy with some sphagnum moss and get good success. I’m sure you’d be fine just sticking them in a pot and covering the pot with plastic too.
You could also set up an airlayer above where you want to prune and then remove in in a month or so. Airlayers are pretty impossible to fail with on figs.
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Goodness. I just spent an hour reading about fig cuttings and it seems like there are hundreds of ways to do it. my fig is dormant so I could easily lop the tree at 18" and end up with 3-4 cuttings I could play with.
Seems like a common way is to wrap in wet newspaper and zip lock bags on top of fridge until roots develop, then pot. I’m going to try it for sure.
My MIL gave me some fig cuttings last year. I had one big stick left over, so just shoved it into the ground next to the carport just to see what it would do. It grew better than all my other cuttings that I actually spent time on.
I mostly grow figs. So this is what I would do with it. I would just pinch the tip of the fig off to encourage the bottoms to sprout out. I would not take that much off because you will greatly reduce the amount of fruit you get off it, this year. At that height you should get some fruit this year. Any branches you don’t want I would just put air layers on them. Fig trees are very vigorous so no matter what you do it will grow back.
I do not know why you had to buy it from Raintree. It is a very popular item at big box stores, about $10 a pot (small). No need to get very large ones.
I would not call fig a fig tree. It naturally grows into large shrub. So I’ll train fig the same way as the mature blueberry shrub. Thin and renovate old canes.
You also need to keep the fig in the proper size. Bird netting is required since birds really love figs. So the plant can’t be managed if allowed to grow to 20’ to 30’. Or you just let the birds get most fruits and you eat the leftovers.
I would like to see a 30 foot shrub!
I live in Zone 6A and I’ve never once seen a fig tree for sale at a big box store. Hence the reason I purchased a Hardy Chicago Fig. I’ve heard it’s about the hardiest of figs and can die back and resprout the next spring. I’m sure there are better tasting figs out there but from what I’ve read the Chicago is the best for my region.
If that’s the case I won’t try to control it like a tree. I’ll chop the crap out of it when it starts getting too big and use the cuttings to make more fig trees. I don’t want anything out of my reach. ~8 feet.
I’m also in Zone 6 and I’ve seen Chicago hardy at either Home Depot and Lowe’s all the time, both spring and fall. The price is $10 for one gallon. I think they may have 2 gallon too.
Speed
I had about 4 variety of figs in the ground Brown Turkey, Celeste, Chicago Hardy, and Black Mission. I buried them real deep like a foot and a half beyond the pot soil line five years ago. They came came back every year from the roots. Some ripen before winter and some a lots stay green and go to waste but at least I got me some figs to eat on a yearly basis.
Tony
Tony are you buring them deep to protect the root from extreme cold? I planted my apples and cherries on mounds due to my poor soil and assumed I should do the same with the fig. Not the case?
There are tons of discussions on growing figs in the cold weather. My neighbor has a fig in the ground over the past several years. They wrapped it over the winter, but just not enough. So the plant died back each year, but came up each year. But they just got very few or no fruits at all. There is just not enough time for the new growth to set fruits. You should not allow the plant to die back to the ground…
Red Sun
I used to pot them and bring them into my tornado shelter for protection but now I getting tire of moving them in and out every Spring. Nearly 50 yrs old now and just want to do thing easy. Plus when you live in Zone 5 and the temp can dip down to -18F and Figs are not that hardy. Just have them growing in my edible landscape is a plus.
Tony
So even though the fig grows back from dying down its not likely to produce edible fruit after that? Maybe I should look into growing it in a container and moving it into the cellar during winter.
Yeah, you can do that for a while and have the chance to enjoy the super sweet figs and later when you are tire of moving then do what I did with them. Their leaves are pretty for sure but smell like cat urine sometimes.
Tony
Tony, out of all your figs, what produces the most? Or has the best chance for a crop? I would like to do what you do, if I could get some crop. And I’m almost 60, and already have enough pots to move although I will do it for some. I want to try the Florea fig myself.