How common are fig wasps? But first, a tale of two young fig trees.

Over the Australian winter I added another two fig trees to my collection. I got these figs while in Adelaide, while attending my grandad’s 80^th birthday celebration.

Many years ago when I was young when we used to visit my grandparent’s house there used to be a fig tree right in the centre of their lawn in the backyard. Every few years when we would managed to get over to South Australia my brothers and sisters and I would eat heaps of figs, as well as the jams my nanna used to make.

So I was quite horrified when I found out that a few years ago, they had at some point decided that the tree had become too much work as they got older, and as they were travelling a fair bit. And so they had it removed. I don’t know how old it was, but considering I am now almost 30, and my earliest memories at their house included this fig tree, that was already a large established tree, I would guess 30 years+.

Anyhow, at my granddad’s celebration he has some interesting news. In his garden were two fig trees, self-seeded, must have been dropped by a bird or something. They had been there for about a year or two, and are just saplings.

Of course I got a shovel and immediately dug them up, to bring back to Canberra with me. My grandad was quite sentimental at this visit, 80 is quite the milestone after all, he told me that he is glad they will be added to the collection as something to remember him by one day.

They were actively growing at the time, and I mistook how far the roots ran on one, and sliced through a major root with the shovel. I wasn’t sure how well they would do after this mistreatment, especially as I remember something from a nursery a while ago that says, if you disturb the roots of an active growing fig tree it will die. I was also bringing them from a relatively warm climate into a very cold Canberra quite abruptly, this was toward the end of Autumn.

Happily though, one of the two has broken dormancy, which I forced upon it once getting to Canberra, at appears to be quite vigorous, sending up some suckers as well as breaking bud along the stem. The other still has some green in the stem, and I am cautiously hopeful that it will awaken too.

Now, all my figs prior to this are named varieties, and taken from cuttings, and thus female. I am pretty sure that they all carry FMV, some displaying more than others.

I am excited to have two plants that may each or neither be males, and am even more excited about the prospect of trying to germinate some new plants from my favourite varieties. I know that the chances of getting a new really exceptional fig are low, and it takes a while for fig trees to come to fruiting age, but hey- I’m young and its more for curiosity sake than anything else. I think they should also by FMV free, at least for the time being….

Should one of my two figs from my grandad’s garden be male, this may not be enough. I need fig wasps too.

I don’t believe I have ever seen one, or if I have didn’t recognise it for what it was.

I have posted in the past about the two or three self-seeded figs growing outside my gym at the top of a palm tree, so it is clear that figs wasps exists in Canberra, but how common are they likely to be?

Will I have to seek them out somehow? Will they come to me?

I am not sure your confidence is warranted. Fig wasps (blastophaga psenes) live in capri figs, or wild figs. If you don't have that, they could not exist.

There must be at least some around, as their are fertile figs in the area.

I was under the impression that any fig grown from seed could be a capri fig?

naiki,

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s824316.htm

Have a look on this page .
According to the author the 'Spanish Dessert' fig variety (a Smyrna)  is cultivated in Australia and certainly the fruit must be sold in some places. This indicates that wasps are there somewhere....
Some time ago a member from Australia said that young trees of this same variety were available for sale on some nurseries.
Your figs have a strong chance of being caprifigs but your environment (climate) and the hypothetical lack of pollinating insects in the area may not help you to develop good male trees

Now, this is history but worth to read...
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/38827171

Good luck
Francisco

Here you have more information

http://figs4fun.com/archive/archive021.html

Francisco

Thanks for those links, I have seen them before, but forgot how much information was in them.

That newspaper article though, how interesting. The wasps need a winter crop to survive the season? There is no way that any fig in Canberra would be anything but bare branches in winter...



And yet, there is definitely self sown figs growing at the top of a palm tree outside my gym! I wonder if people had some wasps shipped in from SA or somewhere for the season?

naiki,

Here, good Caprifigs in winter -February-  (5 to 10ºC) have no leaves but the branches are loaded with winter caprifigs (Mamme) full of wasp larvae.


 

and figs growing from palm trees are also a common sight around.
This one, (have called it the 'Sparrow' fig) originated from bird droppings at the huge axil of a gemini palm tree. The result could well be a caprifig but in this example generated an edible small dark fig very sweet and tasty..enjoy the pictures

Francisco


 

       

Hi naikii,
You're mixing different notions. Check my post on "pollination myth kill".
To make a long story short, you DON'T need the wasp for having viable seeds in figs.
In which usda zone are you ?
The wasp could well fly from surrounding zones - provided that the wasp does survive in Australia - which wouldn't shock me, as Australia is known for its deserts .

As far as I know, the fig (ficus-carica) wasp only flourishes around the Mediterranean region and (some) parts of California (USA).
It would be nice if all F4F members report any sightings of this (in)famous little monster; anywhere else....

we do have the wasp in australia
they dont fly far from the capri fig area that they live in.

naikii, i can send you wasps if needed but you will have
to have an established capri fig.

That's it!

I was just coming here to say I found an Aussie on a different forum who posted years ago this picture from his tree;



Then I'm thinking, all I need do is track him or someone similar down willing to post a couple of full capri figs, and then I see your post aaa, and it all feels quite serendipitous. So thanks very much for the offer, I will definitely take you up when the time comes.

Now to establish myself a capri fig, or buy an established one!

As a side note, the same thread said that dried figs bought at the shop often have viable seeds, and are can produce capri figs. This could be an interesting test to run.

Nate,
great find, I am so happy for you and all other Ausie fig fellows. 
As long as the climate is to their favor, doesn't matter where in the world, the wasps will flourish , even in green houses.
We all have a lot to learn from Francisco.

Nate,

Here's a pot of 2 month old dried fig seedlings.

In regards to the climate, and allowing the wasps to survive, a couple references seem to indicate they can overwinter in the caprifigs, and I wonder down to what temperature.

"Entomologists have learned that fig wasps overwinter as larvae in the pistils (as galls) of the fruit from the winter crop of caprifigs." http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/economicbotany/Ficus/

Considering I have my figs in containers, and overwinter in the garage, I dont see why they wouldn't survive season to season once established.