Show Off Your Figs and "This year Harvest"

I am only growing in ground. I just don’t have room for bring them inside during the winter. I have read that’s a problem with C, but it eventually works itself out.

Thx!

That’s wild. I have mine in a 15 gallon pot and it is producing figs happily. Possible micronutrient deficiency that’s alleviated by being in-ground? Not really sure as I’m just a single counter example.

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Perhaps yours is on a drip irrigation system or you are better at consistent watering than I was? I think the dropping was made worse when I went away and someone else watered, so they may have been inconsistent or just didn’t water enough. I’ve always thought that the fact they held fruit more reliable on in ground trees was probably the more consistent moisture, but that is only a guess.

I have heard from some other people they’ve had an issue with container Celeste and Celeste was the only variety that gave me that issue, so it was an easy decision to drop it since I had several other good figs. But a well ripened Celeste can certainly be sweet and delicious!

Here are some figs from my potted trees.



Del Sen Jaume Gran


Moscatel Preto


Socorro Black

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I think dropping with container fig plants is mainly related to water stress than the variety itself. I have fig dropping in one area where in another area, no dropping.

Smyrna and San Pedro are different stories.

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Celeste:

Gino’s Black:

Macool:

Hardy Chicago:

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In my case, Celeste was one of about a half dozen varieties in the same area in the same size containers getting similar watering. And it was the only one that dropped a significant amount of figs. This was over several years and Celeste being more likely to drop figs was confirmed to me by a few other fig collectors. It could be related to some nutrient need it wasn’t getting that affected it more than others (soilless mix with fish imulstion, some 10-10-10 and one year ozmocote used) or possibly it is just more likely to react to water stress than the others.

I don’t really know why and maybe it is something specific to what I was doing, but it was definitely different than the others in how it dropped figs.

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I grow most of my figs in small shallow container, they don’t drop figs at all. My husband even give them less water. Too many trees and that the real reason, less pressure, so many outlets. But the ones in container are not robust except for one Black fig.

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Ah it could be consistent moisture. I mulch my pots heavily and have had a ton of time this summer to devote to my plants (quit my job and decided to take the summer off, though sadly going to start working again next month :laughing:).

My pots are all coco-coir, native red clay (naturally heavy in most micronutrients), pine bark, perlite, and various fertilizer amendments.

There are different strains of Celeste as well. You never know for sure which Celeste you are getting unless it’s a named strain.

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I totally agree with this. Sometimes it is hard to know if they are truly the same Celeste.

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This is just a friendly reminder if you harvest figs after rain or your figs are blend you can bring them back to very good quality by dehydration.

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Well a word of caution for all you fig pickers out there… don’t do as I did this evening…

We had some friends coming over at 6 pm… and I went out to pick the figs… just before they arrived I happened to think they may want to try some figs… so I went and picked a dozen or so…

When you pick figs in a hurry… it can be quite painful.

I have all my ripening figs bagged… and you know when they are just hanging down and deep colored they are ready… I saw a really nice one like that and quickly reached over and grabbed it.

Well on the other side… there was a yellow jacket just waiting for me. I got a very intense painful sting on my second finger. Yellow jackets are quite small, but pack a real punch with their sting.

So learn from my mistake this evening… make sure there are no bees, wasp, jackets on your figs before you grab them.

It still hurts hours later… but no swelling at this point. I know form experience with YJ stings that they often itch after the initial sting is gone.

TNHunter

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Baking soda on the sting might help.

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Yes, and make sure to not pick figs in low light, the bees and wasps do not leave the figs even at night. That can not happen to me because where I live there are other things that could be wrong with the figs too and I inspect each fig before picking it. I have almost got attacked by bees and wasps while they were eating figs a few times. Yet their instinct at first is to protect the fig and scare you away from the fig, if you take or damage the fig, then they try and attack.

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These pictures are after dehydration 18 hours at 125F. I love the results, these are very good candy like texture and can stay in fridge for quite some time. :yum:


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Makedonia Dark: Biggest fig in Mt.Etna types, very productive, very tasty, texture is more soft compared to others, very easy to root from cuttings. My 2 plants are proving to be quite the workhorse

Gino’s black: Berry good fig, very productive, small size fig. one of the earliest Mt. Etna types

Florea: Best fig so far this season hands down. First fig to ripen, very productive and very flavorful.

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Fig scones. Yum :yum:

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Malta Black harvested just before the rain . :yum:

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You are the first person I’ve heard mention Florea as a “best tasting”. I’m hoping mine lives up to the hype, I primarily picked it as it is known as an early option.

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