Hi all
i grow several fruit trees, and have gotten pretty good at conditioning the soil
so that i dont really need chemical fertilizers, and i dont like using them at all unless absolutely necessary.

I mainly use fish emulsion, also some molasses, worm castings and compost
(mostly home made)

I have had pretty good results so far, especially with 1 fig in my back yard
i dont know the variety, so im not sure what it should taste like,
or, how large the fruit should be.

I have 2 fig trees in my front yard, where its mostly grass, and i havent been able to condition the soil properly yet.
The trees are still young, but, each only produced 5 and 7 figs.
(one is a Black Mission, i dont know the ID of the other)

i am wondering what people use that dont like chemicals
(and when to use them ) ??


front yard - no I.D. (young / new)
 


front yard - no I.D. (same tree as pic above )

 

backyard - (celeste ?)

 

Hi:  Let's see if I've gotten any better after a year.  I want to guess Brunswick or Violette De Bordeaux for your tree.  If your profile picture is the same tree I'll narrow my guess down to Violette De Bordeaux.

I like the natural stuff too.  I'd add kelp, alfalfa meal and Azomite to your mix.  I fertilize when I remember to, so I can't help you there.

Your tree looks good with all the figs on it.  What else are you growing?

The backyard fig is plentiful.

I do all I can to prevent using chemicals on my figs.
I fertilize as it comes available by my 4 rabbits.
Unbelievable growth when top dressing my trees with it.

I do spray all my figs in early spring just as leaves appear.
I spray again in fall after all harvesting and cuttings taken.
What this does is help in the prevention of scales, aphids, and mites.
2 times a year with pyola insect spray.


Doug

A great Azomite alternative is making a mineral supplement by drying/roasting egg shells, then pulverizing them into a fine powder with a blender or grinder. Its amazing. Good for people too, and the price is right.  : )

I top dress all of my plants with manure/compost. Its perfect because it slowly trickles down as it rains or receives watering. No need to work it into the soil. You can even put it right on top of the grass. Top dressing is also great because you don't have to worry about burning the plants if its rich, since you're not making direct contact with the roots. Only by the above mentioned trickle, as well as worms coming up to feed on the compost, bringing it down to the root zone, but by that point its gone through the worms' digestive tracts which as you know is perfect for the plants. I refuse to use chemical and salt based fertilizers.

If for whatever reason you need a nitrogen-rich fertilizer to be absorbed quickly you can also make compost tea and/or add urine (pee into a bucket or whatever) to water, 1 part urine to at least several parts water.  Good stuff...really!

There are other factors involved with scarcity in fig production such as receiving enough direct sunlight, so if the ones in the grass are in a shadier position, that can be why as well. 

Azomite can be expensive.  A few years ago I was lucky enough to find a farm that sold Azomite and also sold stuff at a farmer's market in the city.  They were good enough to bring a 44 lb bag of the Azomite with them to the farmer's market and I went there and got it from them.  I couldn't have afforded it if I had to pay shipping and handling.  I bought another bag a couple years later, but I'm almost out now.

I stopped by a feed store not too, too far away and they had ground kelp, bone meal, blood meal, alfalfa, corn meal gluten, dried and liquid molasses.  I'm sure there were other products there that could be used as fertilizers.  So, that could be another option for the organic ferts.

Every eggshell gets saved and powdered.  It never clicked that the egg shells serve some of the same purposes as the rock powder.  Thanks.  Good to know.

Beautiful garden! Figs aren't too picky in terms of fertilizer, i find that compost, manure, and some bone meal along with deep mulchings keeps figs well satiated