Cut only dead tips.

Hello Herman2,

When is the correct time to prune the froze back tips, should I wait until spring time?

Hope you all are doing great up there.

Cecil

If you are keeping these fig shrubs dormant, I would wait until spring to prune. As for Celeste fruit by June, forget it! I am in zone 7b, and I don't get any ripe fruit until July. Celeste may not even fruit for you until 2009 since it is NOT reliable to fruit on rootsprouts like Eastern Brown Turkey does, quite dependably I'd say!

Thanks palmfan,

Ya'll are going to make a figster out of me yet :)

Cecil

That's a shame to hear about Celeste. Is that true even if the sprout is disconnected from the main tree? Ah well, there's always hoping.

Wild forager,

I planted a celeste fig tree last June, my tree was 4' tall when I planted it in-ground, I got over 20 good figs off of that little tree!

DON'T give up on it!

Cecil

I agree! Be prepared for a fig tree to surprise you. One of my long term favorites is what I believe is Eastern Brown Turkey. Many years ago when I lived on Staten island, New York I tried to destroy my young Eastern Brown Turkey, thinking to replace it with a more exotic variety. i kept removing rootsprouts from my fig teee until a shoot ventured out of the ground in Jume! At this point I decided that this tenacious plant deserved a second chance. Well it grew 8 feet tall, and ripened fruit in the fall!!! Never again do I plan to be without this very hardy and enduring cultivar which I found growing at an abandoned nursing home more than 40 years ago!
I have read that Celeste does NOT tend to be able to fruit on new wood from the crown, but who knows??