i have a day off today. been going back and forth between the trees and noticed that my KB has much thinner trunk and branches than my paradiso and VdB.

my VdB has a thick main trunk (about 1.5 inches) with many branches on top. thicker branches have up to 5 figs on them. i'm going to knock off any figs that doesn't ripe by sept.

on paradiso, i have only 1 visible fig on it. but the main trunk is still about 1 inch thick. there are two branches almost at the soil level. one of the side branch is actually thicker than the main trunk which i'm going to keep and that one has the fig.

on the other hand, kathleen black has less than 1 inch main trunk and it has many branches. whole trees looks more like a bush. both main trunk and branches are much thinner than other trees.

from this, i think either KB is growing slower than the others and not mature enough or growing habbit of KB is such that it will need good pinching to see the figs.

all three trees are in 10g pot and that's going to be their final container size. i'm going to prune both top and root coming spring and will be setting them to their final shape.

for 1.5 yr trees, they are growing very fast, but i still don't have fig on KB.

pete

Pete,

Just my opinion but maybe in the Fall you should thin out some of the branches on the KB. Looks like the tree is concentrating on growing too many leaves and branches but losing energy to produce fruit.

On the other hand, maybe your KB is just to young yet to produce fruit.

Just my thought, not an expert opinion.

Pete, just curious--is the trunk staked?

rafed,

all three trees will get good pruning in spring. my main focus this year was to get the trees as big as possible and strong as possible. the fact there are some figs on the trees are big extra that i didn't expected.

ken,

all trees are supported with one of those sticks if that's what you are asking. i don't think VdB needs it any more. trunk is thick, and it's about 4 feet tall. paradiso has almost 5 feet main trunk and i think it needs it. too tall and not as thick as VdB. KB is just too bushy. I use stake to bring the branches in some what. the stake is one of those plastic covered metal stick.

pete

Pete, my reason for asking is that a rigidly-staked trunk tends not to grow as thick as one that can flex in the wind (google "effects of staking on trunk caliper" for lots of info). If you can achieve your goals for shaping the tree with stakes placed at some distance from the trunk, and with just a few soft, flexible ties to provide only the minimum amount of support or reinforcement needed, the trunk will still be able to flex and will develop better thickness.

I have several trees that are just producing figs for the first time in 4 years. And I have another which is loaded with figs and it is only a little over a year old. I wish I knew why this was happening too. Most of my trees have produced something after a year, more after 2 years, and so on, but why do some trees take so long to produce? My Kathleen Black is a little over a year and it produced one fig. It is looking like it may be forming more right now too. So what is up with that? Why do some trees even of the same variety take so long to produce and others can't seem to wait to produce. I can imagine that culture plays a huge roll, but what is it about the culture that causes quicker fruiting? I give all my trees the same basic care in the same basic conditions and get results that vary greatly. Whatever I did to cause my Kathleen Black to begin fruiting quickly is the same thing I did to other trees that have held out for 4 years. I am baffled.        

I am beginning to believe that certain fig trees sometimes need a good pruning to get them into that fruiting cycle. Maybe when the root mass out numbers the supporting top mass....they get into the correct fruiting mood. I plan on pruing my stubbord trees this winter to see if that induces them to produce more fruit. I have one strain of HC that is going to get chopped up preety good this coming fall.......it is nowhere near as productive as my other HC strain.

Some cultivars just need more time than others. FYI, my Blue Celeste finally produced a nice crop of figs this year. My two Hunt trees finally produced their first crops too.....those trees are 8 to 10 ft. tall. 

Dan
Semper Fi-cus