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Best fertilizer increasing fig harvest

What fertilizer do you swear by for your own fig growing (particularly pot grown figs) to enhance a bumper crop?

Do you make your own fig fertilizer perhaps?

Its too early days for me to give a recommendation on this topic as I am new at growing figs.  I can however share that when I grow my vegetables and other fruit trees, passionfruit and pepino fruit shrubs, that in my experience comfrey tea encourages leaf growth but didnt have much impact on harvest. Worm juice on my fruit trees and vegetables had an effect within the week encouraging new growth and a good degree of impact on harvest yields.  I have yet to use seaweed or seaweed extract, but have heard from other vegetable growers that seaweed collected off the beach, and then dried out in the yard and placed on or dug in the soil has worked well for their home vegie patches.  

So from your experience, what would you believe to be the best fertilizer that increases fig harvest?

Gen  
Hello from Down Under!  
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Gen most my trees are in second and third year. This year i will follow the following fertilizer schedule for my figs. This is from an italian guy who specializes in fig trees.
Also the link to his website. Hope that helps.

Kausik

http://www.figtrees.net/

I would like to share my 25 years of experience on how to grow fig trees in containers. Container grown fig trees yield as much fruit as those planted in the ground, but they require different care. They need more fertilizer, lime, and water. The best fertilizer to use is one that is lower in nitrogen, but heavy on the calcium and phosphorous. The first feeding is done in the Spring, as soon as you move your plants from their shelter to the outdoors in a sunny location. The fertilizer consists of, 1 part superphosphate 0-20-0, 1 part 5-10-5, 1 part bone meal, and 1 part garden lime. Mix these ingredients thoroughly. Apply the fertilizer by making 4 holes at the edge of the pots, 1" in diameter and 3" deep. Fill the holes with the mixture and water thoroughly. A fig tree, three quarter inch caliber and 4' tall in a 12" pot requires 1 cup of this mixture. One month later you will begin a liquid feeding with a well balanced fertilizer, 20-20-20. Mix 1 tablespoon with 1 gallon of water, repeat this feeding every 20 days until mid-August. The last feeding will be a top-dressing done in October. Mix 1 part superphosphate, 1 part bonemeal, and 1 part garden lime. Make sure that during the summer months you water your trees frequently. Keep them moist and do not let them dry out or stressed. This is why they may lose their fruit. By the end of August you will start cutting back on the water, this prevents the fruit from splitting. You should change the pot every year, going only 2 sizes up each year, until you reach a 24" to 30" diameter pot. At this point every 4 years you must root prune your fig tree. Take the tree out of the pot and cut one-quarter of the roots away, making a root ball. Replant the tree in the same pot with 3 parts potting mix and 1 part organic compost. This must be done while the plant is dormant, either in the early Spring or late Fall. If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call. I will be happy to answer all your questions. Enjoy your fig trees!



-Giuseppe "Joe" Morle' 
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  • Tam

Joe: Very nice and helpful information, thanks for sharing.

Best,
Tam
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here is what i do, keep in mind i live in zone 6 and have a very short season so i do what i can to make the most of it.

when the ground thaws in spring i treat the figs with bone meal this helps boost root growth, when the first buds start to swell and break i treat with blood meal for new growth. after treating with blood meal i give a good top dressing of last years compost. now my compost is mainly clover, hay, grass clippings, pine needles, rabbit droppings, cow and horse manure, and whatever plants are left from the garden at the end of the season.

through the growing season i mulch with fresh grass clippings. fresh so when is starts to compost itself down it burns any weeds up next to the tree and keeps the roots warm on cool nights while improving my soil.

water once a month with super thrive to add extra vitamins.

my trees grow very well and give me a harvest even if top killed.
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thanks Kausik and Dave for sharing how you fertilise your figs - this is very insightful thankyou!

Gen from Down Under
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Dave that sounds like a great formula
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Dave, Regarding your note that your fertilized zone 6b fig trees give you "a harvest even if top killed" - is that true for all your varieties of figs? And have they been in ground for more than a couple years?

 
I ask because last year I put rooted cuttings and one year old fig varieties into the ground in zone 6b, all of which were top killed but only about 5 of maybe 30 varieties produced figs that I may be able to harvest this year. I expect these results to improve next year, but I wonder if most varieties will be able to provide fruit in this manner. I fertilized minimally with compost, mulch.
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Does anyone use worm juice or comfrey tea fertilizer on their potted figs and if so, what impact has it had if any on harvest?
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