I had a problem this year with fig leaf rust, I believe due to some plants I received via mail.  During last summer's very rainy season I never had a problem with this disease, so I don't think it's normally a problem this far north.  My question now is how to prevent it from reoccurring next year.  I store my figs in a cold cellar so they're not exposed to temperature extremes or dips much below freezing.  I'm concerned about this disease overwintering on the potted figs.  Here's my plan to control it, and any thoughts would be appreciate for those with more experience:

1. Discard all fallen leaves and ensure that none are left sitting in the pots.  I imagine I wouldn't have to burn them, that our harsh winters should take care of the fungus.
2. Spray plants with neem oil prior to storage.  Should I spray the soil as well?  Can it overwinter there?
3. Spray plants again with neem oil again in the spring prior to setting out the potted plants

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/fruit-gardening/figs-disease-rust.htm

that seems interesting. spots on my leaves don't bother me. still gives good figs. but i can see where that might be distracting.

Tim,

You've probably seen this already but just in case  http://lyra.ifas.ufl.edu/LyraServlet?command=getNewsletter&oid=6070518&path=0.10&countyID=liberty.ifas.ufl.edu

For the dormant season, I think removing any dead leaves or other plant material from the plant would be fine.  The real issue is preventative.  Rust is a fungus.  The rust develops due to much water/moisture staying on the leaves, especially at night.  That is why it is best to water early in the morning to give the leaves time to dry.  Of course, that does not help with the rain issue.  What I use is the same spray I put on my roses for general fungus protection.   The problem is that these are usually pretty toxic and there are still figs rippening on the tree. 

Rust on figs is just a way of life in Florida.  Every October they are going to spot up and fall off.  I just leave them alone.  Also, in order to attempt to harden off the fig for winter, resist the temptation to over water, thus producing new growth that will likely fall prey to low temperatures, perhaps even killing the plant.

Another product that I have used is very diluted bleach solution (5%).  Just spray on the affected leaves, wait 15-20 minutes and then rinse off the leaves.  I don't bother doing anything and just nature take its course. 

Thanks for the links.  Sounds like hard freezes will do some of the work of killing off the rust.

Does anyone have any experience in using neem oil to help control the fungus?  I was thinking of giving my citrus as well as the dormant figs a good spraying.  Hopefully winter will run its course and take care of the rest of the problems.

Rust didn't kill any of my trees but it did a pretty good job of nearly defoliating a good number of them.  I'd like to keep mine as healthy as possible up until dormancy to help survive the colder winters up here.  From what I remember, Herman has said he doesn't have rust problems where he is.  My trees seemed much happier up until they got hit.  Perhaps I got a particularly bad case of it this year.

reading you last update, i'm wondering that might be why my father in law was keep saying my trees didn't look good. he used to be a farmer in korea. grew ton of fruits. i'll have to keep an eye on my trees next season. i don't like putting anything on my trees. not that i'm organic or anything. since my wife enjoys figs, i don't want to put anything on the tree that might be harmful to her or me. my kids still don't like figs. i will try to make sure there are lot of open space for the air to circulate. keep the area more clean with old leaves taken out quickly and see what happens.

thanks for this post.

I got hit with rust in a huge way this year. Far worse then I've ever seen. I did have a few plants I bought show up with rust but don't believe that was the problem - or at least not the whole problem. I've used Serenade in the past and have seen good results but this year it did not help nor did copper. I intend to make sure my figs are placed further apart next year and I'll install drip irrigation to prevent getting the leaves wet when I water. I'm in zone 7 in Virginia and usually have a minor rust issue that barely requires treatment. I intend to institute a serious sanitation program and even vacuum up in my garage where I over winter my trees. As there isn't an approved treatment for rust on figs I hope minimizing those things that encourage it will help, but as I've never had such a severe out break I can't be sure my plans will work. Good luck and let's keep posting and maybe we'll come up with a successful plan of attack. I've never tried neem oil so I'll have to do some reading.
cheers,
mgg

Tim,

I believe your plan of attack will work to reduce or eliminate most of the leaf rust spores. I would recommend burning or bagging the fallen leaves, not composting, spores may over winter in compost.

I had a similar rust outbreak in September of this year, and posted on identifying leaf rust.  A Forum member posted ..." the usual recommendation is to treat with 5-5-50 Bordeaux spray (copper sulfate, lime, water) every 2 weeks for control... There may be something on the OMRI website too".  I have not used Neem Oil but it was recommended.  I used a copper sulfate soap concentrate (OMRI certified) that was successful in stopping the spread of rust, as long as the environment was dry. Baking soda has also been used as an "organic" fungicide.

Simple Fungicide Recipe
1 tablespoon dish soap
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon baking soda
Mix with one gallon of clean water and use in a sprayer.

The attached link has pictures of my copper fungicide treated leaves at the end of the season, after I stopped treatment, showing minimal rust damage on upper surface of leaves, and multiple nodules on bottom surface of leaves.

Our cold winters should kill most rust spores, and an appropriate mulch would also help to reduce infection (inoculation).

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Leaf-Rust-_Easy-Tell-6037427

Pete, excellent response, I really appreciate your input and the "recipe".  I stowed away approximately 1/3 of the potted figs this past evening.  I'll give them all a good dousing once they're all stored away.  I made sure to remove any fallen leaves from the pots and will probably collect them up and trash them as suggested. 

I think most of these will end up going in the ground next year, so I'll be sure to mulch them heavily to help avoid outbreaks like this in the future.

Thanks all!

Just wanted to follow up on this thread.  My strategy seems to have worked pretty well.  I don't see any significant rust outbreaks this year and I imagine it'll be all gone by next year.  The cold temps seem to eliminate any signs of rust for in-ground trees.  I did snip off a few leaves this spring/summer that were showing some spots (not truly sure if it was rust but I snipped them off anyways).

Tim usually in fall it happens here and i just discard leaves and use no spray , come spring plants are fine.
During normal season fig rust does not appear , this season lots of rain and saw some rust but took off the affected leaves not to spread it and they were fine.

It can be aggravating here in the South

BUT

It is also nature way of getting the tree into dormancy. We do not really have a Fall season instead we just flop back and forth from Summer to Winter to Summer to Winter back and forth till Winter wins. We can have highs in the eighties and two days later have three days of freezing or near to it. If our trees were not tricked into dormancy by the defoliation we would loose a lot more wood on our trees especially the tender ones. I may have am issue with late bearing figs and rust but most of ours are through before the rust takes the leaves.

I radically changed the way I water and no longer do the leaves get wet every day. Between that and using Serenade I seem to have no rust currently. I also opened up my "fig jungle" so there's more air flow and hopefully this week end I'll continue finding places to put additional plants so there's more room for each plant and less over shadowing.
Last year the rust was bad and I think the over crowding and top watering caused problems I should have been more aware of.