A big hello to everyone, attached are pics from this morning of the first Figo Preto of the season, the order in the first pic is: 1. Figo Preto 2. Paradiso Morle 3. Goccia D'oro (Morle) and 4. Negronne (way too tiny).

Without doubt, the Preto was the best of the four!  Thanks to Encanto Farms for suggesting and providing the Figo Preto, which travelled across country with me on the red eye flight, safe and secure until it reached New York!

Rafael

Rafael, glad to hear FP is doing well for you in New York!  Can you describe the growth conditions i.e. is it being grown in a container, greenhouse used, full or partial sun, lots of fig shuffle etc.?

Preto is a great fig. It roots easily and grows well. And the figs are outstanding.

Hi Rewton

The preto is container grown, in about 8-10 hours of sun, no shuffling. It was in an open container last year and grew like a demon with Jon's weekly miracle gro suggestion. Last fall I moved into one of Bill's covered wicking system pots. It has not repeated it's explosive growth, but then, it is impossible to give weekly fertilizer for one of Bill's pots. It has only produced about 27 figs this year (about 18 in its first year). Oddly, about 5 little branches sprouted at the base of the trunk late in the growing season. We will prune a bit later on and hopefully see more production next year. I have seen a couple of in ground Preto's doing well here in NY. Hope this helps!

Rafael, isn't it possible add liquid fertilizer to the top of the container?  I am thinking of moving mine to self-watering container this Fall so I'm a year behind you.  I moved a few other varieties from 5-1-1 mix to a totally different mix for SWCs (with coconut coir, sand, etc) and it really set them back for a month or so because I had to bare-root them.  But now they are doing well.

Bill recommends sealing the top of the container with a heavy duty construction garbage bag so no rainwater gets in, he recommends just one early season application of slow-release osmocote, which seems to work fine for him.  I don't see explosive growth with this method, but it ain't bad either.  I will be seeing him saturday so I will ask him his thoughts.  I suppose you can rig an opening so top-application fertilizer can be added, but the idea is to have the plant expect feeding from below, not from above.  So the top should be sealed, tho' some people operate their wicking systems with the top open.  This results in sun-drying, which requires more watering.  With the top sealed you only need to water every 3 days, which is a relief to the busy and the beleaguered.  I also have traditional open top watering containers, and I find a thick layer of chunky pine bark keeps the top moist and reduces evaporation.  Personally, I also find that a mixture of mycorrizae pro-mix, sand and/or perlite and slow release limestone works great for figs without any additional tinkering with other soils or mixes.

You may want to check this brief post:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg0223015330089.html

Thanks for link.  I have a layer of course pine-bark nuggets on the top surface but no plastic covering and they are doing well.  On the other hand we haven't had much hot, dry weather this year so I'll keep the plastic covering in mind for the future.  As far as fertilizer, I mixed in lime and espoma garden-tone into the mix and occasionally watered the top with foliage pro liquid fertilizer mixed in.  I stopped the liquid fertilizing a couple weeks ago with dormancy looming in a few weeks.  Now the that roots have recovered I'm getting very good growth.

My pots from Bill's figs are usually fertilized at the beginning of the season(cover off of course)...I use a razor knife to slash up all surface roots, then using a small garden hand rake I "till" the soil about 3 inches deep and mix in my fertilizer (Osmocote, Espoma Iron Tone, and Azomite)...any additional fertilization during the season is done with Foliage Pro, which is sprayed on once a week (with an occasional spritz down the filling tube on Bill's pots)...this regimen gives me nice foliage growth, with nice green leaves(deep green like spinach), and a nice crop of figs. 

Hey Vince hope you are well, where do you get your Azomite and Foliage Pro?

Thx

Rafael

Hello Rafael...all is well here in New Jersey...enjoying figs almost every day now that harvest is here...I purchased my Foliage Pro, and Azomite on line through Amazon...I'm sure there other places that carry these products(maybe even cheaper)...but it's just easier for me to make a few mouse clicks, and wait several days to get my products...your fig trees look great...keep up the good work.