Question on Fig Trees

Hello Folks,

I have two fig trees that I planted last year; they're about 1.5m tall, 1m wide planted in pots, but sunk into the ground. They seem to be very happy...

However, they are covered in many, mostly small figs and none have ripened yet. I'm based near Brussels in Belgium and our average first frost is 1st December, so I have some time yet, but I do want to maximize my chances of getting some ripe figs.

I read so much conflicting advice online about what to do. Some people advised pruning the growing ends of all the stems, some pruning the small figs, some leaving the smallest for next year :-) Advice would be appreciated.

Also, I had a potentially silly idea; as the trees are small; could I not maximise the remaining season simply by buying some large sheets of plastic and loosly wrapping the trees in it until harvest?

Thanks in Advance,

- Danny

 

Funny old thing figs, IMO.
Mine are, and have been ripening, for a while.
A picture would help.

But they overwinter the really tiny ones, which then go on to form ripe fruit, so if you didn't have any of those really tiny ones at the beginning of the season, then you are unlikely to get any ripening this summer, without protection.

There is always a lot that dont make it in our northern climate, and die overwinter.

 

Perhaps a shot of high potassium fertiliser would help? I definitely wouldn't wrap them in plastic!

 

I'm away from home at the moment, so can't take a pic; but I'll do it when I get back. How tiny is tiny enough to overwinter do you think? Grape size and below?

I had none at the end of last season; everything on the plant grew after spring this year.

 

OK, no plastic :-)

 

The pinching out of shoots, is, I think aimed at growing under glass, as it does make figs start to form but they never make it to ripening and fall off over winter IMO outside.

I'm willing to bet those smaller ones will rot or fall off overwinter John.

 

I'll see if I can take some pictures tomorrow, but the ones that will form and ripen next year are unlikely to be visible yet, they are easier to see at leaf fall and are in the leaf axials and are tiny.

 

I ripped this off the Gardeners World site,
"Figs can produce several stages of crop simultaneously but usually, only one crop will ripen in the UK climate, in September or October. The tiny, pea-sized embryo fruitlets formed in the autumn are next year's harvest – they will overwinter to produce a crop of figs the following year. The figs that were produced in spring and early summer and have not ripened by October will continue to grow but won't ripen in the UK climate. Remove these in late autumn."

I think it sums it up.

 

I had missed the pea-sized note. That's great to know. Here are my trees today. One fig has turned soft and started to droop down (circled in white), so I guess that it will ripen; the rest I have no clue, so I will give the high potassium fertiliser as suggested and hope for the best... I still have a few months until the first frost.

 

Looks like you might ripen a few of those, yes they go soft, it can be a gamble whether to leave them on or take them off at that stage, leave them too long and the birds peck away at them.
I find they are really ripe when the skin starts to split and they come off the tree with a very gentle twist.

 

I dont remove all mine as the tree is too big now, but if you watch them closely you will notice that they go brown and eventually fall off in spring/ early summer.

None of these figs will go on to produce fruit and will all die during the winter.