Pick a number and let me pick your brain.


1. Does the night time temp(low temp) affect the ripening of figs. Slow it up? Speed it up?

2. What makes a fig sprout. What makes it say now and not a month from now? Size of tree? Temp. Length of day. Nite time temps? Humidity? Some trees(same height and width), from the same nursery, are putting out figs. Others nothing.

3. What varieties absolutely need to be pruned to be fruitful? I have a Celeste and Verte that are about 3 to 4ft tall with 3 or 4 thick stems and 1 fig between them. I have a very bushy Negronne about the same height and no figs. I've pinched both.

4. Do they have to go dormant? Any draw back if they don't? Our weather (zone 9a/b) is in major flux with global warming, droughts and El Niño. So there is no guarantee on what to expect year to year. The recent average chill hours are about 600.

5. I don't want to climb a big ladder to get figs when I'm 60. I'm willing to sacrifice some productivity to keep the sizes manageable (under 10 feet tall). Do I need to think about the size I want 10 years down the line now with plants a year or two old?

6. How often do you "cull the herd"? How long do you/should you give a plant? Is the evaluation not complete till it goes in the ground?

7. Can you plant a fig where a fig once grew?

8. Are there any varieties I shouldn't try planting in the ground? That are best left in pots?

9. What varieties would you consider "centerpiece" varieties. I would like 1 or 2 trees I could let grow tall so they can fully show off their productivity. I got Brooklyn White for 1. Are there any other recommendations?

10. If you get a variety from a nursery that isn't what it was supposed to be, even if you find out 2,3 or 4 years later, do you........? Ask for refund? Ask for the right variety? Chalk it up to things happen? Is the etiquette the same with "regular people"?

I'll take the easy ones. lol To be best of my research and experience at least.

6. Never, I have a 20+ year old fig tree in my neighborhood and there are many members here who post pictures of their/their family member's trees that are even older.

7. Yes, done this myself, zero problems.

9. There are different flavors of figs, berry, honey, ect. Usually people that don't want 40 trees will get one of each flavor, and others will get multiple of each flavor and weed it down to just the ones they like.

10. This is VERY common, it would be very hard to prove that this 1 year+ old tree was the little one you bought from them, if you still have the receipt. They could also have been fooled by the person they got it from and sold it falsely to you accidentally, this is what happens a lot with nursery's that don't do their own cuttings/grafting as well as amateurs who don't know better.

Hi,
Try so split in several posts next time. Here we go:
1. Temps affect, but it is the nite and the day together. Unless, if freezing at night ... Water and fertilizer have a much bigger impact.
2. Figtrees have their own schedule. Often it is strain-bound. Thus the idea of sticking to known and well documented strains. Water and fertilizer have ...
3. None. It is a matter of space that you have, and the size of the thing you use (I'm speaking of ladders of course )
4. No. They'll need more ... Water, fertilizer and pruning...
5. It is my belief that one should target a final height of 6' to 9' / 2meters to 3 meters. You'll sacrifice nothing. An overgrown tree will use space with bare wood that will have the leaves at the tips and no fruits on that wood in the long term.
6. Never if you keep on buying new land :) . Today, if you're short on free space ...
7. Yes, but be careful if you have the new tree die to the ground ... You won't be sure of who would be sprouting back ... The former or the new one and that could be a loss of time for you.
8. They were all once grown in the ground.
9. Your choice . Maybe Panaché closer to the house because of her stripes... An overgrown tree will attract birds and varmints and lead you to problems at harvest time. You're willing to harvest yourself your crop ...
10. Who would be the reference, the judge ??? How "would you dare" explain a nursery they are wrong when they sell what they get. And you bought what you saw (doesn't work for on line nurseries of course) . Here the "warranty" is two years for the tree not dying.
     You just get what you see or so is the rule. You bought a figtree and you got a figtree ...
     I take that under buyer's risk. But that is my way of thinking ...
Good luck !

Thanks for the responses. Things like #8 I kinda forget with all this thought that goes into potting mediums and the like.