I am in the process of trying to root some cuttings from NYC and Maine.  I put them in 100% perlite in transparent cups.  One unk from NYC now has a fig the size of a pea and two leaves starting to unfold above it.  I know from reading I should take the fig off but I can't make myself do it.  This is my 4th year with a TCulture hoping for figs if that elicits any sympathy...

I do not see any roots yet.  Will this little fig kill the cutting by demanding too much?  I have 3 other NYC cuttings and 4 Maine cuttings but I don't see any roots from them either.  I turned a cup upside down and taped it on each of the cuttings to increase humidity and have a heating pad on low about 3/4" away from the bottoms of the cups when I am home.

If there are no roots to nourish that little fig, it can't make it.  It will probably dry up and fall off anyway.  If it were me, I'd pinch it off.  Roots first.  Any cutting with a baby figlet is proof that there will be many figs in your future IF you can get the cutting to root.  JMHO

Suzi

I would remove it , energy should be focused on growing roots right now, top growth should be secondary.

I would simply eat it. Makes it much easier. Ha.

Not removing the fig may cause the cutting fail by zapping all of its energy.  This will of coarse ensure that you don't get to eat the fig.

Sorry, I know it sucks, I've been there....  you've got to remove it.

Scott

Hello Greenbud. So you haven't had any fruit on your TC figs? Are they vigorous growers atleast? I have a few myself and this will be their 2nd summer but had no growth at all last year. 

Grafting sounds like the perfect use for them. 

I have the same thing happening for one of my cuttings. I didn't take it off because it's the only growth it has right now and assumed it was still allowing some photosynthesis to occur. Should I remove it if it's a thin cutting with only one other bud at the base that hasn't greened?

Okay, I knew what I should do and everybody reaffirming that, is making me choose the right course.  I hate to do it but it makes sense. 

My TC figs, a six footer and 2 footer (from the six footer) grow great but haven't produced any figs.  I will haul them outside in summer and fall and be optimistic.  At least with these new cuttings I have seen what a baby fig looks like.  I'm sure the neighbors driving by have wondered what that old lady with the magnifying glass was looking for...

Thank you all for your feedback!

Bernadette

Hi,
I would remove the fig, although I did no side by side comparison when leaving them or removing them.
Because I don't want to damage the stem, I cut the fig at its half and that makes it dry and fall .

@greenfig : never move to a Zone7. I have a fig tree with 3 full seasons of growing, and I might see and taste the first figs this year ... Patience patience and babying .
I hope she's of a damn good strain or I'll take a bad revenge for the waiting ...

Here's a photo of the fig I'm hesitant to take the fruit off of. It's a thin cutting and the only other spot where there is any sign of regrowth is a bud at the base. I don't mean to be contrary, but couldn't removing it cause it stress?

I would remove the little fig.The cutting is using alot of energy to produce a fig.
I have a few figs on cuttings I need to remove.I know how hard it is to remove
the fig.You do not want to cause damage and have to start over rooting another cutting.

You are being contrary :)

All of us hate to see our future figs removed, but that cutting cannot afford to put energy into the fig instead of roots and leaves.  It will be more stressed by leaving it there.  Just rub it off.

Be the strict parent and discipline your unruly cutting by taking that figlet off.

'Nough said- contrary no more.

I took the figlet off last night and moped all the way to the compost can...  So now I have to go down to the basement and water the big and med. size potted ones.  The big one I'll have to root prune this year before putting it outside.  But with below 0 temps. it is staying put until April or May.  Then it'll go on the front porch in front of a window for a month before going outside.

greenbud,

I can send you some VDB cuttings loaded with figlets.  You can practice removing them, and maybe you'll get so tough, you will no longer mope!

Suzi

The hardest thing for me was not removing figs from rooting cuttings, it was removing figs from 1st year rooted cuttings.  The fig tree was far to young and immature to ripen the fruit so late in the season. So in the best interest of the tree, I removed them knowing that I would have plenty the next year. 

Hehehe... thanks Suzi!  I think you are feeling better or they gave you some very effective meds.  About those cuttings, one or two a year from now sounds very good to me, if they are still available.  I haven't even got the ones I cut from my big fig out of the refrigerator drawer yet.  I have 8 in cups in front of a window, and if they all root I've got to figure out what happens next.  My goal of having only 3 figs to shuffle looks a little short sighted and unrealistic now...

not related to conversation--- I start my Beaver Dam peppers on Valentine's day.

Message me in a year or two when you are ready.  I've got 2 VDB in ground.  By then there will be copious amounts of cuttings.

Just got back from the doc.  Got an inhaler and Amoxacillin.  Should be on the road to recovery soon!

Not sure what Beaver Dam peppers are, but gonna plant tomatoes and buy one jalapeno pepper plant soon.  We love jalapenos in lots of things.  .

Suzi

Hope ya get feeling better soon!  Beaver Dam is a city in WI and they promote a local grown pepper with a festival, I think.  I grew some from seed last year and really like them dried and ground. 

We like jalapeno too.   I keep a couple of plants going thru the winter under lights.  Used some on Super Bowl day to make som tum.

Bernadette, Superbowl weekend is what did me in!  Lots of company for 2 days.  I had to clean and cook, and it got to me.  First germ that came along, stuck!  At the grocery, I always swipe the cart with those anti germ things they have near the carts, but somehow I got an extreme bug.  Got drugs now!  Antibiotics and an inhaler for the cough. 

So this is a local pepper?  Hmmmmmmmm 

Suzi

This week I will post a photo of a fig that never went dormant.  Thought it was going to die.  Had black stuff on it's leaves.  This forum told me to fertilize heavily.  In ground, dying it was about a foot tall.  Now it's 4' tall, and has more figlets than you can imagine.  Gonna let it grow to be the monster it wants to be!  Never went dormant.    It's covered in figs.  Bourgosotte Gris.  It's planted on Rocky top!  The highest point on our hillside.  It will never block the view of the valley below.  Supposed to taste more strawberry than a strawberry.  Strawberries can be a little sour if not picked at their prime.  This fig has the flavor and the honey! 

Suzi

Grow that baby big Suzi, so in the future you can supply us with cuttings!

greenbud, what variety are you TC plants and where did you get them?

Cis4elk, my big fig is Italian Honey from Gurney's.  The 2 ft. one is a cutting from that from last year.  I plan to let those two go for this summer and next before I say "enough is enough...".

I answered this the on the 11th but I think I accidentally deleted the post.  Sorry.