I do not have fig luck, I got couple fig trees from nursery 2 months ago, They are basic fig tree, like Hardy Chicago, Black mission, Brown Turkey, Purple Jordon, Italian Honey Etc, They was like 4-5 Ft stick with sprouts, I planted them in new top soils ground, 2 months has passed, only 1 breba fig for all trees, I went back to same nursery, their fig trees are full of breba figs.

I do have 1.5 FT stick of "Desert king" which I planted last year end of fall, It bears 3 big breba figs.

Question:

1). Why they(Nursery fig trees) don't bear breba figs in ground?
2). What should I do to get main  crop fig?

Because in the Nursery breba buds were protected from cold while ,in your garden all breba buds fell of before developing due to frost.
What should you do,to get Breba:Protect from cold as Adriano,in Canada protect his Desert King .
It will be not easy tho.
If i was you,i would try to have early main crop cultivars,and ,once you get more experience then try Desert King for Breba!

Hi Herman, thanks for your reply, Our climate is not very cold, most fig tree do not drop "Breba fig",  My 6 months old bady "Desert king" bears 3 figs
I wonder than, When fig tree is in pots and its root is limited to such small area, it will grow more figs rather than grow more leaves.
I might be wrong, When I plant it in ground, It put its energy to grow more leaves instead to grow more figs.


 

My Nursery plant, quite big now, 5 feet+, they do not have breba
   

My unknown Italian, It put on 50+ breba figs now rather than 9 last year, It bears big main crop,but all dropped , it might be goner

   

Folks in BC don't need to protect their plants, I doubt that's the issue
You're probably right about the plant focusing on vegetative growth as opposed to figs though, you might want to pinch the tips but I think you'll have much better luck as the trees get more established such as the Italian you mentioned 

Just as an FYI, it's very difficult to ripen main crop in BC, desert king is a great variety for you guys for this reason  

Hi M_delgo or anyone, Please tell me how to pinch the tips so It will bear main figs earlier.

I am in cool climate, Our Sun will be very weak after October, so It needs to bear main fig at May/June in order to ripen fig on time.

Ricky, main crop figs only fruit on this years fresh growth, the green lush growth that is happening now

The figs will appear within 2 weeks of you plucking off the bud on the tip of this growth
So the trick is to wait long enough for the stem to grow but not too long that it gets carried away and leaves you with nothing

I'd say by the end of may you could start

Also, with the taller plants that aren't fruiting, you could prune the main trunk down to the highest branch so that the focus is on this outward branching, encouraging fruiting
And a more open shape

Search pruning figs for breba cool climate on YouTube, there's a BC man who talks extensively on how to train and maintain your trees (even if it's not desert king)

Thanks for your info, very helpful, Now I understand that some condition that fig tree bear fig.
- for breba fig, It is something to do with root to tree canopy ratio, If tree canopy is smaller than roots, fig tree will likely bear breba fig, That is why some people pruning branches at spring time.
- For main fig on new wood, we can plucking out the bud on the tip to force it to bear fig at the right time.
Tricky area is that, we need to find the balance of breba fig ( old wood ) or main fig ( New wood).

Nursery farmer know how fig tree bear fig and They want happy customer
- It prunes all branches as short as possible to reduce tree canopy ( Fig tree like a stick).
- it boosts roots as big as possible using fertilizer or heat, it has very high root to tree canopy ratio.
- They put slow release fertilizer on top of pot
- Since roots is limited inside a small nursery pot, tree feels that it can not grow more roots, so It put big part of energy to bear breba figs.

I learned a new trick last month and I am starting to apply.
Try to neutralize your soil as often as every month by sprinkling some Gardener's Lime granules around the fig trees.
They keep producing new figs.

Hi frank, thanks for your reply, Is this trick for potted fig or for in ground fig tree?
Can I use Dolomite Lime?

Sorry Ricky ,i did not realize you live in mild climate.
I also had problem with Desert King and other breba, figs,not producing but in my case it was the Spring frost killing the buds.
However I am happy you received good answer from all other posters,!.

Hi Herman, Thanks for your reply, and thanks for your sharing your experience, I have tasted only few good taste figs in my whole life, and I want to fix this problem ASAP.

I bought 5 trees from Nursery but plant them slightly too earlier, Otherwise, I probably can taste 20 to 40 breba figs instead of 1 fig only.

I have few more bigger fig trees planted last year end of fall in ground, However, roots was damaged by wet winter soils, I fix this problem 2 months ago with raising bed but roots was greatly reduced, So its root to tree canopy ratio is too low, it does recover slowly with few tiny leaves without breba figs.

Now I look forward and hoping that I am able to taste some main crop figs.

I am only hypothesizing, but here's my best guess: Fertilize the trees with bone meal, avoid any high nitrogen fertilizers. After 2-3 inches of green growth (3-4 leaves) pinch out the bud tip on every branch on the tree to stop any more leaves from developing. Water well throughout the season. I think that with the cooler climates you have to treat the trees like potted trees -- minimize green growth and do everything you can to force the fruit. 

Hi ricky,
It takes 3 years for a fig tree to be well established and be more reliable in production.
You'll have to exercise with patience.
I have a madeleine-des-deux-saisons that is going this year in the 4th leaf , and guess what ... NOT A SINGLE FIGLET !
Patience patience ...
In the meantime, all I can do is water well, fertilize well and help them grow. That's it.
I have other trees that are productive though ...
Here the nurseries get their trees from Southern France (say California for you) ... So yes, their trees are a bit ahead and have more figlets as in no figlet got damage by the cold weather... That's life ...

Hi JDSfrance:

I agree with you about patience with fig trees, I was just bad luck, Our climate is warmer and no figlets got cold damage, I should keep nursery's fig trees in pot until figlets appear, then plant it in ground, I miss this step and it results that no breba's fig.

Anyway, Those nursery trees are quite tall at 5 Ft to 7Ft and easily grow to 20+ FT, I will let its grow for awhile and pinch off few top branches's top bud tips, I would like to limited its top grow as well as forcing it to grow some main crop figs.

I would like to taste its figs so I can decide that I should keep them or not, As I do not have fig luck, Although I have about 85% fail rate of cuttings,  I still have near 20+ baby fig trees from cuttings and they need space in ground in future.

Hi Vivian, Thanks for sharing your experience, You are right about "Desert king", In your area, It is not good choice of Fig tree in your area, In our Area with weaker SUN,  It is a "King", it grows very well here, and most important, it is very reliable to bear sweet figs every year.

Just like Paully22 in our area saying, " an excellent fig is one that ripens reliably with a bountiful crop. "

You are making a right choice to get rid of "Desert king", I have the same problem , I have an early ripen unknown Italian fig tree, It is 6 years old, and It bears figs for last 2 year, it has a small breba crop and a big main crop, Last year, It had a big main crop, but all drop, it looks like that it might need fig Wasp, If it repeat again this year, It will be goner, I am very new for fig tree, If I am wrong, Please let me know that it is wrong.

I had/have apple tree and big pear tree in my yard for many years without reliable fruits with sickness problem, They are goner, I am looking for low maintenance fruit tree, I hope that fig tree is one of them.

Life is not only garden, I live close to Vancouver, BC, Housing price is quickly rising in Vancouver area, My area is bad area and housing price hardly moving,  Recently, housing price quickly raising, It provides opportunity that I can sell my house and move to better area, I find that 60% of my neighbors in my block sell their house or move away to better area, I am thinking about this options, I am tire to drive far away to work everyday on top of increasing job stress everyday, It is not discrimination, But working under an East Indian boss is very hard.