I have been reading about the wonderful winter storms stateside and thought maybe some pictures from a warmer client might cheer some of you up.

Figs are virtually unknown here in Thailand, as the local varieties are inedible. However there is a small but growing interest (pun intended) in unusual fruit trees among some people here, especially edible figs. While I originally moved here from the US, I had never had a fresh fig there, only the dried versions. But recently I visited a small fig farm here and tasted a few of the earliest ripening brebas, and discovered how much better the fresh fruits taste. I went home with a dozen small plants of my own.

In my next post I'll upload some pics from my farm visit.

Ajarn Dieter

Welcome Ajarn. I will look forward to photos. What varieties have you been able to find?

Here you can see how they grow the fig trees in raised beds made from cement drainage pipe rings. Chief problems are ants and birds, and of course rust and the rainy season.

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Figs. Thailand probably has great tasting fruits.

I see by your pics they are propagating by air layering. I like the idea of using concrete pipes as open bottom pots. Thanks for uploading pictures. -Mike

We were able to get brown turkey and two others, which were only identified by their country of origin. One was from Japan, the other Australia.

My wife, who is Thai, has also sourced some Black Genoa from another local grower using Facebook; I look forward to seeing the figs that result later this year. I have previously grown citrus fruit in bucket SIPS in my back yard in Florida, and I'm in the process of making some 3.5 gallon SIPs for my figs and finger limes now. I did an online search to see if anyone had grown figs in SIPssuccessfully before, which eventually lead me to this website.

Yes, there are some wonderful fruits growing here. In my backyard, we have a Mango tree that produces softball shaped fruit of over 2lbs each with a great flavor, and a lime tree with split leaves that we use like a bay leaf to season curries.

But my favorite is "Mayong Chid", a special variety of Marion Plum that has to be tasted to be believed. A combination of sweet and sour flavors like an orange, with a taste and aroma somewhere between a peach and a mango.

welcome to the forum Ajarn, we will enjoy reading about all your interesting growing experiences in Thailand. Good growing.

[QUOTE=ThaiFig] ...and a lime tree with split leaves that we use like a bay leaf to season curries.
[/QUOTE]

[b]Kaffir Lime[/b]

I have an Australian finger lime also, they're really nice to sprinkle on fish.

Good to have you on the forum, Ajarn. Having shoveled snow most of the day, I certainly enjoy watching the photos from your side. Keep 'em coming, and enjoy.

I'm curious how they make the cement rings.  Do they pour them on sight? 

Mike- Yes, Kaffir limes are the split leaf variety, they are also excellent when the youngest leaves are sliced into slivers and spread over fish while cooking.

Ruuting-having lived in Massachusetts, Alaska, and Utah at different times, I feel for you. I can honestly say I don't miss digging out of snow banks any longer.

One thing I don't know yet is if figs will drop their leaves in the "winter" here, when overnight lows can plunge into the mid-60's. :P Or maybe I can fertilize them after the main crop is harvested and try for a third crop???

I wonder if you couln't induce a kind of dormancy by manually pulling off the leaves. Maybe when temps. Plumit to the frigid 60s. :-) I've read of doing that somewhere, I can't recall where unfortunataly.

-Mike

[i]edit - I remembered where[/i]

http://www.cloudforest.com/cafe/gardening/leaf-stripping-induce-dormancy-t3631.html

Indianola - no, they buy them pre-made, there are many places locally that have the molds to make them. The percentage of cement to sand is rather low, so they aren't very expensive. Matching covers are available, I am thinking of cementing some to the bottoms to make sealed resoirvours for tree-sized sub-irrigated planters.

Mike -I've read that also someplace on this forum or garden web, but not sure what the benefits would be. If cuttings won't germinate I can always put them in a fridge for a month. It may be why I never see cuttings sold here, only air layered plants.

welcome to the forum Ajarn.

great pictures!!!!

Hi Thaifig,
Welcome.
With 60°F as the colder temp, I would fertilize all year round.
The only reason I stop fertilizing as of August is to let the wood harden off and let the trees use the fertilizer that
they already have had . We can get -15°C down to -25°C on a harsh winter .

The trees in that farm seem all young . Did they start recently ? Do you have nematodes ?

For the cuttings you probably don't see them, as cuttings from a growing tree need to be started asap or they will dry out because they were too watery.
And probably because airlayering is a much easier and quicker way of spreading fig trees.

Thanks for the greeting. Yes, the farm is relatively new, but I didn't ask them exactly when these plants were started.

We have nematodes also, and we don't have the winter die off of pests either. But the biggest pests are many species of ants that invade everything, from little microscopic ones you can't hardly see, to big jungle varieties that are fiercely agressive and like to climb on top and over one another like living scaffolding to reach their objective.

I plan to add sticky tape traps to my main fig stem and supports, but I'm unsure if it will work. A PVC hoop house covered with bug screen will keep out the larger insects and birds. For squirrels and rats, my cat will be on guard

Interesting that the trees are in a greenhouse. It isn't for the cold and as I remember, there was plenty of humidity everywhere except maybe in the highlands.  I would think that you would have to really watch the temperature to prevent over heating.

It's only got plastic on the top side, the sidewalls are only screened.

The roofing keeps the trees from being flooded during the torrential tropical storms that hit every monsoon season. The screening is literally for the birds.

Welcome Ajarn.  They are nice looking figs. 

As Mike said about trimming the leaves,  even here in Florida the figs sometimes won't go dormant....they want to you can tell as growth stops and the leaves get sad looking.  When you cut a leaf off they don't bleed.  I go through and cut all the leaves off and then they do go dormant for about 2 months.  You though are a bit warmer than I am but I bet it will work the same way.   I do remember someone here posted that cutting the leaves off will cause a flush of new growth which is nonsense if you do it at the right time. 

But will it make any difference to my yields if they don't go dormant? If instead I fertilize again in the late summer/early fall, might I get a third crop from some varieties? They don't need dormancy to survive our "winter", we don't get more than a slight chill to our morning air, by midday it's back to the 70's.

Yes, some trees here will lose their leaves in the winter because of the shortened days, and/or the change in the percentage of blue to red wavelength light that occurs in the winter, when the sun spends more time lower on the horizon and less up high. Other leafy trees remain evergreen through the change of seasons. What fig trees will do I don't know. I'll let you know in a year :)

A few fig trees every year ignore the dormancy here in California. The growth slows down but the leaves stay, they even produce some figs but they never ripened. The next season the trees just keep growing

When did those figs have their first crop? The ones in the greenhouse I visited already had a few ripe ones which I sampled. The majority of the first crop will ripen in March. Is this significantly earlier than California?

Ajarn,

I don't think the lack of a dormant period will lower your yields at all.  


































.

Welcome!  Please keep us updated on how your figs produce.  Try to get some from Pons.

- WillisC I think the same but I am no expert.I'll post progress reports as I go for anyone who may be interested.

I for one would certainly be interested to see fig development in the tropics.

I'll probably air layer the majority of shoots off after harvesting the main crop. I plan to use the Japanese style of step over espalier pruning and training but I'll leave some shoots alone for a small breba crop the next season. If those undisturbed shoots develop a third crop which actually ripen then in future years I'll leave more shoots on after the main crop harvest. At least, that's the plan today.

I plant figs at Bangpoo, Samutprakarn, Thailand. ^^

Coll de dama noir in Bangpoo Thailand

Nice to meet you Ekaloss. I'm just getting started myself. How long have you been growing figs?

I started figs growing in July 2014. It is the new knowledge.

How many varieties do you have? Your young plants look very healthy. I wonder how many other fig growers in Thailand visit this forum? Maybe they'll also say hello.

I'm studying for a variety suitable to be grown in the area. And appropriate for me to take care. Now there are about 30 variety, but it is also as seedlings and it the common fig.

Morning friday

Looks like you will have some figs to eat soon! I am getting ready to transplant my recent purchases into 3.5 gallon SIPs. Since making SIPs is already well documented on this site, I'll just attach some photos and document how I built them with locally available materials. Metal lathe, for example has to be special ordered, and I'm afraid would rust. Burlap has fallen out of use here, rice and other bulk media bags are now usually made of a woven plastic which is not very tough. So I chose to use corrugated plastic sheeting instead, known locally as future board. I cut it with a box cutter, made a hole with scissors, and notched it with a hacksaw. I used 3" PVC pipe as spacers as my planters are smaller (2.5 gallons of media, 1 gallon water reservoir). Plus 3" is the thickness limit of my miter saw, which made cutting the pipe sections to length a simple task. I used a rubber grommet and elbow fitting to make it impossible for mosquito larvae to escape after hatching. I covered the fill tube opening with mosquito netting for the same reason. The wicking chamber was made from the bottom of 1.5 liter soda bottles, with holes punched into the four "feet". Wicking material was coco coir (fine), with an additional inch of it spread across the bottom to spread the moisture evenly. Media is a mix of coir, potting soil, and coarse ground coconut husks and a small amount of cow manure. Pictures will follow in next post.

Here are the photos of the SIPs I built.

SIP construction pics continued

Got most of my plants into SIPs over the weekend. Problem is I am getting new plants almost as fast as I can build these SIPs and move the plants into them!

Revisited the fig farm I wrote about last week. Brought home some more fig plants.

One of the varieties I found locally is known here in Thailand as "Australian". Some people here who are more knowledgeable than I have told me it's Flanders. I haven't got any ripe figs to show, but I do have a snapshot of the leaf. Does anyone in the forum grow Flanders and can give me their opinion?

I've got Flanders, but it's dormant at the moment.
 
  I don't have a shot of the leaf.  We just transplanted it from it's pot into the ground.  It's getting warm here, so leaves should show soon.
Suzi

OK thanks, I'll look forward to your pics when your plant wakes up. It's been a bit chilly here this week too, the thermometer dropping down into the low 70's at night, but by mid day it's back to the mid to high 80's so I haven't had to break out the thermal undies just yet

Low 70's at night...  oh... oh my. I'm in the 20's most nights.  Heavy sigh!!!!

Heh heh couldn't help rubbing it in :P Seriously though if you ever wanted to visit Thailand, now would be the ideal time. 50 percent humidity, highs never quite getting to the 90's, and if you packed some of the right fig cuttings you could probably finance a decent part of the trip!

Hi ThaiFig ,
I wondered if you had run across the two 5 gallon  bucket version of a SIP like what is on this site : http://www.globalbuckets.org/.
Your containers look nicer , but I wonder if the larger soil volume of 5 gallon bucket would produce better for you .
I grow most of mine in the 5 gallon Sips until they convince me by production and flavor to move them up to 25 gallon Sips like - http://figs4fun.com/bills_figs.html
Best ,
Kerry

Yes, my first SIP was a double bucket SIP based on their original video. That was about 6 years ago, as I recall. Back then I quickly modified the design to use only a single bucket, and grew several citrus bushes that way. Unfortunately, there are no big box hardware stores around here selling Homer buckets, and the thin buckets and garbage cans the home stores sell here break up from UV in a year.

I expect to move up to bigger containers each year, but I doubt I'll go over 10 gallons. I'd rather trim back my trees each year and keep them smaller. I can make up the production by increasing the number of plants. As long as they're containerized I may well grow and trellis them like greenhouse bell peppers.

I expect a lot of my early business to be from walk in/drive by traffic where a garden like appearance will be required to generate visual interest. I just hope these planters can hold up for multiple seasons, or I'll be forced to use bricks or cement.

I think your 10 gallon size is a great idea.
If I could find more sturdy containers that size , it would be a very good option for a final size SIP.
I haven't made any myself , but I wonder if a homemade hypertufa container would work as a SIP. 

Indeed that's an excellent idea!

My first air layer attempt. Potted air layer about 3 weeks ago then decided to air layer one branch two weeks ago.

Nice job, you'll have a fig forest in no time at all! :)

You mean like this?  A month ago I bought a dozen air layered fig cuttings.

 

Pic 1 is an example of the best result I've gotten rooting a stem cutting.

Pic 2 is the nursery where recently acquired air layers adapt to the shock of life on their own.

Pic 3 shows my larger air layers and bare rooted plants adapting to their new environment.

Pic 4 shows the table where the recently repotted plants are hardened off with a partially shaded environment.

Pic 5 is my wife's newly acquired plants and her garden of figs. Ignore the mulberry plant that photobombed the pic :)

The last pic shows the rest of her collection with my small garden in the rear.


This is what happens when your wife gets bitten by the same fig bug as you :p

Making room for more figs.

Watch out...there's no turning back! lol

Wish you'd warned me 4 weeks ago, rofl.

The fun continues with the delivery of our first truckload of cement rings for planters.

Best of luck with them! Do the planters have holes in the bottom or is the bottom open or is it sealed?

Thamks. The bottoms are open.

As this is my first time to grow figs, I'm not sure what to expect in the way of growth rates, but this Brown Turkey air layer was potted only 5 weeks ago, and has put on amazing growth as you can see from the before and after pics here.

Is this typical for the faster growing varieties? It already has buds above each leaf which I assume will be future figs?

That's faster than what most of us in temperate climates see.  Good job.

They grow too fast there, I would grow them in a pot with roots only coming out from the sides only so that the trees can be root
pruned to have some measure of control over their growth. Watch out for bugs that would somehow lay eggs in the fig and worm
like babies comes out from the ripe figs. Happened to my friend and tree borers too. It was a mess & challenge to rid them.

[QUOTE=HarveyC]That's faster than what most of us in temperate climates see.  Good job.[/QUOTE]
Thanks, Harvey. Beginner's luck? A particularly strong scion? A fast growing examplar that I should clone? A good rootstock candidate for future grafting onto slower growing varieties? Just an example of what to expect from a SIP and 90° temps? I don't know, but I will have fun trying to find out.

[QUOTE=paully22]They grow too fast there, I would grow them in a pot with roots only coming out from the sides only so that the trees can be root
pruned to have some measure of control over their growth. Watch out for bugs that would somehow lay eggs in the fig and worm
like babies comes out from the ripe figs. Happened to my friend and tree borers too. It was a mess & challenge to rid them.[/QUOTE]
In addition to SIPs I am growing a couple of figs in larger "root control" (air pruning) pots to see if there is any benefit over a sub-irrigated planter.

I expect as the plant gets bigger the small 2.5 gallon root space will limit overall growth.

I am aware that at these temperatures problems can race out of control quickly, I am very quick to trim off any leaves that show problems before the problem spreads. I definitely will watch for boring insects, I lost a whole crop of zucchini to them before.

But I'm not sure why you think fast growth itself is problematic?

Wow. It good...

Fast growth makes tree large. Harvest and pest control etc more challenging. A fig tree in ground
when pruned will produce branches where nodes will generally stretch further apart given no change in
root base that would continue feeding and pushing new growth. Besides, your zone virtually allows the tree
to feed year round. Even in my zone me and some fig hobbyist runs into such issues. Hence we now
grow figs in pots and let the roots feed into the ground. Every so often we would root prune to check vigour
or you can call it balancing the root base & canopy.

[QUOTE=paully22]Fast growth makes tree large. Harvest and pest control etc more challenging. A fig tree in ground
when pruned will produce branches where nodes will generally stretch further apart given no change in
root base that would continue feeding and pushing new growth. Besides, your zone virtually allows the tree
to feed year round. Even in my zone me and some fig hobbyist runs into such issues. Hence we know
grow figs in pots and let the roots feed into the ground. Every so often we would root prune to check vigour
or you can call it balancing the root base & canopy.[/QUOTE] If I understand you correctly you're suggesting something like a half buried pot with holes in the sides to allow the roots to grow out into the soil, but still allow easy access to the longer roots for periodic pruning? So I don't have to dig them up like this poor fellow?

I used to bury my pots 2 to 3 inches deep with many side holes. If my pot has a middle hole, I plug it up. These days, I do not bury
my pots but let them sit on top of the soil. This makes it easier for me to root prune. I do not root prune all around the pot. I do
half of it one year and allow the side that was root pruned to get some growing. On the following year, I prune the other side of the
pot.

Your picture shows a lot of work. Recently I gave a large Latarrula tree away that was grown in a half whisky barrel. It was easy
digging out the tree. Took only 15 minutes and the whole barrel with tree could be moved. This was a result of what I described
above. The Latarrula was 8 yrs old and produces more figs than we can eat. It took 4 guys to move and load this gift into their truck.
This well branched Latarrula tree was about 8 to 9 ft tall. The same happened to my gift of Longue d'Aout -- easy to root & moved
tree away from my yard.

Please note -- IF MY POT BASE IS 2FT IN DIAMETER, I PLACED CRUSHED GRAVEL 2FT IN DIAMETER & PACKED THEM IN WELL UP TO
A DEPTH APPROX. 5 INCHES. DOING SO WOULD MOSTLY FORCED THE ROOTS NOT TO GROW UNDERNEATH THE POT. I Generally do not
keep large trees. I give them away as I will have replacement trees ready by then. I think this only applies if one is not doing it commercially
selling ripe figs. I grow figs mainly for my own consumption and hundreds of fig per variant is not what I want. I opt for diversity to achieve
my goal in volume.

Thanks for taking time to provide that valuable insight.  

My own goals for growing fig trees are mixed.  Yes, I want to have many varieties to try for my own consumption.  I haven't had a chance to have many fresh figs yet, but I can say I'm definitely hooked!

Secondly, I want to see what varieties do well here once the weather turns bad (hot with a lot of rain vs merely hot and humid).  Try as many varieties as I can and see what produces and what doesn't.

Third is  to provide a nursery service for others who want to try growing their own figs locally.  Farmers here are desperate to diversify into new crops.  I think figs is a viable option for those around here as we are only 2 hours by truck (using only major thoroughfares) from the biggest wholesale fresh vegetable and fruit market in the country.

Only lastly is it to sell fruit myself, but that, however, is my wife's goal, and she has her own fig plants for that purpose.

In any event, I plan to top all branches at about 6 feet, I don't plan to stand on a ladder to harvest ;)

All good wishes to your endeavour.

Here is an update on another of my earliest figs. This is Conadria. Pic 1 is how it looked on Feb 7 when I first potted it. The air layer had a small root ball mostly filling up the small plastic bag which is the usual way air layers are made here. You can see it looks rather weak and stressed after transplanting. Pic 2 was taken two weeks later ob Feb 21. The leaves are bigger and the roots have expanded enough so the heat no longer stresses the plant. Ive started a new air layer using the top of a soda bottle.

Pic 3 is the mother plant and recently transplanted air layer. Total elapsed time 9 weeks.

For anyone intetested in how quickly a Brown Turkey air layer will grow in the tropics, I've uploaded 3 pictures of the same plant, 1st one taken early last February, next one in mid March, and the last one today. If it can grow from nearly nothing to this in only 4 months, it's hard to imagine how much bigger could get in 4 more months. And yes, I harvested 2 ripe figs earlier this week.

Now I will air layer off the main stem and begin my own Frankenfig project.

Thank you for your picture，nice job！