Hi All,

Last year was my first year "with" fig-tree.  It was an unknown variety possibly Brown Turkey.  It was rooted in spring and at the end of last year bore 3 figs which went dormant and I ate early this year.  since it was year 1 with the BT, I did not prune.  This year, I expected more growth and I saw very little new growth and not a single new fig.  I did see a lot of new "Bushy" growth, but the branches from last year did not grow more than an inch or two.  See picture below.  I up-potted to a 55 gallon air pruning self watering contraption I built, still nothing but the green busy growth.  Any suggestion regarding what I did wrong?  Explanations why I received no fruit?

 


On the positive side, the Smith tree I received from Almost Eden took off this year and is bearing a lot of fruit.  Although I'm afraid it wont have enough time to fully ripen, the dozen + figs look pretty healthy.

    

     


I expected the Brown Turkey to be a heavy producer of lower quality and the Smith to be a very slow producer of high quality.  But it turns out to be the opposite.  From the pictures, you can see most of the Smith is green meaning it grew this year, while most of the Brown Turkey is brown, meaning very little growth this year.  They are sitting side by side on the driveway and each receives similar sun and watering.

I observed similar growth.
bushy tree= no fruits/ less fruits
single branch= more fruits

myguess = leaves and branch growth takes too much energy and the tree is not ready for fig. 
if it is in ground, it will grow large and also produce fruits

my suggestion= feed more fertilizer to the bushy fig and they will produce for sure. it is a time issue. or pinch to encourage the fruits. remember to give them more sunshine. my tree under full sun grows much better.

Have you tried pinching the terminal buds to encourage fig production? I pinch after 5 large leaves. Worked like a charm for me, but all varieties take different amounts of time to mature before producing fruit. Your can also try a fertilizer that promotes fruiting to help guide them in the right direction.

Fig trees are on this equation.

Nutrition suck up by roots and feed the leaves, grows roots and branches and leaves, When everyone is happy, There are left over nutrition, it bears figs.

Nursery fig trees at spring time, They are in tiny pot, with slow release fertilizer on soil,  one stick no branch, but all bearing Breba figs.

I will take away all bottom suckers, thinning out branches and add fertlizer.

Pinching is tricky, it forces tree to feed nutrition to bear fig at cost of next crop, you really need to know your fig varieties.

Hi,
First, are you sure that it is a BT ? Which BT ?

It is my belief that your white pot is too high - If you search ont he forum, people would normally cut those barels in two, making two pots out of one.
Yours should be half that height to the most. It is my opinion that the tree will have a hard time using that bottom space and go there to suck up water and nutrients. - I may be wrong.
You let the tree bare fruits last year, and she is now stocking up nutrients for preparing the next crop, as she depleted all the nutrients she had, while rooting and producing fruits.
You may have used a fertilizer like 10-0-0 (lawn fertilizer class) thus promoting green growth too much ( I don't have a crystal-ball - just seeking tracks ) .
Although you say that your trees have enough sun, the size of the leaves seem to tell the opposite. They may not be getting enough sun.
Your tree is clearly growing towards the right-side on the photo, and the left-side of the pot is weaker. This would mean that the tree gets the sun on the right side, and no sun is hitting the left-side.

For bush style, you need to choose : bush for Propagation or bush for production.
Your tree is in propagation-bush style.
If you want to go production-bush, you need to elect 5 stems from dirt and remove all the others asap. You need to keep the bush balanced. The taller stem should be shortened.

Good luck !

Thank you to all who replied.  Since this is year 2, I wanted as much growth as possible and have not pinched or pruned at all, just left the fig to its own.  I will prune the low-lying sucker growth this fall, and hold off on the pinching.  It's time to You-tube Fig pruning to figure this out.

For fertilizer, I am using Miracle Grow Shake-n-Feed Tomato, Fruit, and Vegie.  Shaking a small amount once per month, maybe once per 6 weeks.  I read somewhere a little goes a long way and over fertilizing is bad and can shock your plant.

The Brown Turkey was a gift from a non-fig person who received it from some one else, he said it might be a brown turkey.

I am growing 10 potted fig plants in a sunny area on my driveway.  It gets sun from 9AM-7PM with a 2 hour break mid-day.  I chose this inconvenient spot because it gets the most sun on my property.  I do see JDS' point about the Turkeys having small leaves and favoring the right side which happens to be pointing towards the sun.  Additionally, there is no new growth on the old branches, just a ton of suckers sprouting from the pot.  However, the other fig plants are in the same area only a foot away and are doing very well.  Large leaves, a lot of new growth, and producing figs.  To add to the mystery, I actually have 2 plants of this unknown BT variety.  One in the large container and another in a 20 gallon.  Both have the same issues of no fruit, no growth, small leaves.  Something is going on with these 2.  Additionally, the large 55 gallon container has a large sealed water reservoir at the bottom with 5 nylon cords for capillary action, it is closer to a 40 gallon container.

What's even more confusing is the Smith plant which I purchased mid last year from a reliable nursery is a foot away, has large healthy leaves and over 30 figs.  My understanding was that Smith preferred a lot of sun and warmer climates than my zone 6B.  I purchased this plant more as a test, not expecting to get results.  I expected the Unknown-BT to take off like a weed.  Even the Desert King cutting I received from DesMoinesWAfig and rooted over the winter is a foot away from the BT's, 6 feet tall with 1/2 dozen figs.

Examining the 2 Unk-BT's, both have no new growth on existing branches and small leaves, but only the one I up-potted has all the new suckers.  I think they might have been root bound in the 20 gallon pots and went into a non-growth phase.  The up-potted (55 gallon) may have awoken this summer to grow more roots at first and now is spending its energy on suckers.  Maybe I'll get results next year if I prune the suckers and force it to grow its existing branches?  Does this seem plausible to the experienced?

All-In-All, this is a fun hobby/experiment.  It is somewhat inexpensive (As long as you're able to get containers).  It is something I would have never thought to start without stumbling upon this forum.  Thanks to all and I look forward to someday preparing a plate of figs with several varieties to taste and compare.