My Improved Celeste figs (on four different plants, two years old, 5-10 gal pots) are turning yellow, then brownish, shriveling and falling off unripe. Bourjasotte Grise are doing the same, but more slowly. All my other figs (about twenty plants) are doing fine, and a couple started ripening their figs. Any idea what’s going on? Lack of fertilizer? However, I did fertilize all my plants the same (Miracle grow plant food, once a month), with my last fertilization around mid Aug. A few photos below:
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I had this happen too to several potted figs such as GM-155, Improved Celeste, and Socorro Black. My in ground trees have not shown this problem. Are the insides hollow, dried out, and pale?
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Looks like a scabbing effect on the skin. Like scab on an apple. I also think (sometimes) in terms of what I’m looking at, how might it be compared to a human body. That looks disease-related. Leaves, everything else perfect it appears. So that looks viral/bacterial. That’s where my knowledge stops, however. The plant is aborting the figs because either during the viral/bacterial attack or a combination of those reasons with the added on pressure that insects are now being drawn to the fruit because of the natural progression of all the circumstances being shown and/or told, then that seems likely to me. I’m no nutritional expert but another thing that causes the dropping of fruit is drought, fyi. Although you’re watering your plants since they’re in pots. It’s something to remember I guess. That fig tree/bush is aborting their fruit. Seems related to cultivar, also. Did you happen to get those two cultivars from the same source? That might not matter but both are susceptible/prone to whatever the the real answer is vs. my babblings.
Interesting though.
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You may want to give them a bath to wash off the salt that have been built up with your fertilizing. This appears to be water related stress, leaf falling off and fruit aborting.
Potted plants need bath a couple of times a year, particularly if you use any synthetic fertilizer like Miracle Grow.
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Just cut one open, photo is below. I also noticed that the fig is very light in weight , suggesting it is very dry.
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It certainly didn’t have time to fully develop. That inside material is immature material, yet. Comparable to a pecan that hasn’t fully matured and is white/yellow inside the shell. In a milky stage they call it.
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I am also suspecting not enough sunlight, these plants are getting about 7 hours of sunlight a day. Perhaps some varieties are more demanding on their light needs. @hoosierbanana @fruitnut @Naeem please chime in.
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I believe I am giving them enough water. The two varieties are from different growers. I suspected that my fertilizer doesn’t have enough potassium, which is needed for fruit development, so my last fertilization was with one relatively high in potassium.
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Just a thought is the plant rootbound. I had this happen to one of my fig trees. It may not be retaining any water.
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Celeste is known to drop figs while ‘young’. The improved variety helps with this, but I think it is still prone to dropping them.
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They are not root bound, two of them were up-potted to 10 and 7.5 gallons in the spring. I am also using fabric pots, which are self pruning.
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Looks like they have too much nitrogen. The dark/warped leaves and tiny rust spots are a good clue. You often get that when there is too much nitrogen in the flowering period. It can also affect the uptake of other nutrients. Some plants are more sensitive to excess nutrients than others.
Figs are flowers, so a bloom fertilizer with a higher P-K value would probably be better.
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Very likely! Last year I didn’t give them enough nitrogen, this year I overkilled it 
… I am going through my learning curve.
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Here is what I did and it worked for me “Good Watering” solved my issue for dryness. In the benign I had some and I know I was not watering them enough so after giving them good water they are producing ok.
If a fig is already swollen or near it will not work since damage is already done.
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Again, all the above signs point to lack of water. Lack of sun actually probably promotes more leaf growth since there is less water evaporation. Since you fertilize every month, you are not short of fertilizer.
I water my figs 2-3 times a week. Last year, I was doing once a week and some figs were falling off prematurely after turning pale green or yellowish green, they were not developing this brownish color. Perhaps it is variety specific, and perhaps I am watering enough this year, but the fertilizer/water balance is off, so the net result is somewhat similar to under watering.
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I fertilized my potted figs only once in June with Miracle-Gro and they are doing OK. I don’t know if there is an advantage to fertilizing more frequently. Since they are potted I don’t want to encourage them to grow larger quickly.
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I think the over fertilization that I did was reactionary to my last year’s experience.
Since you use in-organic fertilizer, salt build-up can be a possibility.
Growth
Excess fertilizer causes salt buildup in soil and can interfere with plant growth. Stunted growth and branch dieback may occur. Salt spray can land on plants and cause the ends of branches to have a frayed appearance called witches’ broom. Salt-damaged plants have generally smaller parts, including stems and fruits. A white salt crust may appear on the soil or container surface as plant symptoms occur, and the entire plant may die if the salt buildup persists.
Leaves and Flowers
In high-salt soil, plants can develop brown leaf tips or margins and flower buds may not open. Beginning in late summer, these symptoms as well as premature fall color change and leaf drop may occur on deciduous trees. Needle tips on pine trees and other conifers develop a brownish tinge, which spreads to the entire needle as the salt buildup increases. Evergreen leaves and needles usually show symptoms in late winter and throughout the growing season. After salt spray lands on plants, the salt burns the leaves as the water droplets evaporate. Salt spray damage usually occurs on leaves that face the shore.
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I’m not really sure. I had bad dropping one year and suspected fig bud mites afterwards, it does look like something affected the outside of the figs.
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