Hi John,

That's great that you found these nurseries. Thanks for letting us know about what you got from them.

Keep us posted. Can you post photos of your trees for us to see?

noss

Thanks noss and Dave. Sure, I'll post a pic as soon as I can.

Hey Origin374. I bought a Chicago Hardy from Dayton nursery too. I bought it a few weeks ago but haven't planted it yet.

My plan was to plant it in the ground but then I started reading about how they do better in containers and that it's good to bring them inside for the winter.

Since you're in same area as me it's good to hear that the in-ground is doing well.

Did you do any soil amendment before planting? I have really bad clay soil. I mean, it's so bad it's like concrete when digging into it. Especially now with all the heat.

Thanks

@ iamzvonko

I've had good luck (so far, that is; I'm new to this) with both in-ground and in-pots. The two I overwintered indoors started leafing out waaaay earlier than the ones in ground. In fact, I was getting a little worried about the in-ground plants as there was no sign of any growth until late May, even early June. But, leaving them alone long enough paid off and they've started to grow really well. Over winter care: indoors, I watered them maybe twice. They were on a bench in front of the windows in the garage and got a little southern light. But they stayed COLD. In-ground: I gave them a good thick mulch of leaves, maybe 4-5 inches thick once the temperature started to drop and stay down. I did NOT mulch them just because we had a light frost or two--I waited until late November/early December. Right now the in-ground plants look remarkably healthy, while the potted figs are struggling with the heat. They require a lot of water this year as we've had zero rain in my neighborhood and the pots dry out quickly. They look a little stressed, but they're producing a nice number of fruits.One of them is badly in need of transplanting to alarger pot--I'm delaying doing this as it's got a good number of fruits on.

Soil amendments: I have the same heavy clay soil. I dug a good sized hole, bigger even than the usual recommendations. I mixed some of the native top soil with a good organic gardening soil and mixed in a good amount of Sweet Peat to make it a little acidic. I raised the plants a wee bit to keep the plant from soaking in water (in case it ever rains again). Packed the soil down around the plant good and tight and watered away. That's pretty much it.

On my larger in-ground Chicago I tried before winter set in wrapping the branches with burlap, surrounded it with mounds of leaves and wrapped the whole thing with a non-plastic black wrap. Compared to the plants I merely mulched---not much difference. It's a little bigger, but hardly worth the extra trouble. Plant 'em, mulch 'em, forget 'em. In spring trim back the new growth to leave three, maybe 4 main stems.

I'll post a picture as soon as I can.

John

Dave, noss, iamzvonko

Here's a picture my first attempts at Fig Folly. There are 7 Chicago Hardy's in ground in the rock circles, two more behind them in pots, one of which desperately needs a larger pot. Do you think it's OK to transplant while it's fruiting? To the left and right in pots are a Black Mission, which has been dropping brown-spotted leaves since I bought it; and then an italian fig. In front are two smaller plants--a Brown Turkey (left) and an LSU Purple.

By the way, to the right of this plot I built a new strawberry bed and planted it full of day-neutral, everbearing Albion strawberries. The hope is that we'll have some late strawberries around the time the figs ripen. I'd like to head into winter with a nice supply of strawberry-fig jam. Whaddaya think?

I like it!

Asking me about whether or not it's OK to transplant while they're fruiting is like the "blind leading the blind". Sorry! I'm still really new to all this. Having said that, my guess is that it would probably be a shock to them to transplant while they're fruiting.

Let's see what the experts at this site say.

Hey, what does "Dave, noss, iamzvonko" mean?

John! What I think is that you are having such a good time with your plants and I wish you the best with them.

I think you should poke some holes in the rootball of the tree that needs a bigger pot so nutrients and water can get to the roots, then when it's dormant, you can do root work and put it into a bigger pot. And--Shade those pots! It will help your potted trees. Put something between the sun and the pots to keep the pots in the shade.

:)

noss

@Origin374.... et al.

Fig trees do not like an acid soils. Amend your site by adding both powdered, and granular limestone, and work it into the soil. The powdered, will work short term, and the granular, lasts far longer.

Also many fertilizers will continue to turn your soils acidic. I was told by an experienced grower that figs thrive better, and with less diseases, in basic soils...and highly recommends adding Limestone as a top dressing.

Frank

"Hey, what does "Dave, noss, iamzvonko" mean?"

Well, the first two guys who posted signed their names as Dave and noss, and your username is listed as "iamzvonko."

@Frank. Thanks. I added acidifying material on the advice of a nursery where I first bought figs. Your advice is different from what I was told there, and, if you grow figs, something i'm going to pay attention to. Thanks for the feedback.

@Frank

Well, I can't find any site on growing figs that contradicts your advice; every one of them confirms what you wrote.

So, the sweet peat I added doesn't change the pH all that much and it at least improved the texture of the soil.

I'll be shopping for some limestone to add this afternoon.

Thanks again.

john

@origin374 - Ah. Guess I should have looked closer. My name is actually David so I thought you were saying something to ME using my name and my id on here. The 'noss' confused me and I didn't catch that one of the other posters' id was noss.

Oops!

LOL! Noss was the nickname of one of my favorite Yorkies when I was raising and showing them, so I use it as my "call name." (Call name is the name used for show dogs because it is shorter and special.) Noss' registered name was, Lagniappe Moonlight Menace and we called her Menace, which she came by naturally, but it got shortened to Noss. All my dogs had several names they liked and knew were specially for them alone.

Does that help with the confusion?

noss

I'm surprised to be able to report this but....

After two freezes, one which really put an end to any growth of my in-ground figs, we've had some moderate temperatures: mid 40's to mid-fifties. I have a lot of figs on the trees that are obviously too immature for use, but I'm surprised at how many continue to ripen. I've been eating fresh figs off the tree right up until this morning. Several dozen more have deepened in color and increased in size overnight and ought to be ready for picking in another day or two. I did nothing special to protect the trees from the freezing temperatures.

All of this is despite the many postings and websites that declare "You can't grow figs in Ohio. Figs are Mediterranean and will not ripen in your cold climate."

Lesson: Take everything on the internet with a grain of salt and test every idea for yourself. Every caution and negative declaration about how I can't do any of what I want to do because it's Ohio, or it's too cold, or the climate here isn't Mediterranean have all proven to be sensible, reasonable, logical and, in the end, untrustworthy hogwash. I write this having just eaten three figs fresh from the fig trees on a cool, cloudy, non-Mediterranean, Ohio afternoon in late October.

The figs aren't quite as sweet as those picked in the heat of late summer; but considering what's available, and not, in the local markets, these aren't at all bad.

My patch of everbearing Albion strawberries are still producing as well, so this weekend's project is to make a good batch of strawberry-fig jam with a nice harvest of fresh-picked fruits.

Hi, my name is Elizabeth, I have been growing & Eating Fresh
Figs for five years now, in Ohio no less, Brown Turkey figs
my Tree is over 5ft.tall.
for the last 4 years, I have given it protection, by cutting
the bottom out of a garbage can, then putting all the leaves
I collect from the neighbor's maple tree, then I use the part
of plastic back on top of the tree, then put a rock on the lid
this year they were selling figs at Jungle Jims in Fairfield
Ohio, BTW I have really enjoyed everyone's stories
Elizabeth

I am growing figs in Ohio, too. All 8 (yes, I went a little fig crazy last year) are in pots which overwintered in my garage. After reading about John's success, I think I am going to put my Hardy Chicago in the ground in the spring.

I enjoyed quite a few figs this summer, and just ate my first lemon fig a couple of weeks ago, long after cold weather had set in. I also have Violette de Bordeaux, Smith, Ventura, Hardy Chicago, O'Rourke, mystery fig for around $2 from Michigan Bulb, and another mystery fig that I bought at a nursery in Nevada, Ohio, called Carmar Gardens. They have a fig tree growing in ground in their green house which was started from a tree their grandparents had in Florida. They have no idea of the variety. They sold me a really nice sized fig for $5 - I couldn't resist it. It has proven to be my most productive fig so far, and very tasty. Dark skinned with reddish interior when ripe.

All of my figs were leafed out in the garage in February last winter due to our unusually warm temperatures. I am up-potting them every year.

Glad to hear about other Ohio fig growers!

Complete novice just went to hirt's gardens and purchased:

Brown Turkey in gallon pots 1-3feet tall
Black Mission
Magnolia
Ischia
Chicago Hardy
Texas Everbearing
LSU Purple
All in small pots plants 3-8 inches tall
Large selection of each variety probably 30-100 plants available for each. I think there was one variety that was sold out though or had just one plant left I didn't want. Or maybe it was Celeste and I had heard it might just be the same as Chicago Hardy or something. Can't remember exactly even though it was just a few hours ago.

Chicago Hardy and Brown Turkey figs will be planted in the ground outdoors, others will be potted indoors. It will be interesting to see how they turn out.

Hirt's is an online business mainly http://www.hirts.com/ and prices are cheaper online. They don't offer discounts in the store officially and had a sign up to say so but I think they are willing to negotiate prices a bit. We got 5 dollars off each of the brown turkey figs. I would recommend going to the store over shopping online though even though there might be a discount online so you can pick your plants and talk to the numerous employees. Some plants seem very healthy and others do not. Also some are much further along than others.

just curious. I have 6 Chicagos that were in pots and fruited in 2012. in the spring of '13 I put them in the ground and again they fruited. they haven't woken up yet this spring and they get full sun.

are yours still sleeping?

I'm thinking of putting some figs in the ground just north of Cincinnati. It would be great to hear an update from some of you that did when this thread was active. How are they doing?

I am curious as to updates as well. I am in North Canton, Ohio and am thinking of going to Hirts tomorrow.

I ended up planting them and leaving them in the ground during winters. They did fine. The only thing I did wrong was that I planted them too close to each other and to my grapes and raspberries.

For awhile, I kept pruning them, but then decided to transplant them. I was surprised at how spread out the roots were. I tried to save as much of them as I could and transplanted them last fall.

Unfortunately, I must have done something wrong because they haven't grown at all this year. I'm going to leave them as is and see if maybe they just need time to set roots again. We'll see how it does next year.

pantichd, when you say they did fine do you mean that they regrew each year and produced good fruit? Did you experience much die back each winter, and how much fruit did you get from them? I'm south of you, but just north of Cincinnati and have a couple of fig plants that I'd like to put in the ground next spring.