It has been a good spring, not to wet.  Last year was an El Nino year & it was record breaking precipitation, the same is true in La Nina year for us in StL. The year after this is always hot and very dry. Summer is living to it's name, 97+ degrees days in forecast & heat indexes of 110.  I pinched almost all of my branches like Herman suggested. On two of the branches I found were mad that I pinched them, yes they were mad! They started to rebranch! I had to recut the tips again. Is this normal? They were not kidding in describing VdB as prolific. I just hope it likes our humidity. 7 figs and counting! Not bad for the first year.

I had also been checking my pinched plant today and found that` some of the plants were generous with fig embryos but some were stingy and growing new shoots where I was expecting fig embryos. I thought I will pinch the shoots now and ask later. In my zone, I will start pinching even the fig embryos after mid-July since they will never have any chance of ripening before the frosty nights unless I see experienced advice otherwise.

So, our fig plants here should be better off still doing something as far as growth is concerned while your plants may be going for summer dormancy while the temperature is above 95F. I am just trying to fins a silver spoon for our colder areas.

The heat spell is over. We are back in the 80's & no more humidity in the 80% mark. We even turned off the AC. Yesterday, I put the little guy, VdB, on the porch to get a little shade, 99 degrees & 80% humidity. Let's hope it holds to the 4th of July fair and the All Star game. You did hear who is throwing out the first pitch. Should you want a free concert, stop in for LIVE on the Levee for three weekends.