Grow Your Own Magazine

tootles · #1 (**permalink**) 06-06-2008, 09:19 AM

A neighbour has a large fig growing up a trellis in her garden. There are loads of tiny figs on it at the moment but she says that they never come to anything and drop off hard and unripe. I would assume that this would be because they haven't been fertilised. She has been told that figs are eithr male or female, and that hers is a male - but surely it would produce no fruit at all then??
Could it be a female and just needs a little assistance at flowering time as there are no other figs nearby??
Any ideas you knowledgable grapes..........
Tx

shirlthegirl43 · #2 (**permalink**) 06-06-2008, 09:34 AM

Any idea what type it is? Apparently the figs grown in this country don't need fertilising.

Capsid · #3 (**permalink**) 06-06-2008, 09:58 AM

In the UK you will only get one lot of fruit to ripen but the plant will bear two crops. The fruits that are successful are those which develop at the apex of the previous summer's shoot and extend back 6-12 inches from the tip. They are carried over as embryo fruits about the size of peas. Provided they are not destroyed by cold they develop in the following spring and summer to ripen in August/September. The second crop develop on the current season's growth but do not ripen because the warm season is not long enough. These should be removed. The roots should be constrained too and are best grown in containers. Perhaps your neighbour needs to protect her tree and the embryo figs from frosts.

As for fertilisation, figs grown in cool temperatures are parthenocarpic - meaning they develop fruit without fertilisation. HTH

smallblueplanet · #4 (**permalink**) 06-06-2008, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capsid

In the UK you will only get one lot of fruit to ripen but the plant will bear two crops.

Not all figs have two crops (breba crop & main crop).

"Breba figs form on wood that grew last season and has been dormant through the winter. Main crop figs form on the new growth that appears this season. Some varieties produce only a breba crop; some have both breba and main-crop figs, and many have only main-crop figs.

If you prune a breba-only variety, you reduce or eliminate your fruit for that year. If you prune a variety with breba and main-crop figs, you sacrifice the breba crop. If you prune a main-crop-only variety, you lose nothing.

In my opinion, breba-crop figs are not numerous, and mostly of inferior taste, sweetness and quality. These factors are important in deciding how to prune your tree. Since I am willing to sacrifice the breba-crop figs, I can take a 10-foot-tall tree and prune it to 18 inches, and be quite happy with my main fig crop."

Growing Tips - the 2nd link is words only if you have a slow connection, there are some (yummy looking) big fig pictures!

Fig Interest Group

Ray's Figs

Pépinières Baud - I forgot you were in France tootles (you lucky thing!), here's a good (lots of pictures) site with some info in English too.

Quote:

They are several types of fig trees :

- Caprifig type (or male tree) shelter the Blastophaga during the winter, which is the insect specifically responsible for its sexual pollination.

Its fruit, parasitized by the Blastophaga are not edible.

- Domestic Fig Trees (or female trees) which, depending on the variety, produce one or two crops of figs.

BIFERES produce two crops per years :

The brebas ripen in July on the past years growth according to the variety and according to the years producing 10-50% of the crop (average 20-25%). The brebas are parthenocarpic (they ripen without pollination).

The Autumn Figs comprise the biggest production, and ripen from August (the 1st for the earliest ; the 30th for the slower ones) until the first freeze of the year’s growth. Depending on the varieties, the fruit are either parthenocarpic or sexual (require the intervention of blastophaga). But caprification like that practiced in North Africa is not necessary, even if there are no Caprifig Trees in the orchard.

UNIFERES (onecrop fig trees) do not have repeat flowering and only produce Autumn figs (parthenocapric or sexual depending on the variety). Some early varieties produce fruit in August, a period generally poor for figs.

Let us know how your neighbour gets on.

tootles · #5 (**permalink**) 06-06-2008, 12:47 PM

SBP you are a star. Hers is clearly a caprifig, and as such will never bear fruit...
Shame really as she is rarely there and I would have got them!!!
Better plant my own then. Thanks for your research everyone.
Tx

smallblueplanet · #6 (**permalink**) 06-06-2008, 01:11 PM

Look forward to seeing pictures of yours tootles. Maybe when you've got it growing you can take a cutting for your neighbour to grow!

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