Finally...Figs!

Just picked a plate full today about 3 weeks later than normal. I really can't complain as my 50+ year old tree died back to the ground 2 winters ago and despite the fact that the figs are half pre-dieback size the tree is loaded (300-400 on the tree), about 10 ft. high and they're sweet as sugar. It grew to about 3 ft. last year from shoots that broke thru the ground the end of June with no fruit. I wrapped it last winter (first time I did in almost 20 years) and treated it 4 times this year with Messenger. Having no control it's impossible to tell what effect the Messenger had but it certainly did it no harm. Now as long as the warm weather holds I should be able to have fruit for the next 3 or 4 weeks. Now its time to go spend a fortune on the good imported Prosciutto!

Rich

Yay!!!

great news Rich. A swell looking plate of figs. For some reason one of my trees burst forth with a plethora of figgies too. Wish mine would have lasted longer. What variety do you have ?

I have no idea what the variety is balvenie. The tree was planted in 1955 by my late father-in-law when he built the house I am now in. I am sure it was from a cutting obtained from one of his Italian friends. At one time there were 4 trees, this one, 2 with the smaller dark purple fruit and his pride and joy which he called a "white" fig though the skin was actually all green when ripe. It was a ritual every November going over and helping to wrap all of them and you didn't say no to my father-in-law (grin). Over the years they have all died except this one which seems indestructable. I have tried matching leaf shape with fruit shape and description on a couple of web sites and even once sent some pictures to a guy in Georgia who supposedly was an expert on fig trees and have never been able to determine what variety it is. I just got the prosciutto and it's time to go pig out (lol).

Rich

Wow, those look luscious Rich!

Can't help you with the ID of your tree I'm afraid as I'm new to fig growing/eating, but was very pleased to see that your FIL prized white figs.
I was recommended to try them and have just planted a tree here. It's tiny so it'll be a while yet before there's any fruit, but it sounds worth the wait :)

My favorite of all appetizers! Fresh figs and prosciutto.
I had a pretty nice crop for the first time this year but I had to do battle with the birds.They know exactly when each fig is ready to eat.What is your secret?Maybe NJ birds don't have a taste for figs.
I went to an Italian produce store here (transplants from NJ) and they had Cal figs for $5. for a small box.
I'm going to plant another tree in a pot in a few weeks.

My favorite too downscale_babe. The figs are free but unfortunately the good prosciutto isn't. The birds here in NJ like them as much I guess as anywhere else. Up to the dieback to the ground 2 years ago, I had an 18-20 ft. tall by 12-14 ft. wide tree that was just loaded with fruit, well over 1,000 without any exaggeration. What the birds got was really of no consequence and I've never done anything to stop them. There were occasions where I was picking them faster than I could give them away. I have also had trouble with ants, especially when a very ripe fruit starts oozing from the blossom end and they wind up crawling into the fruit. Strangely, this year I am having trouble with neither and maybe me being in an urban location means much less birds then by you. They do sell netting that can be draped over a smaller tree to discourage birds. I just this week saw figs much smaller than mine in a local Portuguese supermarket and they were selling them 2 for 99¢. They are very difficult to ship as they can't be picked less than ripe as they will not ripen off the tree and they are so delicate that damage in transit is a huge problem. I eat my fill during the 5-6 weeks I have them during August and September (sometimes a smaller crop in June too).

Rich

Rich
I have the bird netting but it's not great.I don't mind sharing with the birds,if I have enough but my tree is young and doesn't produce much yet.I guess I'll have to plant a few more trees.
nancy

RitchH~

Talk to me. I am a Floridian who spends each summer in the Princeton area. This year, in May, I carried two "Celeste" fig plants (about 4 feet high -- in pots) back North. I planted them in the ground, on the south side of my house. They were fully leafed and had fruit setting. This is how they looked before I carried them North.

Now they are still healthy, if you check the cambium layer and the green tips, but the figs -- and then the leaves -- dropped off.

The grower from whom I purchased them, last January, thought that the plants may have thought that winter was coming when I brought them North. Weird!

Now I will soon be leaving them and I am wondering whether I should protect them, somehow, from the winter blasts. I won't return until mid-May, so I can't leave them too wrapped up.

My Florida figs grow well.

Help !

Another great fig pairing for either an appetizer or dessert is figs with Mascarpone cheese.

For an appetizer, serve the figs & cheese plain. For dessert, sprinkle or mix a little sugar into the cheese before serving.

Breezy~

Figs with ANYTHING !

Try them wrapped in prosciutto.

I'm a complete novice with figs, but have found they respond to any form of stress by dropping fruit and leaves. We have a juvenile planted at the top of a bank and it drops everything each year as soon as the weather gets warm and dry. One I bought and din't get out of its pot soon enough did the same.
A friend who has gardened here for more years than I have says they can take the cold but not drought (they've certianly coped with -7C here). I'd always thought of them as being drought tolerant, but seeing the ones that thrive here and where they are planted I have put my latest addition where it will get the run off from a roof.
HTH :)

philomel~

You're probably exactly right on that "stress" thing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and waiting for next year with these I have in New Jersey. At least there are ripening figs waiting for me in Florida.

But, as for irrigation -- this is what my guru says:


"In hot and dry areas, figs do well on drip irrigation. We don't recommend overhead irrigation - it's generally too little for a tree this productive and keeping damp foliage encourages fig rust and other fungi.

Give your tree about 6 - 8" of mulch for the summer to keep the underlying soil moist and cool. Make sure that your trees do not dry out, especially when developing fruit. Drought stress is the usual cause for fig fruit drop. This said, well established, older figs are famous for surviving in hot and dry areas. Their roots have developed enough depth to keep them moist."

So there -- who knows?

That really makes sense! Yes, I'll put a nice thick mulch round the roots of my trees and keep my fingers crossed. I never do overhead watering, it's all carried in a can or just a plain hose to the roots, so at least that bit's right
Thanks for the info :)

philomel~

Let's keep in touch so we can check if we're doing the right thing -- when we get to eat them.

This year I also started pomegranates. I left a half dozen fruits ripening on the trees when I left them in July. I can't wait to see how they did,. when we return.

Coincidentally, I am watching "The Battle of Britain" on Turner Classic Movies, right now on TV. Great movie -- but not as good as "Twelve O'clock High'" It stars Lawrence Olivier and Michael Caine and a host of old time actors. You're British, aren't you -- and I was stationed there. It's like deja vu -- all over again.

Oooh pomegranates! I love those, but I've never thought of trying to grow them. I wonder if they'd do here??
Yes, we'll see who can ripen a fig first LOL - bet it's you :)

Mmm I'm a Brit. Whereabouts were you stationed?

philomel~

Pomegranates should grow fine. I know they're native to Turkey and Iran, so they should do fine in France. They are beautiful on the tree -- they look like Christman tree ornaments.

Chelveston. Don't know if it's still a town -- mostly it was an airdrome on land formerly inhabited by livestock. I seem to remember it being in the Midlands -- not very far from London,

We started our missions right after D-Day, and they came hot and heavy. We were relieved, and sent back to America after 35 missions -- so I didn't spend much time in the UK. (Relieved -- that's a great word. I suppose that I was "relieved" to be sent back .) Luckily the war ended before I could be re-assigned to the Pacific.

Be well.

I've seen pomegranates growing in Greece - but not large enough to make much of a snack. Still, I'll give them a try.

Don't know Chelveston. I was born in Chester in the NW but spent most of my life in Kent, in the SE 40miles SE of London
Wow that must have been a very hard time. I wasn't born til a bit after the war ended so don't remember any of those days, but have heard a lot and seen the films of course.
:oD

This was Northeast of London. And, no, it was not a hard time. We were kids -- and all hyped up.

And pomegranates ae the most healthy thing one can eat. Try them, you'll like them.

Be well

Hi flyboyFL & philomel. I would think that as already stated the trees were probably shocked moving from FL to NJ. I don't know when in May you planted them but this Spring was the coolest dampest one I can remember for at least 20 years. My entire garden was 2 weeks late because of the slow start. My tree normally starts to leaf out in very late April or early May but doesn't grow very quickly until the weather really warms in June. I normally unwrap it in in mid April but on more than one occasion for various reasons didn't get to it till mid May and although it was already budding when unwrapped there seemed to be no ill effects. Keep in mind that my tree is 50+ years old and probably has roots through half my back yard and may not act the same way as a new tree. I didn't wrap the tree for 20 years up until last winter and it survived & even thrived. Most if not all of those winters were average to warmer than average. In the severe winter 2 years ago it died back to the ground. I would definitely recommend that you wrap them as I did mine last year. I use old quilts and the like followed with reinforced plastic tarps that are very inexpensive at the local hardware store. Make sure that the top is covered thoroughly so that water cannot get inside and freeze. As far as care I trim the tops each fall before wrapping and during the growing season I do absolutely nothing in the way of feeding or watering. In the 35+ years I have lived with this tree I can recall no summer where the tree failed to produce even in very dry conditions. Again this is a 50+ year old tree and younger trees probably would appreciate some water in dry summers. Good luck and I hope the trees suprise you next year. The attached pic was taken this afternoon showing what the tree now looks like. I will attached another picture in my next message taken in early May so you can see just how much it grew this year.

Rich

This pic was taken in early May of this year. You can see the stumps left from the previous year when it died to the ground and the few new shoots from 2 years ago starting to leaf out. It has literally grown like a weed this year and I know this very warm summer helped. I also treated the tree 4 times this year with Messenger which is a naturally derived protein that is thought to stimulate plant growth. In any event I hope yours grow next year like this one did for me this year.

Rich

WOW !!!

I'm going to wrap one , and leave the other to brave the winter. I'll see what happens. Your's certainly thrives.

What's Messenger -- and where did you buy it?

But there must also be something nourishing under the tree for it to thrive.

Thanx -- and good luck

You can get all the info you want about Messenger at www.edenbio.com and it also can be purchased online. I used it on my entire garden this year and everything grew as welll as I can ever recall. Since I treated everything and have no untreated "control" to compare with I can only go with my gut feeling that it indeed produced the results they claim. As I said, I don't water or feed the tree at all but I do grow most of my vegetables in self watering pots on an adjacent patio and alongside the tree. The entire area around the tree and where many of my pots are located is covered with landscape fabric and crushed stone. There is obviously some runoff from the pots going into the ground near the tree and since the tree surely has a huge root system after all these years the runoff is most likely getting to the tree.

Rich

This message was edited Sep 18, 2005 6:49 PM

Gotcha:

What do you make? 1 gallon or 3 gallons (there are 2 sizes of packets?

Thanks for your help.

I bought the packets that make 1 gallon each, mixed it up in a 1 gallon plastic water bottle and used a simple one pint plastic spray mist bottle available for about $3 at most any garden center or hardware store. The 1 gallon was more than enough to spray everything on my property including 6 in ground tomato plants, 12 in ground pepper plants, many many pots with things like basil, cucumbers, summer squash, tomatoes, peppers etc., the fig tree and all the shrubs in the front of my house.

Rich

ritchh~

Thank you. I'm on my way to trying it.

I'll use it next month in Florida. Everything is shutting down up here in NJ. I don't have anything here except some herbs -- and I've cut them back and drying some to take down and tide me over until I can get the annual herbs started..

Down there the only things I grow edible are the aforementioned herbs and some figs and pomegranates and citrus (orange, grapefruit, limes, and kumquats.).

Yes, I do love eating pomegranates flyboy - just never thought of trying to grow them. I'll definitely look for one to plant now after your suggestion.

Thanks for all the information about your experiences with figs Rich.
Mine will have to put up with the copious amounts of horse manure rotting slowly on the heap ;o) I doubt if Messenger is available here - and if it is it will probably have a totally different name. Though I will have a look.

Aaaaw kumquats flyboy, another of my favourites! I'd have to make a frost free house for those though :(

philomel~

The kumquats are the round, sweet ones. It's like having a free candy store -- and they fruit all winter long.

This is what the pomegranate blossoms look like.

And when the fruit starts to form:

Oh, I didn't know there are round kumquats - or sweet ones come to that! Do you know the variety please?
Thanks for the photos

Flyboy, I thought the round ones were loquats? At least that's what I remember from being a kid in south FL.

I dunno. Everyone calls them kumquats. They're not real round. They are shaped like seedless watermelons -- but tiny. But I'll get a local expert to substantiate -- next month.

The skinny ones shaped like dirigibles are sour.

One big seed (or 2-3) inside?

A mouthful ! We pop the whole thing into our mouth -- and eat everything while spitting out the seeds. They are also great for making marmalade (or whatever you call non-orange jam.)

The squirrels eat some, but the tree is bounteous. I keep cutting it back so I don't need a ladder for picking.

What color is your fruit?Loquats are yellow and Kumquats are orange.
I think from your description (marmalade etc.) that you do have Kumquats.
I have a very small first year Loquat tree and would love to grow a pomegranate tree here.I'm not sure how it would do.
It is indeed a Mediteranian fruit.When I lived in Israel in the 1960's they grew alot off poms.They pulled out the trees because people were not buying the fruit.The reason?The juice stains.I bet that now that people realize how healthy they are they are growing them again.
Your pom. tree is wonderful.Do you know what variety it is?

I bought a pomegranate tree yesterday. I hope I've done the right thing - it had no variety on the label, just Punicum granatum, so fingers crossed. It wasn't too expensive so if a come across something else it will be OK to get another.

They also had loquats for sale. Quite expensive though, so I thought I'd come here to ask about them first.
Are they worth growing please?

down~

You're right about those pomegranates. They are reputed to be bursting with anti-oxidants and good stuff like that.

My BIL is a principal in a company from California which recently "re-discovered" them. they had purchased acreage (they're in fruits and nuts) which had pomegranates growing on it. Before pulling them out they researched the fruit and discovered its healthy properties.

So, they expanded their crop and started producing it commercially. It's called "POM." You may see their product in the fresh juice section of the supermarkets, They also sell the whole fruit.

P.S. The secret to avoiding stain is to open it inside of a bowl of water. You break it into small chunks and eat it the insides, seeds and all.

phil~

Good luck.

And you needn't worry -- they self pollinate.

Wait until it blossoms. WOW !

Thanks flyboy - I'll let you know how it goes...

downscale_babe

Also have a loquat tree in the ground, about 1 foot tall. Tasted the fruit for the first time last year. Yum. Spose it will take several years, or more, before the first crop.

Would like to try a fig tree but have no idea which to go with. The loquat seedling was given to me. Don't know if there are lots of varieties of loquats like there are with figs.

This message was edited Sep 21, 2005 9:36 AM