Why don't I have figlets??

I have two fig trees. One, the brown turkey fig, is in it's second year. The other is a green fig tree that supposedly produces fruit twice a season. Both trees are cuttings from a parent tree that bears fruit and is winter hardy in my zone. The plants are thriving but no figs : ( What are some possible reasons for this?

From the LSU home orchard.

Why Fruit Trees Fail to Bear
In general, fruit trees bear when they become old enough to blossom freely if other conditions are favorable. Pollination, cultural practices and environment affect a plant’s ability to bear. Any of these factors alone or in combination can prevent fruit set or cause flowers not to develop and fruit to drop prematurely if not at or near optimum. Fortunately, you have some control over most factors.
Even though trees blossom freely, most will either fail to set fruit or they will shed most of their fruit prematurely if adequate pollination does not occur.
Some fruit trees are self-fertile and have “perfect flowering” blossoms with both male and female parts. When they bear fruit as a result of pollination from their own blossoms, they are said to be “self fruitful.” Some examples include peaches, citrus and perfect flowered muscadines.
Unfortunately, many fruits with perfect flowers set little or no fruit with their own pollen, but require pollen from another variety to set fruit. Varieties such as these are “self unfruitful.” Examples include rabbiteye blueberries and apples.
In some fruit varieties, the pollen-producing or staminate (male) blossoms, which never produce fruit, are borne on separate trees from the pistillate (female) or fruit-producing blossoms. In cases such as this, it is necessary to have at least one plant with male flowers to serve as a pollinizer. Plants with only staminate flowers will normally pollinate a number of plants with female blossoms. Persimmon is a good example of this type. Varieties that produce male and female flower parts on separate trees should not be planted whenever other acceptable varieties are available.
In general, citrus, figs and peach trees are “self fruitful”and require no other varieties
for pollination. Most apples, pears and plums are “self unfruitful”and require two or more varieties in the planting. To assure adequate pollination, the varieties should have the same bloom period and be planted within 25 feet of one another.
Soil fertility influences the ability of trees to hold and mature fruit. Overfertilization,
especially too much nitrogen causing excessive vegetative growth, can cause fruit to drop. During extremely dry periods, fruit not completely pollinated will generally
drop before those that were adequately pollinated.
In some instances, insects and diseases may cause fruit drop. In certain cases, deep cultivation too close to trees has been the cause of fruit drop. Adverse weather at time of bloom may interfere with pollination and result in bud injury and prevent fruit production.
Even if all of the previously mentioned factors were ideal, some fruit drop would occur. A fruit tree normally produces more fruit buds than it can properly mature. Fruit drop is a normal physiological process and results in larger, higher quality fruit. Do not get alarmed if some fruit drop. If excessive fruit shedding occurs, however, this can be disastrous.

Very interesting ... In my case though, I haven't seen a blossom. Not one. Why wouldn't a fig tree blossom? My mom has a brown turkey fig and it is full of fruit now ... and it is in a container. Attached is a picture of my tree ...

Here is another picture .. is that little bud in the crotch of the branch a blossom?

Be patient. Figs can take five or more years to fruit. It also depends on how much they die back in the winter.

One trick to getting them to fruit is in early summer pinch back the new growth at the 6th leaf (let 6 leaves stay on every shoot); this helps convince the fig to make figlets.

Scott

Takela
You will not see flowers like other fruit trees. Figs are odd in that the flowers are actually inside the fruit.
Oldude

Thanks guys! This fig completely died back this winter, none of the leaves are on the old branches. It was initially wrapped in straw and burlap ... my landscaping company removed it so I figured they knew something I didn't ... could that be the problem?

A late freeze kills the first (breva) crop of figs (it happened to me in zone 7B this year) but the new growth after the freeze will generate the main crop. As previously mentioned, there are no flowers visible and no pollination is required for your figs. You probably should have your soil tested by the county extension service (it's free and easy). Or, you may have put too much fertilizer and got too much growth with no fruit. Figs are easy and don't require the TLC that e.g., roses do.

Takela, in Maryland it is best to wrap figs in my opinion. Whomever wrapped it knew what they were doing it sounds like. I would wrap it this coming winter and tell your landscaping company to leave it alone until April. When figs keep dying back to the ground they take more years to fruit, because the plant is more focused on growing replacement limbs than on growing fruits. I wouldn't bother with a soil test, figs are not picky and unless the leaves or growth is not looking healthy you should not have a problem there. They also need little in the way of fertilizer, and I agree that overfertilization is more what you should be watching for than underfertilization.

Scott

I wrapped it in straw and burlap : ) I did the same thing to the green fig on my deck. I'm not so surprised that it isn't fruiting ... I just planted it in the fall and frankly I'm just happy to see that it survived the winter in a container. I don't have room in my yard for another fig tree so it better figure out how to survive in a container.