Hello everyone,
I bought a 3' tall celeste about a week ago and it isn't doing to well.  I'll try to include any information that might help.

At first the leaves started to droop.  I figured this could be because of the hot weather and intense sun because they perk back up when the sun goes down.  I live on the eastern shore of MD.  It has been 90+ degrees just about every day and pretty humid.  When I bought the tree it was under some shade cloth, so it is definitely getting more intense light now.  Then things got worse.  Some leaves had small brown spots which quickly got larger and the affected leaves turned yellow.  See the picture below.



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Right now the pot is planted in the ground inside the pot I bought it in.  I'm not sure if I'm watering it appropriately.  How much water and how often should it be watered in these conditions?  Please let me know the best plan of action to try to save this tree.


Thanks

Well let me get my 2 cents in on this dilemma

figluvah hit it right on the head!!! I would follow his advice to the T!!!

I wasn't quite sure how much shade it needed.  When I got it it was under shade cloth which still let quite a bit of light through.  Now I have it set up so that from about noon to 3ish it is in the shade.  Is it still bad that it is getting direct sunlight the rest of the time?

I'll move it to the shade and see what happens.

Thanks for the replies.

Alanmercieca,
The pot is 5 gal.  I was having a hard time deciding whether to keep it as a potted fig or plant it in the ground.  It seems to have plenty of roots, but I'm new to figs and plants in general, so I have no idea really.  I was also afraid of planting it and then having something like this happening, which would make it difficult to move the tree around.

I'll try Figluvah's method

Yeah what I was trying to do was probably a bit silly.  I figured that if the shade cloth let 60 percent of the light through (or something like that) then I could give it direct light for a good portion of the day and have it in complete shade during the brightest hours.  I guess that doesn't work haha

When is the best time to plant a potted fig, or does it not matter that much?

alanmercieca,

I wasn't going to keep it in a pot in the ground permanently, I just did it because it was a black pot and it heated up quickly in the sun.  I read somewhere that the roots don't like to get too hot.  I'm still undecided as to whether I will keep it in the pot and do the whole root pruning thing every few years or if I will just plant it next year.

I'm in zone 7.

i live in zone 7 NC. this is first yr for me with my figs also. about a month ago, i had similar issues, but all my 3 trees are in pots. i had them in full sun. as the temp around here went up to 80 degree and full intense sun, the leaves were drooping.

i took them back into the shade and they were fine. after about 2 weeks, i put them back out on the sun and they were dropping again. i moved the trees to north side of my house where it gets about 4 hrs of morning sun, and 2 hrs of evening sun. it was doing better for a day after watering, but drooping starting afternoon of second day.

i posted the question on this forum and one of the suggestion was "wet toes". now i put tray under the pots, and fill it with water during the day, every day. my trees are now very happy with day time temp at 90+.

i read lot of threads about watering too much, so... you might want to read more threads and decide to try this or not. i get out of house very early in the morning and don't have time to put water in the tray, so first time i get a chance to do this is around 3:00pm. i pour water in the tray and see if the water is taken up by the pot/tree. if it does, i fill it up again once or twice depends on how hot that day is. i do this again at 6.. 7pm. but i don't give as much water as i did at 3:00pm. i do this everyday. if it rains, i take the tray out of the way for the rain water to drain from the pot. when no more water comes out of the pot, i put the tray under the tree again. i give full watering once a week. fertilize on sat. with 20-20-20.

pete

Ditto to what Cecil said.  Pete, I'm in NC/7b, Charlotte.  However, I think a tree has to accumulate itself to the new climate and soil in your area.  I think 20-20-20 is a bit much for figs.  I use 6-8-8 and mine are growing fine.  My 70+ fig orchard is on a hill but they only get about 4 hours of direct sunlight because they are shelter with a huge oak tree and my neighbour's house.

Celeste will stress if there is a big change in soil, water and heat and then drop its fruit.  I've got at least 3 in ground celeste trees and about 3 in pots.  Those in pots are the first to let me know its time for watering.  But 2 days ago we had temps at 97 degrees in the shade so it may be too late for planting a fig in the ground.  If it was me, I would repot the tree in a larger pot and wait till April and plant it in the ground.  Just my 2 cents.  cheers,

dennis,

thanks for the suggestion. i think i'll get bigger pot sometime soon. my wife is against me putting any fruit trees into the ground.

pete

alanmercieca,

any brand of fertilizer you can suggest?

about the planting in the ground thing.. i had number of talk with my wife and i lost.

pete

I use Joe Morle's recipe with no problem.

1 part bone meal, 1 part 5-10-5, 1 part limestone, and 1 part super phosphate- a cup for an inch thick trunk-1 inch wide in 3 inch holes in outside perimeter of pot- at the start of bud break. A month later triple 20 fertilizer applied every 21 days until mid august. Before storage a top dressing of 1 part bone meal, 1 part lime and 1 part superphosphate.

I have had great success this year. Most with 6 inches of growth and an Atreano with 1 foot growth as of June 1. Weather has been stubbornly cold but if warmer, growth would probably be greater. Fruit has been slow to start with main crop just emerging.

Some suggest 18-6-12 slow release over 5-6 months- Osmocote and others. I am trying that on a few other small ones to see if it does anything different.