I recently bought two Brown Turkey figs.. Both from different vendors. One is already a small tree.. One is dormant I'm guessing. I planted the dormant one after soaking the roots in water for a few hours as it said, and have kept it watered. It still wont sprout, and it's beginning to dry up and die from the tip down. Any way I can save it and/or cause it to sprout? Any help is much appreciated..

https://picasaweb.google.com/100666270218922594212/Figs#5875633978568114786

https://picasaweb.google.com/100666270218922594212/Figs#5875634261179119122


If this links dont work I'll have to try something else..

Sorry about the links not working.. If anyone could help with how to upload pics too, thanks lol..

is it in ground or in container? too much water can kill a fig tree. you should only water when it needs water. too much water and the roots will drown and slowly die/rot.

It's in the ground.. I'v made sure not to over water it though. It's still green but it doesnt want to sprout. And the tip is dying..

I got several cuttings from UCDavis and my brown turkey molded in the container, could not save it. Put the other spare and it also molded. Must be a curse with BT.

The one regular celest tree I got last year never woke back up.

Got the same treatment as every other fig tree, just never know sometimes.

Hmm I guess that's true. I dont know enough about figs and plants in general to understand why that is.. but seems like a realistic reason. Thanks for the help.. Figured it was worth a try to try and save..

Did you get it in a pot or was it bare-rooted? Bare-rooting and heavy pruning can make them slow to wake up.

I will place my bet still on to much water.  I don't water till the ground starts to crack, and they seem to like that just fine.  Is your soil sandy or did you prep the area with potting soil or something like that.  Last year I had one fig tree it was a brown turkey and the terminal bud died.  I gave up on it but left it in the ground to just see what happened this spring.  I thought it was dead but the tree woke up this spring and is full of leaves.  So if your terminal bud seems to be dead that does not mean the tree has lost the war...

If it was planted last season, my in ground trees get no water, the first season I pamper them to get them to grow strong, give a bit of fertilizer, but I plant them with manure and blood and bone meal to get them started.  Once they are past the first year they won't get anything, so I can get tougher growth and tastier figs in my opinion.  

Try to scratch lower down on the trunk and see if it green under the bark, it could just be freeze damage as well, in which case you can cut a couple inches below the damaged portion and leave only healthy wood.

I have the same thing going on with some of my trees. They are all in pots are I have not overly watered. i am attributing it to cold damage and a root pruning they received when they had to be severed from the ground last year. As the spring keeps going I keep seein more brown from the top down, but the trunks still look good and I am seeing little buds starting to form on some trees, so I think they will all make it. I hope....

Hi
You never said what zone you live in. The ground might be too cold still. Some of mine just started sprouting yesterday. Also if it was just planted it needs time to settle in.
Jason

71GTO,
  I'm having a similar issue with that Sicilian Red I bought from you last fall.  The branches seem very dry and lifeless, and it was VERY slow to show any signs of activity.  Finally it started to push out a few buds from the main trunk just a few weeks ago.  I kept it in a chilly area of my basement over the winter, but it probably never got below the mid 50's. And I also did not give it too much water.  (Not too little, either, I think, but who knows.)  I did notice that it had had a nice big "taproot" that you must have cut off when digging the pots out of the ground last fall.  So, maybe that's it -- maybe it was reacting to that "root pruning" they got.

Jim

I am having the same problem with several of my new fig plants. I have a Ischia that is just waking up after 6 weeks of nothing. A black mission lost all its leaves and died from the top down about 3 inches the whole trees is only 6 inches tall. I just left it alone and looked at it today it had three leaves and the top is still dead. I have been have cool nights in the 40's for the most part. I has wormed up to the mid 50's and I can tell that the figs need a mild night to grow.  You plant looks like mine did. Green can be see on the stem. I may die some more but will not die to the roots. Put sum mulch around the roots if you are still having very cold nights. Good luck and hang in there. Figs are fighters and brown turkey are known to be strong growers.

Zone 8
South West TX

Thanks guys.. I guess in theory I could'v been over watering it. But I live in zone 9.. Southeast Texas. So cold nights isnt the problem. My other small fig tree has settled into the same soil nicely and has baby figs all over. But on the other yeah the stem is green accept for the top 3 or 4 inches which is dried and dead. Had a very small leaf sprout on the tip when I first got it and that seemed to go nowhere and eventually died with the rest of the tip.

I'm glad your tree is good Jim, that one was not that rooted into the ground. I kept the larger one of the two i had that had everything growing into the ground. They don't have a tap root though. From what I saw when I repotted that many of the root still in the pot where thick like that all the fine roots where probably in the ground and now the tree has to grow new ones. You picked up the trees before it got really cold. I had everything in the garage all winter, so I think the root and cold combo did a number on this tree. I think I see a few buds forming now. If you have growth on yours then by the end of summer you won't even tell if any little branches died back. I keep my trees on ground, but this year I have weed fabric under them to prevent the roots from going into the ground.

Noss, 71GTO,
   Yes, I was imprecise in using the term taproot.   In reality it was a "fairly good-sized root" that was growing out of the center hole of the pot that was heeled into the ground -- not a taproot per se.  I just wanted to let 71GTO know that one of the trees I got from him DIDN'T battle the cold all winter, but it also had a slow start and some "die off" of the branches like his other trees did.   ...just some ammunition/evidence against cold being the culprit and in favor of root pruning or over/under watering being the culprit.  (It was my first experience keeping figs indoors for the winter, so I'm just contributing observations, not explanations ;-)

Cheers,
Jim