Figs, Foundations, Summer Watering

20 years ago

My old Portland bungalow (year and a half old to me) has a roughly 5 - 8 year old 15'-17' fig tree on the west side that has produced a good breba crop that the starlings devour and a decent fall crop.

It is 9' from my foundation. This Easy Fruit UK web site makes me a bit nervous: (http://www.easyfruit.co.uk/figs/) Should I be worried about damage? The porch separates the tree from the foundation, so digging next to the foundation to check for root intrusion would mean crawling on my stomach under the porch with a trowel, not very appealing. If I should worry, does anyone have suggestions on what to do?

Secondly, should I be watering it? My recollections of my watering habits from last year are dim. Last year the figs were almost ripe at this time, now the breba are still nearly rock hard.

Thanks for any suggestions or thoughts!

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Comments (4)

User
20 years ago
Ficus Carica has Hair like roots that run close to the surface.
It colects the water it needs from the surface,going as far as 50 foot away from tree.
So all roots are no deeper than one foot from surface and are very skiny and hairy.But there are a million of them.
It does not have a tap root.
So therefor is not known to damage anything.
But there are other ficus Type that will do a lot of Damage.
So because of that is easy to think Ficus is bad when in fact FICUS CARICA isa type that is HARMLESS.
But IF you had a vegi Garden close it will probably suck up all the water and nutrients from soil and the vegies will not do well.Hope this will Help.
pitangadiego
20 years ago
Not a problem. If it was a problem, it would have been obvious already. Tropical ficus can be a problem. I have one 18" from my house for 20+ years.
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steve_digs
Original Author
20 years ago
Thank you Herman and Pitangadiego for the root and foundation info.

Would you recommend summer watering? If the roots are shallow,
I'd imagine that I should be doing it fairly frequently for short periods.

Steve
User
20 years ago
No watering needed only in rear ocasion of prolonged drought and in that case if you see leafes wilting and drooping down.If you see it you will know it.Regards