How often are you fertilizing? You might have a problem with too much Nitrogen.

Hi figgynj: Listen Come get one of my tree free ,i just pulled it out from grownd from same reason.I bought two trees from Miller nurseries ,a brown turkey and a Celeste three years ago .I pulled the brown turkey last year,and i just pulled the Celeste,yesterday for the same reason.A tree that sheds fruit with no reason is not worth growing.Main reason why is shedding is sommer heat.There are better cultivars that will keep the fruits as "Hardy Chicago" does in my back yard.

My Brown Turkey is also dropping its figs. Healthy looking tree, third year in the ground. Not too much nitrogen I'm sure, and adequate water. In fact, all three of fig trees seem to have stalled out on the fig growing. Plenty of time and plenty of warm weather, but those walnut-sized figs just sit there, week after week after week. The clock is ticking, if I don't get any ripe figs this fall or next summer, those trees are history.

I'm not sure about the heat. I have a Celeste (and there is a BT in my neighborhood) that were ripening figs from July - mid August. It was 95+ most of the days (and a heat index over 100). I don't have an answer as to why they are dropping their fruit up here, but the 85-90 degree range in NJ shouldn't be too hot.

I agree that if a tree isn't producing to let it go, but first make sure it can't be saved.

~james

Hi James:keep in mind that there are at least five Celeste and more than five Brown turkey cultivars.So it is very possible that my brown turkey is not same cultivar as yours ,same goes for Celeste.!!!!!.So if it is not producing good Crops get rid of it.------Also i would caution the guy above not to worry if it drops "Breba",because that is OK,most fig drop breba.

i am so sorry to hear that you people in America have a problem with figs dropping off. I have all those figs you mentioned and mine are in containers because Ontario is cold to grow figs and they are doing very, very good. And I do feed them with that Bloom booster througout the summer, plus any other fert I can get. May I say something; before you decide to get rid of "unproductive" figs I would rather try to change the way you grow them. There might be something not right for them, and next year they will be very, very fine. Today I took a brown turkey fig tree loaded with ripe figs to a friend off mine so the could have the feeling of picking their own fresh figs, directly from the tree. When they finish eating all the figs they will have to reutrn the tree back to me. I enjoy sharing things that would make others happy! I like to bring joy to others, im basically a good hearted person. This year my fig crop was exceptionally productive, i honestly felt quite overwhelmed with the amount of figs i had to eat! I wish there were different regualtions between America and Canada so I could send my trees to my friends in America!

If anyone in NJ has trees that they want to dig up, put them in a pot and let me know. I'll see if I can take them back to Houston with me on one of my trips. LOL

As Radovan stated, there maybe something out of whach with the growing process for that tree. It could be strictly a problem with geography, but it could be other things as well. There are many variables at work here.

~james

James: that tree goes out with trush tommorow.Even if i could i wouldn"t give you a bad fig.And that is a bad fig .It drops fruits with no reason.Period.

Look James and Radovan:I am swimming in figs :I HAVE AT LEAST 10 FIGS FULL OF FIGS HALF OF THEM MATURING AT PRESENT.aND THEY DO NOT DROP ANY.

My apologies, Herman. I wan't making statements to your specific tree. I was addressing the issue of what, might be causing the fruit drop from FiggyNJ's tree. There are many factors that could be at play including, but not limited to:

1) It may be over-fertilized. Or it may be lacking in one of the minor nutrients.
2) Watered at the roots daily maybe excessive especially if in ground which it sounds like it is.
3) It may not be a BT. It maybe another variety that doesn't produce so prolificly in the first few years (witness the threads on the Petite Negri).
4) It might be a geographic issue.
5) It might be an issue with the tree.
6) It might be a compatability issue.

You have a system that is working for you and your trees. If one of the trees doesn't respond to that system, it's worth replacing with one that does. However, in the absence of a working system (and it is unclear if FiggyNJ's system works), the replacement of one tree with another, may produce the same results... or lack there of.

I didn't mean to step on any toes.

~james

Thanks James :Apologise accepted.As i mentioned before there are many Celeste,and brn. trk. cultivars.Some of them drops fruits some do not .I keep the ones that do not.I have as we speak four brn.trk. cultivars ,and two more Celeste,outside the one i am trowing away.All are having ripe fruits and keep all their figs till mature without droping.It will be nice if some people do not grow figs from seeds and then give away cutting as genuine cultivars,because that is what it is.People do not realise how much harm they do by doing this.I am doing the oposite :i eliminate bad cultivars.Regards

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not ready to pull it out yet. I think it did get excessive nitrogen in the spring from some home made fertilzer. I also used the brew on my tomatoes which have blossom end rot for the first time which is also a sign of excessive nitrogen. I won't be using that stuff anymore! I wasn't sure what effect the heat had on the figs. It's been a very dry summer and I probably don't water it as often as I should. I'm going to keep trying different things. I'm determined to get figs as good as my grandfather had when I was growing up.

Blossom end rot on tomatoes is a sign of lack of calcium .You need to add lime. On the other hand we had 99 F at end of july,and that will induce fig drop.Regards.

I wouldn't fertilize anymore. You say you are watering daily....sounds like too much water. All I do with my figs is I give them all a handful (or smaller) of pelletized lime when they come out of dormancy & that's it. Mine are in pots, so sometimes I put a stick/dowel in pot to see if soil is wet on bottom when I pull it out.
Just my 2 cents worth LOL.
Patty

At the same time that many of my figs are yellowing and dropping off, there are plenty more new figs growing out. How annoying. However, only about half the figs seem to be dropping so far. Maybe the rest will ripen as we approach Fall. They certainly seem to be in no hurry.

I have been having the same problem with my 4 mature BT's, i.e., the trees always produce abundant fruit, but many of them rot and drop off before fully ripening. My trees are 6-7 years old. This summer has been one of the hottest and longest on record, and for the first time I am getting a number of fully ripened figs. So, in my case, they love the sun and plenty of it. I just recently checked with the nursery where I bought them and they advised me to 1. fertilize heavily one year and lightly the next, and 2. thin the fruit, i.e.,snip off a lot of them as soon as they are set,so the remaining fruit will get more of the tree's energy. I will be trying this next growing season. I will also try to add some lime next spring.

Hello fig friends,

I have one Dalmatie (San Piero) trees, which was very promising this year (after 3 years) as it had a lot of breba figs in April. Then suddenly, temperatures started to go down (not below freezing though) and up for a while.

Then all figs from different sizes all turned yellow and started to become all spongeous.

This fig tree is infected by Mosaic Virus and has small growing irregularly sized leaves. This virus is said to be inoffensive as when the temperature rises, the effects (mottled leaves, small development) become almost invisible. This is true when you live in the hottest places (Italy or Mediterranean area, some of California/Florida,etc). However, for cold region, with low temperature in Spring and Autumn, the virus is more visible and probably affects most sensitive and infected trees.

My father also has the same cultivar, in a better situation and has experienced the same problem.

Unfortunately, the nursery selling fig trees are often located in hot areas where it is not possible to evaluate the effects of the virus.

By the way, at my father's garden, there is a northern fig tree which produces a large amount of brebas. None EVER fell, regardless of temperatures variations, but the tree is not infested with this virus.

I also have introduced a cultivar from Lecce (South of Italy), called Cascitello and it is bearing a magnificient breba fig. The plant is very small and is NOT infected by Mosaic (fruit not falling, enormous leaves and HEALTHY).

I might be wrong but I honestly don't think so.

Bye,

Etneo

Good Points and good review on your tree etneo0.
Interesting enough My Dalmatian(Brunswick),with large hand shaped leafes is completelly imune to mosaic virus,after living in the companion of other deasesed figs for about four years.I live in zone 6b.It is true also that it does not have any Breba this year to start with,but the leafes are perfect no deformation or change in color.So you see it is not easy to figure the FIG!!!!!!!!

I made a little typo, I should have said :

Dalmatie (San Pietro) instead of Dalmatie (San Piero).

Brunswick is NOT Dalmatie. Please have a look at the following URL. Sorry it's in French, but:
. figue fleur means breba and
. fig d'automne means main crop

By the way Dalmatie comes from Croatia (ex-Yougloslavia).

Here is a link that might be useful: The Dalmatie Fig

Etneo you are right: you have a different fig.I do have a little rooting cutting of san "Pietro" from University of California reaserch station at DAVIS,and It does show Fig mosaic virus.
I would like to know if your fig is red inside, or amber?
The Brunswick is Amber,and is average tasting.
My wife likes it because is very good for fig jam.
By the way: the leafes of the two different figs are palm shaped and exactly the same.I do not have fruit from San Pietro but i would really like it to be different than Brunswick.Here is a picture of my Brunswick.Best regards

I have 4 trees of various ages across an area and all had small figs (brebas?) to start out the growing season, but I looked today and the smaller 2 trees, Stella and Brown Turkey, had dropped all theirs while Latterula and Desert King's are getting larger and approaching getting ripe with quite a few fruits. I don't know if the smaller trees just couldn't sustain the figs, because all are growing in the same conditions.