Help why is my fig figless?

Hi I hope someone can advise me please

A couple of years ago I bought a fig from a local garden centre.

It appears healthy and I have had it in a pot about 11" across in a general compost and kept it watered added phosphegen on occasion and brought it onto a covered patio during winter, it has put on some growth and looks generally healthy but no figs

Spring before this it did produce three small figs which dropped off after a cold snap happened while I was away and no one rescued it and brought it onto the patio

I think the variety was called brown hen and the plant is about two to three feet high but not terribly vigorous.

With all the glorious sunshine I expected to see some figs this year but nothing.

I was advised to keep it restricted in this pot and not feed much but Im starting to think it is going nowhere

advice please anyone?

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Andrea. Figs generally like to grow there roots until they're pot bound and will survive on poor soil. I know of one that's growing out of a wall. I think you may have done the wrong thing by feeding it and this has stopped it from fruiting. Try leaving off the feed and water only when it's dried out, not on a regular basis.

 

I've seen them growing semi wild in Spain in rubbish earth and scorching heat. They seem to love it, unfortunately so do local wildlife and will strip the tree of its fruits,
Jenny
welcome to Gardeners Corner Andrea

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner

And you need the Wasp,
http://www.figweb.org/Interaction/How_do_fig_wasps_pollinate/

 

Yuk
Don't put Andrea off at this early stage Ziggy,
she's only just joined!
Jenny

 

I've never believed the restricted root theory, sorry.
plant it in the ground and watch it grow properly, pinch out shoots after four leaves in summer.
Its probably "brown turkey", it the hardiest one, I believe
They are totally hardy, down south anyway, so a cold snap would not be a problem.
They grow a couple of crops at least during the summer, but the ones that form late summer will always drop off next spring, its the ones that form in spring, as the new leaves come, that will go on to ripen in late summer.
And you dont need any wasps.

 

I've never believed the restricted root theory either. Sometimes gardening books just endlessly repeat a load of old carp. Like dandelions - they'll grow anywhere but give them loads of food, water and sunshine and you will get a lush mega dandelion.

Brown turkey, brown hen, very close! I have one and it's extremely hardy in the Midlands.

If it's only a couple of years old in an 11" pot it may be still too little to produce many figs.

 

hmmm interesting stuff thankyou,

I will take a photo to try to give an idea of size etc in a week when I am back there..beginning to sound like I should find a nice sheltered spot to plant it out hmm have to get my thinking cap on for that.

I have had the fig two years and I think it will have been a year or two old when I bought it - it hasnt grown all that much sadly

ooo yes thats it 'brown turkey' ....well wasnt that far off lol

I got it for being hardy in Lincolnshire where its not exactly tropical

I wont feed it again this year as advised though I think I have only fed it about three times this year anyway.

I think I need to do something this year its starting to look as though it has stopped doing anything at all which is usually a bad sign I find.

 

I'd continue to feed with tomato feed.
The old idea for restricting the root, I believe, goes back to Victorian days when they were planted on walls in large greenhouses.
The roots were restricted, but to a fairly large space in the ground.
Growing in a small pot is not quite the same thing.

 

Thanks very much for all the help and advice wow this is a really helpful friendly place

I am starting to think the main thing is to forget the fruit and just concentrate on getting the plant vigorous, tbh I got it for fruiting but I cant watch it dwindle just for the sake of trying to get figs

 

Figs take two years don't they? So the embryo figs will appear in year 1 and then fatten up for harvest in year 2. If the little ones don't make it to year 2 then ... no figs that year. If you were expecting it all to happen in a single year that might explain it?

 

mm but there is no sign of any fruit at all this year so next year isnt going to produce anything either which makes me think there is a problem somewhere.

This is probably the third year I have had the fig I know I have had it at least two summers

 

Figs do take two years I suppose, in the UK.
Anything looking slightly like a fig by autumn, will die off during the winter or early spring.
Just those tiny buds that form in the leaf axils, will go on to produce figs next summer.

I dont have any pics, but its quite obvious, (once you get to know), the difference between the embryo figs that will grow on next year and the ones which are too far developed and will die overwinter.

 

will examine the fig closely on monday or tuesday when Im back and take some pics to see if anyone can see any sign of figs or ideas on what Im doing wrong
thanks for all the input its helping lots