Do you mean does it have a breba? A fig produced on the wood made lat year? Or do you mean can it grow wood and in the same year fruit on that wood? If so yes.

My fig tree beaks dormancy and the buds start to grow. After the very tender green stem has 6 or so leaves It starts producing figs at each additional leaf. I get no figs on last years wood. My fig ripens about june and continues to mid november when I get a killing frost.

Hardy Chicago is supposed to be the only fig that does this. All other need to fruit on second season wood.

See picture

shortly after bud burst the tree put on a fig with every leaf. When you look at the tree you have the leaf connection point and above that you have a bud capable of growing into a branch next year and to the right is the fig "flower", about a 1/2 millimeter in size. I can not get a breba crop due to low temperature killing the fig buds over winter. My hardy chicago is a gem. the brown turkey trees are duds. There is not enough time in the growing season to get a main crop for normal figs.

Thanks

Poncirusguy,

Not sure who told you that all figs but Chicago Hardy have to fruit on second year wood but they are wrong. Fruiting on new green wood is called the main crop and that is the normal routine for a fig. Some figs have an earlier crop of figs that is called the breba crop and those figs form on the previous years growth.

You are plenty warm enough to get a main season crop but you have to help the plant. In pots on a driveway helps......against a south wall helps.......but the easiest way is to pinch. What you do is let a branch grow 6 leaves then pinch out the terminal bud on that branch. What it does is makes the plant redirect energy in to producing figs. Let each limb get 6 leaves and pinch. You will then get main season figs to form MUCH sooner that will ripen. After a certain calender day you will want to then remove all new figs that form. What that calender day is you will have to work out for your location.

bamboo_rabbit

Thanks for getting back. That is great information that will help me a lot with my brown turkey. A lot of the nurseries promote the hardy chicago with the new wood fruiting. The brown turkey sets its first fruit at the end of august and do not ripen in time. If pinching would help it could make a difference between hundreds of figs and 0 figs.

Thanks

Poncirusguy,

People in zone 5 in Canada get ripe figs so with the pinching you certainly can and get quite a lot of them to ripen.

Many growers in short season zones start pinching the terminal ends after 5 or 6 leaves of new growth. This directs more of the growth into the fig embryos and stimulates earlier fruiting. This practice is used for trees which have already put on enough size in previous years.

Many nurseries and plant store push the Hardy Chicago as the fig tree that can be killed to the ground and come up next year with a full crop of figs on the first year growth. Here I have been told that all figs produce on first years grow as well as last years growth with the last years growth producing first as what is known as the breba crop followed by the main crop. Can you tell me what the difference between Hardy Chicago and other figs

Thank

Poncirusguy,

I think all figs can be killed to the ground and still produce figs the same year. I started 60 varieties of fig CUTTINGS in November 2012, they rooted then planted in ground March 1 2013 and about half of them produced figs for me. So that would be 9 months from rootless sticks to eating figs. So being frozen to the ground is not nearly as bad as they at least have a big root system to push the new growth.

Hardy Chicago is a good tasting fig and is cold tolerant.....that is it, has no other special qualities. There are many cold tolerant figs. It is of course better if you can keep the top from freezing off.