First time fig tree owner with planting questions.

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bella_figura

Registered:1463620086
Posts: 12

Posted 1464440274	Reply with quote #1

Last week I purchased a 2-3 year old fig tree, it was grown by air layer and the parent is a 15 year old celeste. It stressed out the first 3 days but I put it on the shaded patio and it has since recovered. We had a few overcast/rainy high humidity days so i moved it to a sunnier spot to begin acclimating it for full sun. It moved 30 miles south and the seller's home got lots of filtered sunlight, unfortunately I don't have that same set up. So my questions would be: 1.Since its in the middle of growing season should I wait to plant it in the ground? I noticed it wilts pretty heavily in full sun and that's all my backyard gets, my other option would be a shade cloth. 2. It also has alot of new growth and i was wondering if i should pinch off the terminal shoots so it can concentrate on strengthening whats already there?

Sas

Registered:1350079929
Posts: 1,363

Posted 1464441419 · Edited	Reply with quote #2

Welcome to the forum Bella. I planted five trees in ground about two weeks ago at the community garden center and they are all doing well. At this time of year just slip it out of the container after digging a hole twice as wide as the container, place in ground and cover with soil and water. As long as you don't disturb the roots, the plant should keep on going. Even if you see the leaves droop a little after doing so, it's no big deal. I would put a chicken wire around it to keep the rabbits away if you have any until the trunk gains enough mass. You could put it on drip irrigation and give it about a gallon per day until established. Your main goal the first couple of years is to get the tree established in ground. So don't worry about the fruit for now as the quality if the fruit might initially suffer but will definitely improve with age. If you get some this year, it's a bonus. I forgot to mention, don't do anything to this tree. Just let it grow for now. You could sprinkle some organic plant food or Osmocote flower and vegetable depending on your preference. During the day it would be normal for these trees to wilt a little, just make sure that you water on time. These trees love the sun, the more sun the better. If your plant has been sitting in part sun for about a couple of weeks you probably could move it to full sun. For this size of tree, it should not be a problem. I planted trees that were smaller than that and they did ok. __________________ Sas from North Austin TX Zone 8B Wish list: Becane

bella_figura

Registered:1463620086
Posts: 12

Posted 1464442107	Reply with quote #3

Thank you very much Sas.

Sas

Registered:1350079929
Posts: 1,363

Posted 1464444678 · Edited	Reply with quote #4

Here's my Celeste in pot. It is the tree on the far left. This is its third leaf after purchasing it from Home Depot in Austin. This particular strain is super healthy and produces every year unlike another Celeste that I had and not dropping its fruit. Your tree looks similar. Attached Images image.jpeg (576.93 KB, 50 views) image.jpeg (684.76 KB, 47 views) __________________ Sas from North Austin TX Zone 8B Wish list: Becane

BronxFigs

Registered:1333154764
Posts: 1,864

Posted 1464471537	Reply with quote #5

Bella- A fig tree with that mass of leaves will dry out and wilt very quickly. Too much dehydration and heat stress, and that Celeste will abort the forming figs. Either ground the tree or get it into a much larger pot, ASAP.....5-gallons minimum, for the container. Keep the tree hydrated. You'll do fine. Frank __________________ Bronx, NYC Zone-7

jdsfrance

Registered:1376988473
Posts: 2,591

Posted 1464531298	Reply with quote #6

Hi bella_figura, Welcome to the forum ! It doesn't look like the leaves get sunburned ... If not, then she just needs more water. Put her in the ground (or bigger container), and water accordingly to your weather. 2 watering cans of 3 gallons (11 Liters) each in ground are really useful ... Every day or every other day ... adapt to your locales. Give her a bit of fertilizer too. I use the blue bullets 10/10/10 or something in those ranges ( 10/6/8 for instance) . One closed handful spread all around the tree, and water afterwards to help the bullets dissolve and go to the dirt. It will take some time for the bullets to dissolve completely and that's fine. That is what you want, a bit each day to feed the tree with each watering. After a month or two, apply fertilizer again to keep both the tree and the owner happy. As for pinching, your tree is fruiting and looks so happy, that I would let her walk her plan as she planned to. You can later shape her when dormant. With a tree of that size, you can keep the fruits and harvest them when ripe. Nice purchase ! __________________ ------------------------ Climate from -25°C to + 35°C Only cold hardy figtrees can make it here

GeneDaniels

Registered:1384021772
Posts: 1,014

Posted 1464624632	Reply with quote #7

I would plant it now before the real summer heat hits. It will have some shock, but not so bad as if you wait until mid summer. Just remember that it needs the equivalent of 1 inch of rain per week the first year. That means you will need to provide most of that in the summer time. __________________ Zone 7b (Central Arkansas) Seven trees in the ground: Hardy Chicago, Celeste(?), LSU gold, Italian Black, Southern Brown Turkey(?), Strawberry Verte, and Unk yellow. Trees in pots: VdB, CdD, and Sicilian?

bella_figura

Registered:1463620086
Posts: 12

Posted 1464627114	Reply with quote #8

Hi All, We planted her Saturday morning and we also covered her with burlap for shade the sun was entirely too intense and the wilt improved within hours. Then the rain came that afternoon and yesterday and today, needless to say its a happy tree. If anyone is interested in where i bought this tree from i could post his craigslist link if that's allowed. He is in Round Rock, Austin and all his trees looked really good. As first time buyer i think i got lucky. :)

bella_figura

Registered:1463620086
Posts: 12

Posted 1466194390	Reply with quote #9

So "Celeste's" leaves began turning yellow and half of her fruit was drying out after I planted her. I removed the dried out fruit and yellowing leaves and I also added some slow release fertilizer around her base. She also needs alot more water than i originally thought like a 1-2 gallons every 2-3 days. Since the new water regimen and fertilizer most of her leaves are pointing upwards and i even see new figlets forming. The one in the third image has doubled in size since yesterday!!! The larger figs however haven't shown any growth since i planted though; is that normal? Attached Images IMAG1187.jpg (483.28 KB, 15 views) IMAG1188.jpg (184.14 KB, 14 views) IMAG1189.jpg (323.72 KB, 12 views)

fignutty

Registered:1374034473
Posts: 580

Posted 1466198442	Reply with quote #10

Quote: Originally Posted by bella_figura So "Celeste's" leaves began turning yellow and half of her fruit was drying out after I planted her. I removed the dried out fruit and yellowing leaves and I also added some slow release fertilizer around her base. She also needs alot more water than i originally thought like a 1-2 gallons every 2-3 days. Since the new water regimen and fertilizer most of her leaves are pointing upwards and i even see new figlets forming. The one in the third image has doubled in size since yesterday!!! The larger figs however haven't shown any growth since i planted though; is that normal? To me that indicates that you haven't been watering often enough. This is Texas and it is June. I'd have watered every day until the plant indicates it can get by with more but less often. __________________ Steve in Alpine TX 7b/8a Wish list: Sangue Dolce, Siblawi, Victoria, Emalyn's Purple, Colonel Littman's Black Cross

bella_figura

Registered:1463620086
Posts: 12

Posted 1466206763	Reply with quote #11

i just remembered something, this morning there were about 5 birds sitting around watching my fig tree, should i take this as a sign that maybe the figs tohugh small are possibly close to ripening?

bella_figura

Registered:1463620086
Posts: 12

Posted 1466885070 · Edited	Reply with quote #12

So on Monday our grass was installed and in the process abot 1/4 of the leaves on one sde of the tree were damaged and my sun shade was removed. Well the tree responded by dropping more figs over the past few days. The new figlet however exploded with growth and is now half the size of the other figs on the tree. I am fairly certain none of the other figs are going to mature. Should i go ahead and removed them so the fig can concentrate on healing and the one little fig it seems to have a vested interest in or just leave it alone and let it do its thing? Attached Images IMAG1228.jpg (244.01 KB, 11 views) IMAG1230.jpg (229.18 KB, 11 views) IMAG1232.jpg (407.43 KB, 11 views) IMAG1235.jpg (214.06 KB, 10 views)

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