Hi Everyone!

I'm a member of the Arizona RFG chapter of the CRFG, live in Phoenix.  At a recent meeting we got to see slides from the members who attended the Festival of Fruit, and one set struck me - the attached photos of 3-varieties planted almost on top of each other, and woven.  Clearly is a happy tree/set of trees.

My question:  I have a relatively newly planted (March of this year, but doing well) Black Mission and a VdB, about 15' from each other, and would like to give this method a shot.  I'm thinking of planting a Panache & Texas Blue Giant next to the Black Mission, and a Peter's Honey & Petit Nigra next to the VdB. 

If I dig down into the roots of already (somewhat) established trees am I likely to kill them?  Any advice for this project?  Care to dissuade/encourage me?

Sorry these are posted on Facebook, I'm encountering errors trying to post them here, hope you can all see them.

Thanks!

Charlie

 
 

The weaving of distinct varieties together into 1 single conjoined main stem appeals to me although I wouldn't try it in the ground in my area as the challenges of keeping the above ground wood viable from year to year are just too much of a hurdle. I am definitely going to try this in a container albeit a large one and see what happens. The question there is: considering allowances for  growth of trunks, how far apart should the individual root balls be placed in a pot to enable optimal growth of the main trunks as they are woven together to achieve the "braid".

The biggest consideration is vigor. Is your Black Mission & VdB much larger than the trees you want to plant in the same hole as them? If so this is a bad idea because the new varieties will get shaded out and will eventually be swallowed up. 

Your best bet is grafting or braiding all the new varieties to each other and not the Black Mission or VdB.

If you want to do it then do it  :)  The further apart you plant the trunks the longer the braid will stay visible.  Eventually they'll merge.  Plus, some may send up branches from buried wood and you'll have to decide what to do then.

Make it happen. And share pics!

Ross's point about trees growing with different vigors is well taken. I'm a big enthusiast of three and four in a hole tree plantings and have been doing it for many years. The biggest problem I've found is that one or two of the trees will be mislabeled with dud fruit or die and then digging up and replacing them is a problem. If you keep them at least 18" apart growing straight up/branching out and apart they're more productive, easier to maintain, dig up and replace. Also keeping a bowl shape overall in the planting with the center open is easier to keep pruned and healthier for the trees involved, allowing for better air circulation. Fig trees especially like to send out sucker branches from the bottom which will add to the bush shape of the trees, make more figs and even new trees to share with your friends. 
Do you want "pretty" trees that make an aesthetic statement of your effort, imagination and creativity or healthy productive trees making lots of figs for you? An argument can be made for both.  

Thanks everyone for all your thoughtful input, it is all very much appreciated.  My purpose is to have piles and piles of different varieties of figs to eat, but space is an issue.  The photos of those woven trees look like they are adequately fruiting.  I'm going to give the weaving-trunks a go. I'll definitely post photos. 
Thanks again!

Hi,
Look at the last photo.
One trunk is twice the size of the two others, and that trunk has 80% of the branching - or so it seems.
I try to plant two young trees in one planting spot. The reason being that young trees don't use all the space.
The problem is as they get older each one wants the whole space for herself ... So pruning is needed to keep some space for each tree.
Sometimes one tree will take over the place. So IMO, it is important to plant the same strain in one single spot. If not, you may be loosing some strains in the long run.
Sometimes even with good growers, you get one stubborn tree that just does not want to grow, so even if you plan for two strains of equal vigor you could end with one taking over the second ... So with 3 or 4 in one spot ...

Keep us posted on the outcome of your trials :) .

http://greencraftstudio.com/products/fig/weave_pattern.php

There was another post with a braided tree attempt here I read a few months back. They used wooden dowels as spacers to prevent premature fusing.

Great link, Eli! Thank you!

Hey Stephen, thanks for the video.  I learned the term "pleach" over the past few days of internet research: Had I known the term originally I would have found piles more information than I was finding last weekend.  Still sort of on the fence about this, but I'll probably give it a go.