Chills,

email me and I will send you a power point presentation from Dr. Gilman at U of Florida that outlines removing field grown trees from the ground. It requires some planning on your part and about 2 months to effect. Basically you are going to be root pruning to stimulate the growth of fine roots under the trunk of the tree. I am planning on trying this on one of my inground trees later this summer. The goal is to put it into a pot.

If it works, it means we don't necessarily have to leave a tree behind when we move.

~james

There are nurseries & tree services that specialize in moving large trees for large fees. ;o) Though a 3 inch trunk is near the upper limit of what you'd want to move alone w/o heavy equipment, if the trunk is 3 inches or less, you can probably do it yourself. A 3 inch trunk caliper fig should be root-pruned around half the circumference of a 36 inch circle in two quarter circles in the fall at leaf drop, and then completely around the entire circumference next spring before bud break in preparation for lifting the following fall. That means the root-ball would be about 36 inches in diameter & should be about 30 inches heavy - I mean deep. ;o) Small trees, 2 inches or less can be root-pruned in spring & lifted in fall.

This is a common collection technique that bonsai enthusiasts use to lift wild trees.

Al

Why not take some cuttings and work at rooting them, at least as a back up. If it has suckers at the base, which have some roots, that is an even better way to go. It won't take long to have your own tree, without the sweat and expense.

I was planning on doing that. When I go over to look I want to take a couple pics (so one of you can id it, though given the climate here there aren't many likely choices. (though she did say that the family she bought the house from may have brought it over from Italy)

~Chills

If you take a cutting off a tree that big, can you cut a big ol' branch or does it have to be this yrs growth?

Air-layering (which can also be accom[plished with a nursery container & soil) offers increasingly better results as wood diameter increases.

Al

Why would anyone dislike fig.. just let her grow it and go pick the figs when they start to ripen..
it's kinda odd to see a tree growing like that in Mi and producing so well.. I would love to try cuttings from it...
Just go there in the fall and make cuttings of 1 fts length.. I'm sure there's lots of people would be intrested in that.

Its hard to imagine someone not liking figs. Perhaps the figs from the tree don't taste good. Find out if you can taste a ripe fig before you decide to do anything. LOL

Al, will you please expand on your "nursery pot and soil" air-layering method? I have a similar situation in that I want to move a tree in my backyard.

Thanks
~james

This root pruning of larger trees is an idea that had occured to me before when I was thinking of collecting for bonsai from the wild. Had my eye on a mulberry if memory serves but I never quite got around to it.
There's a lot of good info here. Glad I stumbled in on it.

Air-layer in nursery pot: Choose a low limb that gets full sun. Cut a hole in bottom of pot the same size as limb you wish to layer. Make a cut in the pot from the hole you made straight to the pot side & then all the way to the top. If the pot is not flexible enough to get around the branch, split the other side of the pot in similar fashion so you have two pieces. Cut 2 rings all the way around the branch twice the thickness of the branch apart. Remove bark, phloem, and cambium, exposing xylem (white wood). Apply rooting hormone to cambium at the top of the layer. Secure container with duct tape so top of layer is 2-3 inches below the pot rim & bottom of layer is somewhere in the container (doesn't matter where). Fill with a soil that will drain & keep moist. It helps to wrap the exposed part of the soil with cellophane food wrap or similar.

Asleep - Morus (mulberry) is a close relative of fig. Same family - Moracea. ;o)

Thank you Al,

Is there anything that dictates how much soil to use (or pot size) given the diameter of the trunk? I assume the larger the diameter, the longer you want the air-layering to go on (more roots to form to support the top).

~james

I would probably use a 6 inch pot for a 2 inch trunk/branch & a 4 inch pot for a 1 inch trunk/branch. You can use that as a rough guide to help you decide.

Al

Wow a fig hardy without protection in Mi. zone 6 ???? Thats a bit hard for me to believe but I admit I have very little actual knowledge of northern figs varities. Is it backed by a stone/brick wall with a southern exposure???
Mike

I haven't gotten out to see it yet, but I'm told it sits right next to an in-ground pool. I'll give more information after I get out to see it.

~Chills

This guy has the same problem

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=519&item=7700108913&rd=1

I lived in Italy and had a HUGE fig tree in the garden. I'd never tasted fresh figs before. They are nicest chilled in the fridge.

They do make a mess though. This tree was so productive, most of the fruit fell on the ground. The dogs loved them though!

I just discovered a friend is growing a small cutting and it has already produced a fruit. I'm going to get a cutting and hopefully grow one.

Incidently, even though my fig tree was in Italy, I was halfway up MT Etna so the high altitude made for cold winters with some snow and the tree did fine. It was also in very rocky soil. More rock than soil (but it was volcanic, so probably fertile) Ahhhh the memories......

I have one fig tree that produces fig mush on the ground. So many figs that ripen so fast, I cannot pick them all. The dogs have their fill, quite often too much, if you know what I mean. But I like different varities and this is just a plain BT fig. I am still a novice though. A friend who is 100% Italian sold me the property and thus the fig lives on! I am still maneuving carefully in the fig world, as I'm learning, albeit slowly.

Hi, Chills - I have the same problem you described, only I'm in Mississippi. I purely can't stand the thought of my co-worker butchering such a beautiful, productive fig tree merely to get rid of a little mess. What's the status of your project at this point?

My ex-brother in law has a fig tree in his yard he is planning on cutting down. I don't know what variety it is, nor do have I seen it. The exaggerated (I'm guessing) description is that it would take three people to wrap their arms around the trunk and the tree sprawls across the backyard.

I guess is said, is true: One man's trash is another man's treasure.

~james

I dug up as much of it as I could. I ended up with three pretty large root masses. I had to get it before it went dormant (in late September). I planted one of the pieces I got in the ground and protected it. The other two large pieces I potted up and put into my basement. The largest piece of root I got was football sized and that was the half of the root I got. The plants indoors are in a cold cellar and the stems have remained green and healthy looking. Who knows about the one outdoors???

I also got cuttings, some as long as 3 feet, that I still have.

Time will tell ....time will tell

~Chills

Chills: Actually, it would have been better to let it go dormant and dig it, but no sense crying over split mile (as Laurel, of Laurel and Hardy, used to say). Figs are tough, and you may still end up with three trees growing. Regarding the one you planted outside: it had little time to establish its own roots, planted that late in the year, so what you have outside is pretty much what you have inside--a big lump of fig roots and branches. Not rooted, the one outside should be really protected from the cold. Just bury it under MUCH mulch and/or soil, and even put a piece of plywood over the works, if you can. Fig wood buried in that manner should have life in it when you uncover it in the Spring, and should go on from there. Don't forget, the ones you have in your basement still need (some) water--about once a month, or they may dehydrate and die. Just moisten the soil so it's available to the roots--don't soak--and look in on them every few weeks, or so. If there is a possibility of vermin (rats, mice, voles, etc.) getting into your cold cellar, arrange your two potted figs so the vermin can't get to them. They will surely eat the sweet fig bark and wood, if you don't. Things oughta' work out if you do these few things. It'll give you something to look forward to in the coming year--FRESH FIGS!

Whoops--blew the joke. "Split milk", I meant to say, not split mile.

I had no choice. A co-worker of my wife's was putting their house on the market and the realtor said "get rid of the above ground pool and that mess over there" with the mess being a fig that she had never protected, yet it produced each year.

As I think it may have been August that I dug it out. I piled 6 bags of leaves (the big paper bags) around it, then tarped the whole thing. I packed leaves between the bags before tarping and tying. I've retied the tarps twice, its now covered with snow.

I poke my finger into the dirt of the potted figs once every two weeks. They're fine. I've also got 3 other potted figs of two varieties I rooted from Davis cuttings last year. Today I accidentally kicked a seedling tray that I have cuttings in, with sand and perlite, and the cutting I kicked had 3 inches of the stem covered with roots, so I potted that one up today too.

I have 4 cats, and while that cold room isn't one of their favorite places, they can get in if they choose, I've seen exactly two mice in the past couple years here, one when we first moved in and one when the neighbor planted her tomatoes right next to the shared fence (outside). It would have to be a very desperate mouse to try living here.

~Chills

Chills: Good job--on the cats. I made a post here last Winter, after I lost 30 potted figs in my basement, from voles completely eating all the wood out of the pots, to warn others about the little devils. I never had them in my basement before that, but a few found a way to get in.
I still consider Voles my new, worst enemy. And outside, as many fig growers have discovered, rabbits are notorious for eating fig bark and wood in Winter, when there is little
else green (or available) for them to eat. I've seen a number of fig trees (and small-diameter apple and pear trees) girdled by rabbits come Springtime.

I've got rabbits. I wish I didn't, but a couple years ago I ponied up the $$ to put in 3rd year blueberries, each one was 3+ feet tall. The following winter the rabbits ate each one down to about 4 inches tall.

The rabbit pellets left behind helped the bushes make a good recovery, but there were no berries the next year.

I brush the dogs and cats and spread out the fur out by the things I want the bunnies to leave alone. Has worked the past two years.

~Chills

My latest project

{{gwi:53495}}

It is an 'Alma' tree which resembles this tree (photo courtesy of Georgia Jack):

I only had a days notice and I start digging it out tomorrow.

This should be fun...

~james

James -- Thats a biggie you got. I would be starting late next month to dig out my friend's unwanted fig tree that bore him hundreds of figs. He just does'nt like fresh figs. He has dried figs(supermarket)almost every other day for breakfast.

Take it easy.

Paul

I hope your using a Backhoe! Happing digging.

I decided not to take the whole tree before I started. Rather, I cleaned up the suckers and a took a few of the minor trunks out. As it turns out, this tree is RKN infested as well. I took some rooted suckers so I could try a couple of supposed RKN treatments. I already heat treated some of my trees which had RKN and one other is going to be treated with sugar on a regular basis to see if I can't disrupt their life cycle. I'd also like to use fish emulsion in the same way. In another container I might grow Elbon Rye in with a fig tree.

Later, I will cut down the tops and prune it so that the fruit can easily be reached, and the tree doesn't look so scraggly. I'll use the cuttings to start a tree or two for myself. Much of what I've already taken, I've cut off the root zone and made into cuttings. I will clean them, wrap and put in the fridge tomorrow. If anybody is interested in some, let me know.

~james