so.. i'm waiting for the figs to show up on paradiso gene. reading the forum, it should start showing figs around mid late june. so far, i haven't seen any sign. i mean i see embryo, but i don't see anything sticking out of it. my kathleen's black embryos are all kinda turning brown.. so i gave up on it for this year. but the planit is growing like crazy. lot of branches, lot of leaves.

there are few things that i noticed from the pictures posted in the forum. most of the trees i see in the forum seems to have lot of branches, and lot of leaves. my paradiso has only about 4 branches and each branches have not as many leaves. they are growing tall very fast and distance between nodes are about 4-5 inches.

i know this is plant is only about 1.5 yrs old since rooting. i know about pinching, but i'm not planning on pinching until the tree reaches the height that i want which is about 4-5 feet. it's already bout 3 feet high, if not taller.

am i fertilizing it too much (slow release on top, whatever fertilizer i have once a week)? or it's not getting too much sun (about 8 hrs of sun a day)?  i know i'm watering it right. it's not wilting or drooping. any ideas? should i give up on figs on this tree this year?

pete

........sounds like too much fertilizer (especially nitrogen) to me. High nitrogen will DELAY ripening times on fig fruit and can cause them to fall. When nodes are that far apart....it is usually due to an excess application of fertilizer. However, if your goal is to push new growth on your tree......you are doing fine. Just be aware that fertilizing late into the growing season can cause too much tender new growth that will not have enough time to lignify properly. Wood that is not lignified can easily be killed by winter cold temperatures. But even if that happens.....you still have developed a nice root system for next season. In other words, you may be giving up a few figs this year to a larger crop next year.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

thanks for the information dan. i'll keep doing what i'm doing for the paradiso and kathleen's black this year then. when my VdB is starting to swell, i'll cut off the weekly fertilizer.

pete

after having a good breakfast (sausage, egg and cheese biscuit, and mountain dew), i'm thinking i'll just flush the pot and stop fertilizing now and see what happens.

pete

Pete:What is the advantage of having a tall tree ,this year,and have it going dead next Spring,close to Ground,and in the process do not produce any fruits this year.
Stop fertilizing and start pinching.When pinching extra strength goes into roots and branch thickness,and you get fruits in the same time too.!The tree grows slowelly but it will be all alive next Spring.

herman,

i know it's silly, but the main reason for letting is grow tall is for the look. i want the trees to look like a tree and not like a bush. with kathleens' black, i don't think i have much choice. it's already looking like a bush.

but paradiso and VdB has nice straight shape that i want to keep.

they are all in pot (3-4 gallon). i know i'll have to up-pot soon since i water them almost everyday now.

i'm not worried about them dying due to cold since i'll be moving them into my garage during the winter. but definitely cutting the fertilizer off as soon as the figs on the VdB swells.

when i go home today, i'll have to take a look at paradiso again and see if it's at height i want. i want the trees to be tall enough that i don't have to reach up too high, or crouch down to pick the figs. if it's at that right height, i'll cut the fertilizer and start pinching to see what happens.

thanks for the suggestion.

pete

Hi Bullet,
little information i learned over time reading and putting into practice the techinques of pruning (shaping basically) and observing the outcome.

Some that want to grow upwards with minimal lateral growth has apical dominance which has most of the growth hormone <<Auxin>> in its bud tip and keeps growing skyward, lateral growth will be minimal because of this.

When this happens the grower can simply nip the tip bud and the auxins will go downwards and lateral growth appears more.
This pratice can create a bushy plant with lots of figs eventually.

To create a tree form with one that does not display apical dominance 
<<< grows in bush form>> do the opposite of the above by diligently removing any lateral growth including suckers and auxins will be sent upwards, eventually you can create the tree form with 1 main trunk .
When plant reaches height you want nip the tip bud .

Doing this to an inground tree is not good in my opinion as you risk loseing plant in dormant season or it may grow from soil level which is like starting over again and sets plant back overall.

I grow in containers and store them in garage and yes even though stored in garage the very first year they are stored i have lost a few over the years .


I now start to grow mine mixed<< tree form and bush>> as i start to sell scion on ebay here and there to help offset my cost since now retired.

In the end i like to mention with fig trees they can be manipulated to the shape a grower wants long as he intervenes.

The faster growing ones some not recommend container culture like mission  but i say hogwash for with proper rootpruning and pruning of limbs it is within growers grasp to do if he wants to put in the time and effort.

And i'm by no means an expert but far from it.

Here is something that explains apical dominance much better than i can in words.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apical_dominance

came home, took out magnifying glass, and found 3 tiny figs coming out of my paradiso! amazing..

pete