I received this in the mail today.  I can't believe anyone would send a fig tree that was this infected.  What do you think?  Is this a virus or what?

I don't want to say from where it came because it is not my intention to start an argument.  I just wanted to show the forum what I received. (I'm shocked)

Wow.  How long was it traveling for?

2 days to get here.  it was packaged well and the roots were moist.

I would say it looks like shipping stress and some fmv. your not going to get away from fmv growing figs assume all figs have it. as for the stress. was it potted or bare root. is the soil really sogy wet or dry. if wet set in the shade in a breezy spot to try and dry it out a bit. if its dry set in the shade and water. i wouldnt fertilize but you could use super thrive it will help with shock. after you baby it for about a week or two you should notice a dramatic change.

lotsa luck
Dave

Bill, that looks pretty ugly and I would be highly Po"d myself.

Are those leave pretty much dried out? Can you tell us what part of the country it was shipped from?

it came from middle Tennessee and yes the leaves are dried out

I am certainly not sure but from the pics it looks to be rust, maybe.

think it got to hot in the box, shipping stress myself. tho there very well could be somthing else at work as well. leaves looked zapped of moister.

They will probably be fine, but will most likely lose all of their leaves before recovering. They probably have some FMV, which is typical of most if not all fig trees. But most of the problem is clearly shipping stress. If they were barerooted, that is likely the cause, along with to much heat in transit, or on your front porch.

With the leaves dried out and the soil moist I'd imagine they were crispy before getting in the shipping box, and watered right before shipping.

I'm sure the tree will bounce back with some TLC. I'd be a little annoyed, too.

more than likely the leaves will drop. looks very dry. i doubt the leaves will hang on. but, the branches might be ok. don't over water. keep it in shade and see if it comes back.

I just got a fig whose leaves were pretty bad, too.  It's a bad time of year to ship.  And I have 8 more figs coming.  Next time I'm waiting till it gets cooler.  It could be rust but it could also be fertilizer burn.  If the roots look healthy you shouldn't have any problems.  On mine the roots are all brown and it's a younger plant and in intensive care with good airflow and moisture to the roots.

Thanks for all the comments and info.  I am going to try to save it and I'll let everyone know the results later.

This is why a lot of nurseries refuse to ship trees this time of year.  Let's see....late June...temps into the 90's and 100's in a lot of places...lock it up for a day or two in an unventilated metal trailer where temps routinely rise into the 130's.  Bad idea.  

I worked for UPS shuttling trailers to and from the Oakland break bulk terminal many years ago.   You pull in and drop your trailers in a big asphalt lot.  They can sit in there in the sun for hours before being unloaded, reloaded onto another trailer, and hauled off to wherever.

I had a member ask me to ship a  tree to him just last month.   I had to say..."No.  Maybe in October."

Your pics illustrate why.  Thanks for posting them.

I'd definite say it was shipping stress too. Really tough to send big ole leafy green trees this time of year. It was pretty hot out there by us the past few days. All my starter fig trees in 1 gallons pots went for a snooze under a shady oak.

Put your tree in the shade but be careful not to overwater. Now that the leaves are cooked they will not be sucking much water up so its really easy to drown the whole tree.

I try to feel the soil towards the bottom of the pot where the water may be. Usually if I find the top few inches are dry and the pot has some weight to it the bottom is soaked almost 90% of the time. I'll lay the tree, pot and all, on its side to let the water redistribute. The bottom drains and hydrates the top.

The temps were in the high 90s here and very high dew points so looks like shipping stress. My Almas are dropping some yellow leaves from all the rain and now the high heat so its instant summer all over now. I have lost many fruit trees coming in bare root late summer so now will only order during the spring and fall, not worth the pain of hoping they make it.

Since the leaves are toast, just cut them off, put it in a shaded area and wait.  A lot of plants shut down during the hottest times of summer, meaning they don't grow. 

I planted my first fig tree last year - it was growing pretty well until the July heat came in!  The figs ripened nicely but the tree didn't grow.  When the temps started getting down to the 90's it perked up and started to grow again.

Good luck with it!

I must have been lucky, shipped about 20 trees last July/Aug. Only one I lost was to a guy who moved previous month and didn't update his paypal. Sat 2 weeks in PO before I got it back 35 days after shipping.

Im 0 for 3, all 3 plants I bought from ebay died. Although I was able to root the cuttings I got from fleabay.

The brown spots should be rust, sun burned scar, or mal-nutrition. With proper care, new leaf should be fine.
The wilt should be a result of heat (summer is not really good time for shipping live plant). The tree may still survive as long as root is strong.
I have many plants got burned like that, all leaves fall off and looks like going to die. Just a couple of weeks, they recovered and grow very strong.

Good luck on saving the tree. As mentioned already from others, I ordered a few plants myself and was told that they marked them sold to me but they will not be shipping them to me till the temps tend to get cooler across the country. So I would rather be patient then to get a dead tree