Thank you for sharing your fig growing experiences. Nurseries and Ag Departments ought to give such good practical advice.

Dan

Herman.
Would you post a list of early fruiting cultivars for Southern Burlington County NJ?
Z 6

Al

Not at this time,but in october,when all my trees are finishing ripening,as all the older trees,(about 50different cultivars )have good crop.
For now my list is very small.
Starting getting ripe to date:
Marseilles vs black Main crop
Improved Celeste(not o rourke) Main crop
Desert King Breba
Lindhurst wht Breba
Kathleen Black Breba
---Personally I disregard breba as an indication,that a fig is early,except for:
Desert King,wich is a Breba only cultivar.

Herman
How do you block the lower drainage holes in the pot. I have 20 " pot. In smaller pots I pluck the bottom with foil paper. Can the foil paper work on the big one or I can fill it with a layer of cement. But if I do that when I take inside it will be a mess. By the way Why do we need to block the bottom drainage.

If you don't plug up the bottom hole, the roots will grow thru & you will end up needing popeye muscles to lift the pots for winterisation. Roots that grow out from the sides can be easily cut with shovel.

You can use duct tape.

Thanks Herman

Abe

I agree with Herman, this is an excellent way for northern growers to get a reliable crop. Specially in the heat when need for watering is high. When the roots penetrate into the soil the tree will not suffer as much from the heat.

Bass

Herman
I still need help. I have 4 varieties I planted outside and I am planning to use Xmas lights to protect it in freezing weather. But I am also intrigued with your method and I don't want to leave a stone unturned in my endeavor to have delicious ripe figs. I decided to add two varieties and plant it using your method.

Italian Ever-bearing 3 Gallons 4 feet : What Size a pot should I use.

Celestial 1 Gallon 1 1/2 feet: What size a pot I should use.

How many holes in the pot side and should I use specific pattern to make the holes or any thing goes.

In winter time they go into my basement where the heat unit, the hot water unit and the Washer and Dryer reside. I think the room environment will be suitable because temperature never goes below 55.

Inside the house in winter season should I give it any water.
Appreciate your help.

You install a double bottom plastic plate and is done

Herman,
Peter's Honey is early. The first few main crop figs are very soft, almost ripe. It is in a half whiskey barrel, had very few figs last year and is older. Don't know how much difference these factors make.
Also, thank you for giving me more information on Raintree's Violette de Bordeaux, that is, that it is similar to Gino's Fig only more sesitive to the cold and probably not a true Violette de Bordeaux.
Cath

When in the Dormant stage in cold winter say Late December to February does it need any water?

The water problem can be resolved only if you buy a "moisture,light ,ph" meter from Home Depot.
Keep moisture on 4 trough the winter and it will be fine.
Usually fig in storage do not need watering if dormant ,but that could be missleading and you can loose your plant if you do that.

foolishpleasure :55F is too high for fig wintering.
Find a place with 35F for wintering.
Use 5 Gallon pots for the purpose of burying them in and out of ground so you can move them easily .
A 5 Gallon pot buried in ground in the Sommer is much better than a 20 Gallon pot outside the ground.
That makes a huge difference for many resons.
Drill as many holes as you can as close to the end of the container as you can.
The more holes (larger ,smaller,etc)the better.

Thanks Herman
It is a great idea I put 90 holes in the pot some holes are small and some are larger. Was not an easy job the plastic is so hard I had to go with my big mack drill. I buried the pot 6 inches.
I am thinking to do the same for my Banana plants. I am so stupid I don't know why I have Banana plants in Zone 7. Probably I will never get even one banana fruit. But the plants are very beautiful and decorative my wife wants to take them in the living room in Winter Huh

you got the wrong Bananas