Hello fig enthusiasts,

I moved into a house 1 year ago and it came with a fig tree. Last year it produced hundreds of superb figs (flavor somewhere between an apple and a strawberry) and was very healthy even though I neglected it. This year it got, what I determined to be, fig rust and while some of the fruit is good they are mostly sun burned and ant infested. In winter I am committed to prune it and take care of it and hopefully I'll have a healthy tree again next season. Fig tree is about 8 feet tall and looks like a wild, overgrown bush. I assume someone chopped it down once because there is a 2-3 foot wide stump in the middle.

The pictures of the fruit I took today, but the leaf and the tree pics I took this spring before the tree got sick.

I also want to mention that the breba crop was about 6 figs and they all felt puffy and tough. Never ripened and then shriveled up. Not sure if that is common for whatever tree I have or just because it was getting the fig rust.

Thanks for any help.

Wow!  That must have been a huge tree at one time.  What is your planting zone?  Must be somewhere humid.  I can't help you with rust.  Non existent here.  Too dry. 

Ants usually come after scale, and fig trees do get scale.  Just wipe off all the scale and spray with neem oil now and then.  That should get rid of the ants.

No clue what your tree is.  That's a pretty big leaf and nice sized figs.  Someone else will chime in, but it would help to know your location.

Suzi

I'm in Zone 10. Northern California. What is scale?

Looks like a nice tree.  I don't recognize it but hopefully someone else does.

Some fig varieties are prone to dropping their breba.  There are many reasons for this I find if they don't get enough water during the fig fruit development they tend to drop breba and main crop.

If the ants are on your figs that is an indication that they are nice and ripe.  If you leave the hang longer some will get sweeter and tastier and drip honey while some just rot or split.  I try to time it for maximum ripeness but some people prefer them sooner.

Good luck and if you prune the tree don't throw away the branches there are lots of people looking to propagate fig trees from cuttings.
 

I'm not sure anyone would want my cuttings considering the rust. It is a very sad tree at this point.

I'm in NorCal as well, and a few of my trees get rust, but not horribly. I don't worry about it. This summer has been more humid and warm than usual, which seems to bring it on. As Suzy said, Neem oil would help if it gets too bad.

Scale is an insect and ants eat what they secrete.  Just like ants go after aphids on roses.  Google "scale," and then examine your branches.  It's easy to cure.  It looks like a bunch of brown bumps all over a branch. 

I had a fig tree covered in ants last year, and when it was dormant I discovered a two inch thick clump of scale at the bottom which we scraped off revealing a huge hole in the bottom of that trunk.  No more scale this year!

When figs go dormant in winter, this forum comes alive with people wanting to trade cuttings.  Scale is caused by a too damp environment and the cuttings will react differently in drier climates.  Amazing that in No CA with our drought it's even damp enough to cause rust.  Are you by the coast?

Don't worry!  It's hard to kill a fig tree.

Suzi

Rust is a fungal disease.  It is ugly but not fatal to plants. 

It usually spikes in hot humid weather if you can control the dampness that will keep the rust in check. 

There are fungal treatments and dormant wood can be easily disinfected.  Neem oil is one dormant treatment. 
Do a search on this forum for rust there are several documented ways to treat it.

Don't give up.

   

Suzy, I am near the bay and weather around here has been crazy. I think part of the problem is that the trunk area is being suffocated by the new growth coming out of the ground. Need to prune back but am terrified of spiders hiding amongst the leaves!

When a previous owner chopped down that tree, the roots just put out a ton of new shoots, which are now becoming trunks on their own.  It's up to you to decide what to do with all those shoots, but the best time to prune is winter when the tree loses it's leaves and goes dormant.  Spiders can easily be seen when there are no leaves to hide them.

Many people grow fig trees in a bush form.  Others prefer one big trunk.

That had to have been a monster tree in it's day!

Suzi