Show Off Your Figs and "This year Harvest"

Boy… I am learning about figs from you guys… Appreciate It !

@Naeem and @RedSun — thank you for the details.

So my Chicago Hardy Fig is a Mt. Etna Fig - Right ?

Year 1 it grew nicely, we got 25 figs, year 2 (with no protection) it was dead to the ground, but came back from the roots, and produced 75 figs… year 3 (I successfully protected 5 stumps around 18" tall) and this year let those send up 10 shoots, most over 10 ft tall now, 300+ figs this year. To me that is just excellent.

So… Yes I successfully protected it last winter and will be doing my best to do that from now on.

Those short stumps that I protected last winter… one of those put out a bud/leaf and a Breba fig very early when it was first budding out. All the other shoots and growth came out, but no other Breba figs…

About a month later that one Breba fig, was still tiny and did not seem to be developing… I removed it, it was the only one.

Naeem - the Breba figs you get off your CHF (around 7/15), is that fig in ground ? or in a pot, that you bring inside over winter ?

If it is in ground, just wondering how much of the current years growth do you leave and protect over the winter ?

I left 18" and had one breba… perhaps if I left 4 ft, I would get a lot more and they would develop well ?

Protecting 4 ft outside in ground would be more difficult than protecting a few 18" stumps.

Perhaps I need one CHF in ground that I can chop off short and easily protect… (as my main crop producer).

And another in a Pot… that I can bring in over winter, and protect that growth for breba crop ?

How do you guys accomplish that ?

PS… I may have to try a Smith and just see if it will make it in ground here.

Thanks
TNHunter

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First fruit from De la Gloria. Very tasty! This tree has grown so slow for me. About 2’ tall at 2 years old. But it’s trying to ripen about 10 figs. Next year I need to juice this guy for a bit more growth. I’m really excited for what a mature De la Gloria can be.

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Here is a fig tree that my local friends pruned just before they wrapped last year. They are not fig people, but they just follow the way their parents had been doing.

The tree is about 4’ tall. Original tree grew to about 7’-8’ tall. I believe the tree is pretty old, maybe 7-8 years old? They just get one fig tree. So it is easy for them to do it that way.

Of course, it is not perfect. They probably left too many branches. I’m sure they would do some pruning the following spring.

Training young tree is quite different from training mature trees. Some of my local friends stopped wrapping their mature trees. Some are protected by the fences or by the walls.

I do not grow breba unless I want to keep one or two to see how the breba figs behave. Most of the breba crop is not as good as the main crop, or at most similar. With our short season, I removed all or most breba. No breba with the in-ground Mt. Etna figs. Pruning and winter protection are also different if you want to grow breba.

Next season I probably need to fertilize my trees better. They do not grow as tall yours are. I only spread some Holy Tone, no other fertilizers.

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I am writing what I did and working for me. I used to look for all the information on the internet, social media and forums but not anymore. Each person is growing fig differently and you do what is best for your situation.

Last year I did not protected my inground figs at all but pruned and removed week or too close branches in spring . I could not find a picture after pruning but ideally remove good number of branches to have space and light to reach inside.

I saw your HC figs picture and like what you did just keep doing.

Yes

In ground

Hardy Chicago is on the right side.


Breba Figs :Not a big fan of breba but this year breba was good as main crop.

This year I would only leave about 18" no more also leave about 10 branches .

You do not need 4 feet , lets say you protected 4ft and it produce 10 side branches or so I will not keep more then two or three because there is not so much space on tree to grow all ten shots. If your tree has only two to four branches coming from ground you need to protect more wood because you have less branches.

I have 150+ pots and all comes in my shed and garage winter time.

I do not think breba quality is as good as main crop but this year was exception , and happened once in four year for me.


Above picture was taken September 3rd after harvesting couple hundred figs and it was still loaded. Please zoom picture to see closely.

I do not fertilize my in ground trees otherwise will get too much vegetative growth and less figs. Only way to find if you need fertilizer soil test.

If you think I missed anything please ask again.

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I have heard of people doing something like this, where the Fig is trained to grow horizontally just above the ground and then they put a few bricks over it, covered with insulating organic matter for the winter and then clean the cover off again in the spring and let it grow

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@ kakasamo

Discussed here:

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I’m a newbie, and do not have any experience, however, I think other short season hearty fix like Florea, Norland, Michurynskaya Might be amenable to this strategy

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@Naeem - thanks again for the details. I am soaking this all up.

@kakasamo - I have read about that step over fig thing here… earlier this year. Thanks for the details, images, I got all that in a Word.doc and saved on my PC, and printed out too. I will have to try that.

Right now my CHFig has 10 shoots and most are over 10 ft tall… Right now I can still reach the ones that are ripening… but not for much longer unless I use a step ladder. That step over training thing would take care of that problem for sure. I may have to give that a try at my new location.

TNHunter

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I didn’t have time to give attribution, I borrowed it from some posts of ourfigs.comSo if you look or Google it on the bulletin board ourfigs, find a whole bunch of Discussions and the original sources

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This is the best figs year for me despite all the rain we got but good temperature between helped a lot.

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My figs are mostly leafless and coming down to the end. This is olympian.

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In both pictures I am trying to show that you can dehydrate figs in fridge too and oh boy these turned out to be very good and I mean it. Just make sure you do not put any wet fig in fridge.
First picture is on 09-13-21 and

second picture is on 09-27-21 exact after two weeks. I highly recommend if you have figs you should try and sweetness will improve at least 50% of from original harvesting :sunglasses:.

First picture is harvest on 09-13-21

Second picture is on 09-27-21

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I received an airlayer of Noire de Barbentane from a generous fellow member here and enjoyed my first fig from this variety today. It might of been even better with another day of hang time, but it was still excellent. It was dripping honey at the eye and the eye was nice and closed.


Inside was very rich and jammy, yum. This is just a small, one year old plant, so I expect it will be even better next year.

Does anyone know if this is the normal ripening time for 7a or might I expect it to normally be a little earlier? It is hard to tell with these plants when they’re just making a few first figs.

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Harvested my first Noire de Barbentane on September 7th from third year potted plant 7A.

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Coll de Dama Ciutat 09-28-21.
Another sweet berry fig need lot of heat to ripen perfectly. I like it.


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All of your figs look great. Problem I am having is picking too early (they don’t have much flavor) or too late (fermentation has set in). I am still trying to find that sweet spot.
I pick when the fruit droops and/or it has cracks in it and it is soft.

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Woohoo! It made it! I was waiting for cracks, but I noticed some honey from the eye so I went with it. It didn’t blow me away, but it was still at least as good as any I’ve bought from the store. I’m expecting it will be better in future years if it sets fruit earlier, as overnight temps dropped this week, and we’ve had some rain. All in all, I’m very excited. There are a few more starting to ripen now, hopefully they’ll make it over the finish line.

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It took me a while to figure it out and still learning. I have some splitting and bugs damage too but not a lot. Your zone is colder than mine. Few things I have learned

Give your figs as much as sunlight possible.
Make sure your potting mix is not holding too much water.
Plant varieties which are early and have good reports from your zone figs grower.

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Here is the first fig I harvested from a spring (May 12) transplant Italian Yellow Westfield fig tree. It is from Aaron at NJ Fig Farm.

The tree is hardy and vigorous. I did not expect to get any fig this year. I pinched one branch and it sent a couple figs.

I think it is in the same group as the more sought after Golden Riverside/Rainbow and the Yellow Long. It does not split. The sweetness is slightly behind the White Marseilles.

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Got 8 from my Ch fig this evening… best number yet… we have had a nice long dry spell since our last flood.

Got desert covered for dinner tonight. Also harvested strawberries grapes red and gold raspberries…

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