I live in the pacific northwest, in Victoria BC (which is zone 8 or zone 9a by some accounts). My available space is only about 6'x7' so after doing alot of research 5 years ago, I planted a Negronne, which is known to be naturally dwarfed. I also planted it in an old clotheswasher basin to further constrain it. It has grown slowly, with a bit of a burst this year (I noticed one big root escaped over the basin rim) and is now just over 5 feet tall. But so far I have been disappointed--there is plenty of fruit on the tree, but only a few brebas, and then only a handful of the second crop ripen gradually before frost. I thought this might improve with time, and indeed the total fruiting has increased with its growth, but even with the really hot summer we had last year I still had such a small percentage of the fruits ripen. I have read that the best fig for the PNW is Desert King which only has a breba, but I avoided it because I know it gets big. 5 years later though, I am sorely tempted to shovel-prune my Negronne and plant a Desert King, in the hopes that I can restrict its size with pruning and the washbasin.

Is there any reason to believe that with time more of the second ripe will mature before frost, or that the breba will increase? Or is there an effective way of pruning to achieve this effect (can't say I've done much pruning since I got it since it was growing so slowly)? If not, is it realistic to think I could keep a desert king under control?

The site gets plenty of sun but is not especially sheltered--it is on the south side of a trellis/arbour but that doesn't protect it much from the wind. It came to me pruned as a single-trunk tree a few feet tall, so I kept it that way.

Thanks for your help.
Katherine

Hi Katherine,

Welcome to the forum.

As to the issue's you've raised a couple of suggestions.
1.If it's been in a container for 5 years it probably needs
root pruning.It's strangling itself.
2.Do not allow it to run wild.Single trunk tree's are not as
productive as multi-branched tree's.Do not be afraid to reduce
it's size to 3 foot and allow for scaffolding.
3.Use the search function to research the benefits of "pinching"
to hasten fruit development.
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/search?searchid=37029426


Cheers,

Paul

Thanks Paul. Just to clarify, the tree is in the ground, but it I planted it within the clotheswasher basin to constrain the roots partially (the basin has holes in it so the smaller roots should be able to escape, "similar to an underground box...to promote cropping"). Are you saying the roots within that basin need pruning?

Looks like pinching is promising. I guess I'm wondering if it will be as effective though as just starting with a variety that is known to have large brebas. I only have space for one tree so I want to make sure its the right one.

Hi Katherine,

That's a rather unorthodox "container".I suspect if you were to attempt a root prune
you'd find the larger roots circled,never having escaped their confinement.You'd probably
need a "sawzall" to extract it.

Quite the mess.I'd go w/the pinching to promote fruiting for a season if you want to
hang on to the tree.Otherwise a crash course on pruning for the Desert King.

Cheers,

Paul

Hi kmuncaster,
Do you grow tomatoes ? How long is your tomatoes growing season ? I'm surprised that you can't get the main crop in Zone8/9 .
How is the watering and fertilizing schedule on that tree ? Watering and fertilizing is important for hasting the growth of both tree and fruits and the ripening of the fruits

Without fertilizer, the dirt is nevertheless by now depleted and you should consider supplying more fertilizer - and/or replace some dirt at pruning time.
IMO, a small tree is more productive when multi-trunked with 6 trunks heading from the center to the outside of the area .
I'm still to find a strain with a good breba-crop . I have some new strains started ... patience... patience ...

Negronne/ -Violette de Bordeaux - , from what I read, has a medium yield for the brebas.
So, apparently, if you want more brebas, you probably should consider other strains.
Whatever the strain, it is my believe, that pruning should only occur on rare occasions and for shaping or re-shaping - IMO every 5 or 6 years, but not every year.

Does the tree already use the whole area ?
Ya have a pic of the tree and the area ?
Could it be possible to plant two trees one on the right and one on the left ? as apposed to one in the middle of the area.

My "Dalmatie tree1" naturally split herself in two, with 3 trunks  on each side. And that is to me the most effective use of the rather small space that that tree is using .

I would hope most fig plants would show their potential after 5 years...
Maybe try another season with pinching the growing tips mid-season after the recommended number of leaves develop?  
If that doesn't work, rather than "shovel-prune", if you do decide to replace your variety, I would opt to graft desired variety(s) onto your existing tree.  I think the old washbasin doesn't stand a chance, and those roots will just push their way up/out.  Grafting would be less expense than buying a replacement plant, and the new variety(s) would have the great benefit of an established root system-boosting growth and productivity compared to one newly purchased and transplanted.   Grafting seems like mysterious plant magic until you try it and discover how easy it is if you follow the right guidelines.
Bet you could find plenty of takers for your Negronne prunings, and more than likely get some nice breba producing varieties in exchange or gifted from members of the forum.  
A few breba links, Paully is in your area it seems so his contributions might be especially helpful for you-

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/breba-new-world-3336779?highlight=breba&pid=1282194655#post1282194655
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/my-awesome-2014-breba-fig-whats-yours-7187213?highlight=breba&pid=1285240221#post1285240221
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/best-brebas-for-the-northeast-and-other-cold-climates-7263392?highlight=breba&pid=1285918617#post1285918617

Best of luck!

Your problem is wrong choice cultivar for your climate.
Even in hot climates Negronne is a middle season ripening cultivar.
Your climate is zone 8 or 9,but it is those zones when accounting about how mild the Winter is,and not how hot the Summers are.
Find a cultivar that needs less heat during Summer,and you will have much better results.
Desert King if you want a Breba fig,Malta Black,Improved Celeste,Florea,Ronde de Bordeaux,or Tacoma Violet if you want ,ripe main crop early and possible a few Breba in June July too.
If it rains a lot during August Florea and Ronde de Bordeaux can have problems souring,otherwise they are very early to ripe and  good,tasting.
Negronne will never be early ripening in your climate!

Hey Katherine. Maybe you should try grafting a couple of DKing or other early varietie branches on to the negronne since it makes for a nice dwarf rootstock and is already established! Best of luck.

Check out the video link Rewton just posted in the the "Best Breba for the NE" thread. Too funny, I was just goint to link that in this thread also but no point now. This is a great video, just make your permanent scaffolds less numerous and shorter to the ground to control the size of the tree.

Thanks for all the advice! I really like the idea of grafting desert king onto the negronne to get keep some of its dwarfing effect. I could also leave a few branches of negronne for variety--they are tasty, and I could try pinching to get an earlier crop.

I've never grafted before so it will be new challenge (and I'll have to find a donor preferably while its still dormant). I think I will try that this year, and if I fail I will just buy a DK and keep it small by pruning according to that DK-breba crop video you suggested (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB0D_tuKgtQ)--as it happens this video was from N Saanich, which is a neighbouring suburb--how perfect!!

I will go do some research on grafting now....If I have more questions on how to do that I will post separately. 

Paul, I didn't remember before but the clotheswasher basin idea actually was recommended by Bob Flowerdew in several of his books, so I'm hoping its valid.

Herman2: You're quite right about the zoning here: I think we get the 8/9 because of our mild winters, but our summers are rather cool. jdsfrance, growing tomatoes in Victoria is an exercise in optimism. I always plant some cherry tomatoes, but I usually only get the first flush and then am left scrambling for green tomato recipes. My veggie garden is a bit shady but I've heard the same complaint from others.


Here is a pic of my little tree. There are a lot of perennials and a rosebush nearby but I will remove those as it grows.

  


Katherine

Katherine
You got some great advice here on early ripening varieties and techniques like pinching and thinning to hasten ripening.
You are not alone, I have friends in Victoria and Nanaimo and most years they are crying because they can't get their figs or tomatoes to ripen. 
Last year though it was a great summer in BC and they reported getting tons of ripe figs (mostly Desert King and early reds).  The fact you didn't probably means Negronne is not cut out for PNW climate. 
Negronne is a great fig though and given you have a solid lattice structure around the 3 sides you may want to consider adding a 4th post and with some poly plastic give it a greenhouse boost for those cool wet days.

Katherine.
Very nice little tree. It looks a bit on the small side for a 5 year old but has branched out very nicely . Check out some of the grafting as well as pruning videos on YouTube before deciding, what to do and how . There is definitely good potential in using it as a grafting platform and of course you need to let it be a Negronne first along with whatever else you deside to graft on to it! Best of luck whatever route You deside to take!

So just to follow up in case anybody is reading, I chickened out on the grafting idea after reading up on it, sounds a bit tricky for figs. Also I decided I'd be better off moving the planting over a foot. And Desert King is known to grow very fast.

So I gave my little Negronne away, clotheswasher basin and all, to someone (with full disclosure). FYI I didn't see the inside of the basin so I couldn't see if there was any root circling, but there were roots coming out of the basin holes, a few of them fairly large. A lot of the largest roots had escaped over the top, I obviously planted the basin too low.

  

Katherine - For a 5 year old, it did look small. Now that you have given it away, you might consider a different variety. As suggested above, desert king is a good choice. I am in greater Vancouver. My 6 year old desert king, as shown in the picture, is huge. It produced 100s of fruit last year. It's a vigorous grower, reliable producer. It tastes delicious. It's widely available in local nurseries.

Good decision to give away your Negronne if U don't have greenhouse. Try the following variants that
will ripen Florea, Granthams Royal and RdB. I personally think the best way to grow an inground fig is
grow it with a pot to manage growth -- only thing is do not set pot more than 2" into ground. This allows
root pruning as well as minimising stretch of nodes.