since my KB is not doing anything, i sent an email to gene h. he is indicating that most potted plants should fruit earlier than in ground plants. he also indicated that when he was still doing fig thing, he used to let the root go into the ground from potted plants and just cut them off at end of the season.

he suggested, cutting down the fertilizer and go for stunted growth.

i know lot of people has different idea as to what to use for fertilizer, however, i read the potted plants do need fertilizer. how much is bare minimum to keep the plant health and still get that stunt growth?

pete

Hey Pete,

Perhaps we have a different definition of stunted growth.  Mine is if the tree is not doing anything.  Can you expand on how this idea of starving a plant of nutrients is good for it? 

As to burying the container during the growing season, it accomplishes two things.  Firstly, it frees the roots from being confined to volume of the container.  Secondly, the earth insulates the root zone from excessive heat (ambient temps and solar gain from the black plastic). 

~james

james,

i have 3 trees that should be giving me fruits. two of them are giving me fruits, and Kathleen's Black is not. VdB is already putting out tiny fig on this year's growth. Paradiso Gene was really late last year, so i don't expect to see anything.

Kathleen's Black, however, has not done anything as far as fruit is concerned. i mean the tree grows great. lot of leaves, healthy branch.. but it's not putting out fruits or even think about putting out figs.

from what i understand is if the tree is doing so much to pushe the leaves and branches, it will not push the fruits. so i believe what gene is saying is cut down on growth vegetative growth to promote fig growth.

last year, i gave 3-1-2 fertilizer all year long during the growing season. every week. all three tree grew great. however, no figs on KB. this year, i have changed fertilizer to 1-2-1 for all trees other than ones that i want to grow bit more, they are still getting 3-1-2.

what i'm wondering is how often should i give fertilizer. i give them once a week at full strength. cutting down on the schedule might help? or just cut them out all togather? i'm trying to figure out how to push figs from KB.

pete

I agree with Pete in that reducing vegetative growth can be helpful to some degree in stimulating reproductive growth (blooms/fruit) rather than vegetative growth, but would take a second to point out that it's not the NPK % of your fertilizer that determines how much N your plant gets ..... it's the hand that rocks the watering can.

Al 

Pete, my KB is behaving in similar fashion at 4 years old.. My tree is in a pot. It grew slow but last year it had a good flush. Hopefully I see some figs this season. I just got it out from the garage on Sunday. I am trying the "notch" trick that Ottawan found in an article.

i'll cut the fertilizer to once a month and see if that will help.

pete

Pete,
 Have you tried the the fertilizing recommendation from Joe Morle http://www.figtrees.net. ?  I had good results last year even with very young trees.

 Take care
  Pete

Active growth pruning will stimulate fruit growth.. AKA PINCHING.. I pinch out the leaders after every sixth leaf this causes the plant to slow down on generating new growth and allows the fruit embryos to pop and form fruit.. Then the branch will branch out, and again after six leaves I pinch out the leading tip to set more fruit. Using this technique I have forced new rooted cuttings to set fruit their first year.

i think a definition of "stunted growth" is required.

i explained to a gardening friend a neighborhood over tonight about forming trees by pinching.  apical dominance, pinching, branching, etc.

ultimately, if you want a short, squat tree, pinch the first terminal bud at 12"-18", then every terminal bud 9"-12" after that.  if you want to go tall, upright tree form, pinch the first terminal bud at 36"-48", then every 24" after that.  if you want bush, cut the tree off with only one joint above the soil mark and pinch like you would for a short squat tree.

pinching will force branching at the first node or three just below the pinch point.  proximity to roots and fatness of pipes to provide nutrients arguably increases the quality of the fruit by offering a more direct, larger pipeline to the fruit itself.

this is my understanding, at least.  hope someone will correct me if any inaccuracies exist.

It sounds as if the goal is compact growth, not stunted growth.

It sounds like he is trying to force fruit production on his Kathleen black here is a quote

Kathleen's Black, however, has not done anything as far as fruit is concerned. i mean the tree grows great. lot of leaves, healthy branch.. but it's not putting out fruits or even think about putting out figs.

i'll cut down on fertilizer and pinch. do i pinch after 6th leaf, or 8th? does it make differernce? i have not pinched on VdB, and Paradiso G. and they are doing fine.. but maybe KB needs pinching.

pete

edit: what i mean by stunted growth is, not really compact, but to prevent any vegetative growth where it will force fruit production. i think pinching is the best idea so far. i'll go for pinching and less fertilizer to see if that has any possitive impact this year. reading the forum, KB seems to have similar issues with some other members.

just pinched all the branches with 6 or more leaves. didn't enjoy it. but i want figs not leaves.

pete

Pete I see you have pinched good for you that will force the embryo to produce fruit. Pinching can be done at any point it is your tree you pinch where you want... Remember the branch will fork just below the pinch point..

so i pinched few days ago.. now the KB is pushing branch instead of figs. i'll pinch at 6 leaves through out the summer and see what happens.

pete

noss,

that's what it feels like. i want figs from KB, but it's arguing wth me about it.

i'm going to cut it down to 2 feet this fall and teach it a lession.

pete

i got a fig on KB. one lousy fig. i'm not even sure if it's breba or main crop. i'm not sure if it's pinching or fertilizer change. but i'm doing both from here on.

Oh, I see Plumeria too!

If you do cut it back and have extra cuttings, I'd love some.

Do you think it would do well in my warmer climate? (Coastal SoCalif)

George,

They smell heavenly, but doesn't taste as nice as VdB. However, they were better than KB so far since I haven't tasted any KB.

Pete

Gina,

I'll be cutting the trees during the winter/spring. At that time, I'll be sending cuttings to those I've made trade agreement with. If I have more, I'll post on the forum to see if anyone would like the cuttings. First come, first serve.

Pete.

Gina,

i'm not sure how KB will do in warmer climate. but here, we get high 90 to low 100 during the summer. i keep all my trees in containers and they need daily watering to keep them going. if i miss a day, the leaves start to hang low and droop. watering at that point, they will come right back up.

KB, for me, grows very fast and puts out roots very fast.

when i got the tree from Gene H., it was in 1 gal trade pot. i took it out and put it in 3 gal pot. that was in fall. in spring it was still good in 3 gal pot. by june of the same year, i think, it has filled out the 3 gal pot with roots and was getting impacted. i put it in 10 gal tub. by the time i put this into the garage, it has filled the 10 gal tub.

before i had drip system, i kept the 10 gal pot on top of a plate. it will soak up rather large amount of water each day.

last year, KB was taking hard time under the heat. it will be the first one to droop during the heat of the day. i think it might be due to so much root inside of the container. i kept it under partial shade all year along.

i missed root pruning i planned for this year. i'll see what happens this summer and next spring.

pete