Hi Folks. 4 years ago I bought 5 Brown Turkey figs and 7 Chicago Hardy figs at Lowes and planted them.  I tell you they were from Lowes because I now know the risks of Big-Box trees, especially mislabeling, so I wanted you to bear that in mind as you think about my problem.

I planted my figs in all different locations, spread all over my 8 acre property. So they get some slightly different soils and drainage, but all are in full sun.  At every location I planted a Brown Turkey (BT) I also planted a Chicago Hardy (CH).  Over the last 4 years, all plants have grown amazingly well and are now almost all over 6 foot tall and 5 ft wide and bushy and green and healthy in every way you can see.  They both produce an amazing volume of baby Figs as spring turns into to summer.  So in almost every way, all 12 of my figs appear to have done incredibly well and are healthy looking.

But each year the problem comes in late August/early Sept.  The figs on the CH trees start to get much bigger and then turn purple and ripen.  They get big, sweet, and are just wonderful.  The BT trees just never do ripen their fruit.  At the VERY end of the year, just about the time frost hits (this year it was almost DECEMBER! but usually its mid Nov) you can find maybe 3-4 figs on each bt tree that have turned a light purple, but they don't get bigger as the ripen they way my CH figs do.  These "sort-of-ripe" ones are fairly sweet, but they are dry inside and just look unripe.

I live in Northern Middle Tennessee, right on the TN/KY border.  I'm right on the line of zone 6b and 7a.  I am pretty sure BT figs should be able to ripen in my zone, right? FYI, I usually don't winterize my trees but they usually do fine and while I had 1/2 of them freeze to the ground on year 2, they all came back and now they are all about the same size.  We had an extremely mild winter last year with no frost damage at all and my BT trees started growing in March and never stopped.  Also FYI, I usually throw about 2 handfulls of 15-15-15 around the base of my figs once time a year, usually in early may.  Last year I withheld it from 2 figs to see if it would matter and the only difference was they didn't grow as much as the others.  But their figs didn't ripen.

Has anyone else had this problem?  Is there anything I could be doing that might prevent my BT figs from maturing and ripening?  AM I right in understanding that BT should ripen fine in zone 6b/7a?  If they were mislabeled, could it be some other variety that can't ripen in zone 7a?  I'd have thought almost any fig could ripen here if it wasn't winter killed back.  And while Lowe's certainly might have mislabeled, I wouldn't think many varieties could withstatnd 4 winters with almost no die back, and I wouldn't think Lowes would have many rare figs for sale in bulk like these.  But that's all guess work.  I'd just like to know why these trees full of baby figs never ripen, even when (THIS YEAR) the last frost was in MARCH and the first frost was in December!!!!!!!  Both are admittedly rare, but this year these figs had more than 8 months of growing time!!!  And still didn't ripen at all.   What gives?  Thanks folks!

Just a thought, some tree nurseries have male figs for pollination. Maybe you got male fig tree.??? Hopefully someone can expand on these symptoms.

Your experience sounds like exactly what I would expect in your zone with an in-ground Brown Turkey. In-ground trees get a shorter season than potted trees because it takes so much longer for the soil to warm up. 

I'm in zone 8 with a few Brown Turkeys in the ground. Mine start to ripen in early August and into September, and this is with high temps in the 95-105 range in June and July. So with your cooler temps and shorter growing season, it sounds right to me that they wouldn't ripen.

I'm sorry to hear your BT doesn't ripen in ground in your zone,the positive is you have healthy cold hardy roots there so I would not plan on ripping them out,if I was you I'd look at grafting those trees with some scion from an earlier ripening variety,it's not that difficult once you have watched a couple of you tube videos and if your grafts fail,the fig tree will grow from the root stock again and you can try again,trees are very forgiving

I'd skip the fertilizer, which can encourage vegetative growth at the expense of fruit.  And pinch any branch that grows 3-4' to force energy into fruit.

If these are some version of English Brown Turkey, the result may not be a huge surprise -- the main crop is supposed to be late.  There's a widely circulated picture of Laradek's EBT in Europe in snow with lots of unripe main crop figs.  You may have seen similar.  But the breba crop is supposed to be good.  I acquired a cutting of Laradek last winter entirely based on the hope that it might generate decent brebas.  Is there any sign of brebas on your trees?  It would be very disappointing if the brebas are dropping and the main crop figs never ripen.  

I like the suggestion (above) re grafts.  For other trees, you might try pruning specifically to encourage brebas -- pruning out some old, thick growth every year but leaving a decent amount of 1-yr-old wood.  You definitely want to talk care not to prune out most of the 1-yr wood, which will curtail the breba crop.

I got into figs with a Smith tree that was 18" tall when I got it.  It grew to 4ft and stalled, being stuck at 4ft "whip" for the next 10 yrs.  It never got any taller or larger in caliber.  We didn't pay any attention to it and simply left it alone.

I had it in ground and when I moved I dug it up and brought it to Texas.  I put in a large (15 gal) pot and left it alone for a year.  The following February I told my wife I was going to "kill it or cure it" and I cut it down to 6" above soil level. The Spring came and the tree exploded in growth and started producing massive quantities of figs.  The original tree is now 3" in caliber and I have to prune every year to keep it under control.  It is a great fig and I attribute the growth/production to the great root system.

It is not a BT but I think that trees will "stall" and need action and maybe yours needs the same treatment.

Good luck

Thecityman:  Here's my 2 cents.  Grafting is definitely an option, but if the top gets frozen you lose the graft.  You could protect the tree and hope the graft survives your winter.  You could also try air layering and keeping a few in pots which you could protect during the winter.  In-ground is easier, just plant and forget it, but potted plants don't have to be at the mercy of the weather.

there are apparently many brown turkeys.  search this forum "souther brown turkey "  back in 2013,  an interesting discussion.  Some do ripen late. 
bill e  baltimore Md

If you could take some leaf and fruit pics when they are green again it would help id the trees.

The fact that you are seeing fruit is a good sign, but the trees might not be fully established and ready to deliver. I would continue to fertilize and leave them alone for a few more seasons, especially since you already have a crop from your CH.

A few more seasons?  Life is too short!!!

I'd expect a 2-year old potted plant, put into the ground, to spend 1 year establishing itself then deliver 50 / 100 / 150-200 figs in the 2nd-4th seasons.  That's been my experience.  Expecting anything less is short-changing yourself.

I'd certainly try to salvage the established trees by pruning for brebas, grafting earlier varieties, etc.  But meanwhile, find yourself some plants that can give you buckets of figs now.  Plant a bunch of those somewhere else on the 8 acres.

Hi Joe, I know what you mean by life is too short.
Here's my experience after I moved my trees to inground.
I currently have six in ground fig trees. Col de Dame Blanc,Noir, Gris, Violette de Sollies, another yellow French variety and a Black Madeira.
Due to the type of the soil they're all extremely slow growers. In its fourth year the only one that looks like it's really ready to take off is the Col de Dame Gris, but fruit production remains very low. The only one that produced a couple of dozen fruit each year without missing a beat has been the Col de Dame Blanc UCD, but growth has been at minimum since it was moved.

The variety that you have does matter. Perhaps you could tell us which fig trees produce that many figs after one year in ground. I would love to grow them.
For me out of 85 varieties in containers, the only one that could put out so many figs after four years in containers has been the Celeste.

p.s.  The same brother-in-law has two older "Brown Turkey" bought from a box store in ground in northern GA.  Based on fruit color, these seem to be two different varieties.  Despite often dying back to ground level, both of these plants produce hundreds of figs.  Roots are thick and long. 

It must be the heat. That's why I believe that in my zone the trees will eventually do better in ground. Most of my fig trees are in five gallon containers and except for a few varieties, my results are totally different than yours. In fact my Florea is sitting neglected in a five gallon pot producing a few figs and my four year old Ronde de Bordeaux did not produce at all this past summer.
I finally realized this year that five gallon containers are not good for my hot zone. Even seven gallon trees are not doing as well as I would like. I just got some ten gallon containers and Moved a couple to 25 gallon containers, but still have a feeling that the extreme heat will initially slow them down.

Yeah, it could be heat.  But in a special sense.  It seems obvious that in-ground figs in the Middle East, Italy, Spain etc. tolerate plenty of heat.  But the roots underground stay relatively cool.  In contrast, the roots of potted figs can get really hot.  I'm sure that some of my figs in black pots got way too hot, which damaged the roots.  

I've thought about remedies.  Bigger pots probably don't heat up as quickly, which is one reason I'm moving up to bigger pots.  Meanwhile, I buried all the 10g SIPs 4-6" into the ground, just to try to keep the roots cool.  But I don't think it was enough.  There were signs of stress in late summer.  Next year I may spraypaint the pots a light color and/or cover them with a skirt.

This is a non maintained non irrigated either Brown Turkey or a Kadota from a big box store that I planted about two years ago at a remote location. I only wrapped it with some chicken wire to protect it from boar and deer. The original tree was in a five gallon container when I planted it, died to the ground and this is how it looked this past fall. This confirms my theory that it will take much longer than I wish it for the trees to get established, but once this occurs, I expect a much faster growth and different results. This is tough for many of us to hear, but my rule of thumb (in the right zone) for in ground take off is around seven years.

https://postimg.org/image/9pcwiqu1n/

<< This is tough for many of us to hear >>

Maybe the message needs a caveat -- so that potential growers everywhere don't get discouraged.  Something is holding that plant back.  If a grower can eliminate that issue (or issues), maybe they can do better.  This plant is "non maintained not irrigated."  What is a reasonable expectation for a plant that gets some attention, especially adequate water?   

I don't claim to be anything special when it comes to gardening skill, so don't take this the wrong way:  By mid summer 2016, my 1st-year cuttings were generally bigger than that plant in the picture.  Last April I gave a friend, who is a good gardener and a fig lover, a 4-month-old rooted cutting of Malta Black.  At the time it was probably 2' high.  By September, under her care, it was 8' tall and 3' wide with a main trunk ~2 1/2" wide and lots of branches.  She had to rip immature figs off it to stop it from bearing.  I think many other growers on this forum experience similar.  That just seems to be what a good fig is capable of.  

I'll assume that your tree is sunny most of the day, not shaded as in the picture.  I'll also assume that you have managed to control the defoliation by animals.  Then my best guess is that the plant needs more water, especially in spring and early summer when growth is most robust.  With adequate (but not abundant) water, I think the fig would grow long roots trying to find reliable moisture.  Without adequate water, the fig may simply not be able to grow that much.  So "getting established" may be all about developing good roots.  And the conundrum is that developing good roots quickly requires water.  

I have no doubt that 7 years is a reasonable benchmark for a tree grown in dry soil without irrigation.   But with water, I think the benchmark should be ~3 years (from cutting to decent production).  And once a deep root system is developed, irrigation may no longer be needed.

I'd love for more experienced members to weigh in. . . . 

The following photos are of my Col de Dame this past summer. They are planted a few feet apart from each other and are irrigated fertilized and in full sun. The soil is clay and I think that it has something to do with them stalling. The one that started to take off in its fourth leaf is the Col de Dame Gris. The Noir and Blanc are not even half the size of the Gris.
Despite being much smaller and suffering from ice damage the Blanc has been more productive with a couple of dozen figs each season from the start. The Gris still needs time to produce and is producing much less than the white. The Noir has stalled.
So in addition to soil and elements, the variety does matter when it comes to rate of growth, since all three are growing under the same conditions.
The first one is the Black Madeira.
I should add that FMV depending on its severity slows growth down too.
















image upload

Yeah, those look better, especially the last one.  So water helps, but I take your point that clay soil may retard the growth of the roots (and hence growth overall).  

Well, keep the faith.  As I said, my brother-in-law is having good success in heavy north Georgia clay.  After a complete die-back in winter, his "Brown Turkeys" grow back like monsters and produce a ton of fruit.  As a matter of fact, after a complete die-back, by August his plants look roughly the same as your last pic.  That's without much, if any, added water.