I replaced the Panachee that got hit hard with wrought iron spray, and it died, with Verte!  That fig is rocking!  It's the middle of the winter, and it has one fig per leaf.  They will die, and I know this.  But, Jon explained that the Verte will grow fast and big, and it has. 

Can't wait till Spring/Summer.  Lots of good figs!

No cuttings for you for 2 years!  Got it?

Suzi

Suzi,

Congrats! You have a nice fig! 
But… in two years you will live in a fig forest, that thing grows super fast, just remember to pinch every 2 weeks or it will reach the sky.
Want to bet on the one year? :)

I made the mistake of planting my Strawberry Verte in ground in my greenhouse. They went berserk! I couldn't stop their growth despite holding back on water as much as possible. Worse yet they didn't fruit as much as in pots. The fruit was bigger but I got more off the plants the year before when in pots and about 5% as big.

This year it's back in pots if I can cram them back in.

This is a very good fig. I ate the last one on Dec 11 and it was excellent.

Would it be a good idea to constrict the roots of this variety? The reason I ask is I have a very small Verte in the house right now that I hope to put in the dirt this fall.

We wanted a BIG tree, and it has that reputation.  The summer sun is blinding in the dining room window, and we really need something to block it.  It's planted below our big deck, and we will be able to reach the top for trimming easily.  30' tall is the goal.  80' tall is getting scary!

I'll post next winter with it's height.  Right now it's about 3' tall with large very green leaves.  It has 3 main trunks coming out in 3 directions, and if it starts growing out more than up, it will definitely get pinched.

I heard that the figs are excellent, and I'm looking forward to tasting one that's really ripe, hopefully next summer.  If it grows as fast as you seem to think it will, maybe there will be lots of cuttings next winter.

Time will tell.

Suzi

Gene, do you mean sink a pot into the ground?  Not sure how one would restrict the roots of an in ground tree.

Even figs in pots sitting ON the ground find a way to sink their roots into the ground, and before you know it, you can't move their pots.

Suzi

I've known some people who take a large pot, make a few extra holes, then sink it in the ground. That supposedly constricts the roots so the tree puts more energy into fruiting rather than growing rangy. If the Verte grows so aggressively, I wonder if this would help it fruit better.

BTW, I'm talking about in heavy clay soils that the fig roots don't easily penetrate.

Mine has tons of fruit.  A big fig per leaf, and there are lots of leaves.  I just don't think they can ripen.  I heard the citrus orchards turbines go on last night which happens when the valley below temps drop too low.  For some odd reason, it's warmer up on this hill, but I doubt it's warm enough to ripen those figs.  I'm still puzzled that the Verte hasn't gone dormant when our other figs have.  Even Hardy Chicago is dormant.  Strange.

Steve did say that the tree in his greenhouse had BIG fruits, but fewer.  The potted fruits were smaller, but there were more of them.  I guess it's a toss up.  Can one have too many figs?

We had way too many persimmons and now too many limes.  I imagine that a big fig tree will produce a lot of fruit.  I'll be making fig wine if that happens!

Suzi

Slowing the plant down will cause more fruiting. Also an overly vigorous plant will have larger fruit but they may not be as sweet or flavorful. Fortunately SV is a variety that at least for me can be left to shrivel on the tree. That concentrates the sugars and flavor.

My greenhouse SV had leaves 12 inches across and grew 8 ft branches in one year even with pinching.

Any strawberry Verte cuttings available?

There may be.  Raccoons literally broke the tree apart.  Not a lot left to it.  Here, nothing goes dormant until Jan or Feb.

Sounds good understand. I guess the raccoons have to ear as well.

It's not what they ate so much as their weight broke several branches off from the trunk.  Each branch the size of a large 5 gallon tree!  That's why there won't be a lot of cuttings. 

A book on growing fruit trees from England had detailed instructions on planting fig trees in the ground. A large hole was dug and carefully lined with large slabs of cement and rock to contain the fig tree roots. It explained that the tree would grow more instead of producing fruit if the roots weren't contained. 

You can sink pots into the ground or not, but you can't legally stop heavy critters from breaking the branches and destroying the tree.

Hi desertdance,
Did you ever think of lining the trees with rose-bushes, the one with big thorns ?
I have a rose-bush with such big thorns  ... You just rub against them once ... Then you scream when you approach them, because you know that it's gonna hurt ...
Rose-bushes are easy to propagate from cuttings made this time of the year (here) .
Critters approaching at ground-level, you can trim the rose-bushes low, like at 2' / 60 cm.

DesertDance:  I'm wondering if it's too late to tie the tree branches back together, sort of like putting puzzle pieces together, and binding them and hope they grow/graft back together.  I also read here somewhere bout rooting big cuttings.  It would be a shame to lose a big tree.

Hi Suzi.
Put me on the list for cuttings, if possible, it sounds like a winner.

Vito