Hi All,

As a follow up to my fertilizer question.  I'm seeing some strange behavior and wondering if anyone can explain.  As I said in a previous post, last year I had a sunburn issue which caused all leaves to drop in the spring and by the time the plants recovered and started producing figlets, the season ended without any figs ripening.  There were 2 other trees which I hadn't pruned and they produced 0 figs all season.

This spring, I pruned all trees to 3-4 main branches.  since most had 3 years of growth, some branches were quite thick and the wounds released a lot of sap through the spring.  The 2 trees that didn't produce last year are both producing this year but I noticed one tree producing more than the other.  They are sister cuttings form the same tree.  Both get equal sun and equal water, but the less producing tree is in a larger pot and appears to be producing more shoots and less figs.  Should I be pruning true that over produces branches / shoots throughout the year?

Next, the Smith tree that produced the most figs last year, is producing the least figs this year.  I up potted from a pot to a 55 gallon drum (35 gallons of soil).  What factors would cause a previously good producer to under produce this year?

Thank you,
Andrew

Have a look at the Martha Stewart video at Bellaclare nursery. In it they talked about growing in containers and limiting the shoot growth to produce more figs.
As for smith not producing, how large a pot was it in before you up potted? Maybe it is focusing on filling the barrel with roots first.

My smiths broke dormancy indoors this year because it was so mild. It was loaded with figs. Then in the spring it didn't like the cooler temps so it dropped all of the figs and a bunch of leaves. Now its loaded with figs again but probably wont finish up outdoors this year.

Andrew:

Excess vigor is a prime cause of poor production. Excess vigor comes from excess water and fertilizer. It is common when potting up or if one over waters or over fertilizes.

You are seeing that with the Smith and the tree in a larger pot. Figs with an expanding root system as when moved to a larger pot are in a growth mode not fruiting mode. More roots pumps more water to the top and causes rapid growth. Next yr or whenever the root system stops expanding the tree will settle down and fruit.

Figherder, I had a similar experience last year with sun burnt leaves causing all figs to start too late.  I watched most turn black and fall off over the winter.  This year I am happy and excited to report they are doing much better.  I wish you better luck with the rest of your plants!

Herder and Nutty, I think you are both right that my low fig production is a combination of 1)Up potting (This spring I have up potted all 12 of my plants) 2)over watering I water everyday and a lot of it)  3)Maybe over fertilizing.  I am going to reduce watering to every other day and reduce the fertilizer the rest of the year.

Thank you for the information.  Figherder, I couldn't locate the video you suggested.  I think Bellaclare went out of business,
Andrew

Here's the link for the video. Yes they are out of business. I think if you do a search for them here you can pull up their old brochures with some growing tips in them as well.

http://www.marthastewart.com/907952/fabulous-figs