Fig trees

[pongeroon]

I don't know about the lack of fruit, but it is unlikely to have outgrown the pot. In the south of France I have seen them growing in tiny cracks in stone walls, producing big shady trees with loads of fruit.

Our fig is planted into an old washing machine drum sunk into the ground in a warm sunny spot and it has had lots of fruit this year, some of which we ate, and the chickens had the rest which had been partly eaten by ants. The chickens looked outraged at being offered such stuff, but then they always look like that.

[ken]

Hi Zena

If the fig used to fruit when you took it indoors for the winter, but no longer does so, this may be because it is suffering from the cold. And wasn't last February supposed to be the coldest we've had for 10 years?

This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to resume taking it indoors if it is no longer practical to do so. Covering the tree with fleece might be enough. I think the books recommend tying a thick layer of straw round the branches, but that might be a bit of a faff....

We once had two figs - the Brown Turkey, growing against a wall, which is still doing fine, and a more tender variety in a pot. This was also fine while we could put it in the greenhouse over winter, but when it got too big for the pot and we put it in a tub and left it outside over winter it stopped fruiting and eventually we lost it.

Best wishes, Ken

[Dr jameson]

hi zena i've just had the free fig (brown turkey) from kg and it says to repot every 2 years, apply a slow release fetiliser in feb and also mulch at this time. also recomends to use john innes no:-3 compost. happy fruiting

[glallotments]

We thought our fig wasn't going to fruit but this year it has loads of figs of all sorts of sizes.

Unfortunately I think they have arrived a bit late. Some are quite large but still very green so I guess the frosts will put paid to us having a harvest.