i have had my KB (Kathleen's Black) since fall of 2010. the tree was rooted in spring of 2010 by nursery. it's growing in 10 gal pot right now. it's growing nicely. however, i have not seen any fruits last year. my other two figs which is of same age, gave me enough figs to taste and enjoy last year.

i have pruned the tree already last week, and i might chop off top green growth down also this weekend.

for those who are growing KB in pot, how long did it take you before seeing the fruits? if you are getting fruits, did you do anything special to it? does KB need to be in ground to be able to produce fruits?

pete

Pete,   My potted KB doesn't have fruit either. It's a nice shaped tree, well leafed, 4 years old. I had one ripe fig its first year. Since then it had 2 figs
late in the season. They fell off before ripening. A friend sent me a rooted
one last season. I'll see if it has any fruit this year. I don't know what to say about this tree.

Peg
zone 6, CT

peg,

reading the forum, it seems herman is the only person who had the KB grown to see the fruit. and he has it in ground.

i think gene h. also had it in the ground. maybe this tree needs to be grown in ground. if i don't see any fruit by the end of the year, i'll think about plainting in the yard.

pete

My Kathleen Black is loaded with Breba fruits as we speak,and I did not Winter protect with Blankets Like other years,so I am sure I will have all kinds of Breba and main crop fruits this year because it started fruitting early.
All I got to do is trow a Blanket on the tree a few Time when themorning has frost,if any,in the future.
Mine is about 6 years now,and it was producing well when young but not a large Harvest yet.
I hope this Summer will have a large Harvest.
What is good about it,is that in ground it never drop fruits here,in NJ.

It will be interesting to see what happens this Summer. Its the most naturally symmetrical tree in my collection. Pretty. Now if it will only produce figs!!!.  I'll let you know what happens.

Peg
Zone 6, CT

I got one fig off of my tree last year and it was very tasty. My tree is still in the pot, but I am looking for a spot to plant it in ground as Herman has inspired me to do. He has had great success with his in ground surviving the winters. Got my tree from Gene Hosey who no longer is selling fig trees sadly. So it is possible to fruit it in a pot. if I were to keep mine potted I would be moving it up to a larger pot this year. It is in a ten gallon pot but it is practically bursting at the seams, roots coming out of the bottom. It is an excellent fig!  

KB seems to grow very fast, both top and root. Maybe the trick is to some how manage the growth in such way it will promoted fruit. I guess, not being very knowledgeable regarding botany, more root will get more nutrition to the tree. Less tree/leaf/branch growth will give more energy to fruit. This means, if I'm correct, prune the top more than the root and pinch like Herman said. Grow the tree compact. Maybe this will cause tree to produce fruit... not sure...

Pete

My KB has just finished it's second year in ground here. I received My KB plant also from Gene Hosey. It was kept in a 5 gallon pot it's first summer here. It was at least three feet, when we received it from Gene.

found something interesting. i fertilize the tree last yr and a half with miracle grow. maybe i'll go with something with very low nitrogen.

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/fruit-gardening/fig-tree-is-producing-fruit.htm

pete

Yes Pete:Nitrogen fertilization,make the fig tree ,unfruitful,if the soil is already containing the necesaRY NUTRIENTS.

My KB has a little tiny breba!  The leaves are very attractive also, I think. It is going to be the gem of my collection, thanks H2.

i prune the KB further yesterday to where the top branch was, new branch from this year. the tree is about 3 feet tall. has 3 branches coming from common stock at the bottom. each main branch/trunk has 3-5 branches. it's in 10 gal tub. have one sucker that i'm going to air layer for a forum member.

i'm going to fertilize it with "blooming" fertilizer which has low nitrogen and high phosphorus. every two weeks at half the strength. i'll see what happens this year. will stop the fertilizer once i see the figs coming out.. if they come out.

while pruning the KB, i got one green cutting out of it which is already harden to some point in case i kill the tree, i'll need a back up.

end up pruning other trees too. making back up for my VdB. didn't get any out of paradiso gene, but paradiso gene looks good without any help.

pete

progress on my KB.

i see few figs popping up, and a breba. as i mentioned, i had this tree since fall of 2010. until now, it didn't produce any fruit. this year, i cut the top off the tree, and pinched all the terminal bud off. i didn't do anything to one big sucker on this 10 gal tub since i'm trading air layers on it.

also, i changed the fertilizer to micle grow blooming thing. i was hoping that phosphorus will help with root and fruit production.

i'm hoping the figs will ripe soon so i can finally taste it. i really hope it tastes better than VdB.. cause i'll be mighty pissed if it's not as good. so much time trying to figure out how to get fig off this tree and figs not as good as VdB will really get to me.

pete

here is picture of main crop starting to pop up. hope they will stick around so i can taste some.



pete

Pete,:your tree is ahead of mine.
My tree did not form main crop yet,but it has half dozen Breba in the stagnant stage.

herman,

all my fruit bearing age trees (2-3 yr old) are putting out figs earlier this year than last yr. about a month early. VdB, Paradiso Gene, Kathleen's Black (1 time putting on the figs), and White Greek (not sure how old this one is, i think it's on 2nd yr).

we had about a weeks of 90 degree weather few weeks ago, that might have done something.

i'm surprise that i see main crop on Paradiso Gene already since it did not ripe fig until nov. last yr.

pete

now i have enough figs forming to let me taste what kathleen's black will be like. also noticed a breab or two.

now i'm thinking.. was i just not patient enough to wait for it? or was it pinching or fertilizer change? don't really feel like making new trees to find out.

pete

Since I keep bringing up KB in my Adriatic JH thread, I'm bumping this thread.

Main reason why I cut last years branches were that I didn't care about breba, I didn't even know KB ha breba. I figure that new branches will come out anyway, and wanted keep top much smaller to the root. For whatever reason, I thought more root, better productive plant.

To me KB is very vigorous tree and didn't worry about tree itself growing.

But ultimately, I do think pinching is what pushed the figs.

Pete