Jae,

I can't see any reason what so ever why the nursery removed all the leaves from your fig other than they were badly diseased by rust, severely damaged by insects, showed evidence of lack of proper watering, were sunburn damaged, or showed blotching, which indicates the fig tree has Fig Mosaic Disease, very common in the Black Spanish Mission Fig. Essentially the nursery was hiding the poor condition your fig was in before it was sent to you.

Also removing all the side branches and additional basal trunks was probably done to fit the tree into its mailing container.

You contact that nursery immediately and have them explain themselves.

Present my response to your nursery, and tell them I have a pot culture orchard of 27 fig trees. They are my pride and joy. I manage them essentially as you will care for your Black Spanish Mission, as many other fig growers in our cold climates do. Almost all of my figs came through the mail, and every single one came with all their branches and leaves on them.

Please do not accept that fig tree as normal handling of mail order nursery stock.

Also, please do not let this episode deter you from pot culturing a fig tree. It is a very doable and very enjoyable way to grow figs in cold climates.

A multiple trunked fig tree, over a single trunked fig tree is the way to go with a pot cultured fig. Keep the fig no taller than 4-5' and as wide. Three to five equally spaced ascending low branches is best. They can bve trained to grow upright when young. Such a fig tree will be less prone to blow over in the wind. It will produce more figs. If a trunk breaks or gets damaged, your additional trunks will continue on nicely. If a single trunked fig's trunk breaks or gets damaged the fig has to regenerate new growth below the problem, and time is lost before the new growth becomes productive.

Moses

Martin, thank you for your response. Your fig tree is beautiful! I wonder how long it will take for my fig tree to branch & leaf out like that. What do you do for the winter? Do you bring your figs inside? I'm planning to bring mine into my garage but it won't get much sunlight - do you think that will be a problem?

Moses, thank you for also responding. I thought it was very strange that they cut everything off like that! It looks very sad. Now I found a nursery in Florida called "Plant Me Green" and I am very impressed with their plants. I've decided I'll only order from them unless they don't have what I'm looking for. As soon as I got my tree, I did ask the Georgia nursery why they cut off all the limbs and they told me it was to encourage root development. But the nursery I ordered other trees from (peach, cherry, gardenia, crape myrtle) did not do that - their plants were full of leaves and branches even flower buds! I do wish I got my fig tree from the nursery in Florida too. I will call the nursery in Georgia and ask them about this again. But do you think I can make this one branch out successfully, or is it unlikely? Do you mind showing me a photo of one of your trees? Maybe a Black Mission if you have those too?

Jae the mission fig plant is a fast growing type fig i grew one in 2009 .

You ask - I wonder how long it will take for my fig tree to branch & leaf out
like that. What do you do for the winter? Do you bring your figs
inside?

That picture in this thread is a hardy chicago that was airlayered in summer of 2014 so it is 3 seasons old.

Winter i put the fig plants in attached garage ,there is a top panel in overhead door that is glass windows but winter being so cold here the little light that gets thru does not wake them up prematurely.

The 1 fig inground i cut down very low and put dry leaves and a tarp over it.

Martin

Jae i looked at pictures on disk from 2011 season here is mission plant i had .

Jae,

"Encourage root development," preposterous!!! Root growth follows leaf growth, not precedes it. Remove all its leaves and a tree will essentially stop root production, even balance its root load by aborting (dying back), those roots that are no longer needed since there are no leaves to support.

Leaves feed a tree. They are a tree's mouth, and stomach, and bowels. They "eat" (so to say), the nutrients, and the water their roots provide to nourish the tree. Eliminate the leaves and the roots have nothing to do but stop functioning, go dormant and/or die off until new leaves emerge, and start the "green factory" going again.

Figs are tough, extremely adaptable, and respond like crazy to good care. There's hardly a more lush looking fruiting tree than a well cared for fig tree.

Let your denuded fig just recover now. It should be pushing out new growth by now. If we have a warm fall, the growth should get a foot or so long by Thanksgiving/season's end. Give it good care. In spring, just as it begins to leaf out, start shaping it to the form, single or multiple trunked as you choose. It should sprout new growth down low that you can encourage if you want a multi-trunk fig tree.

There is a fig nursery out your way in NJ, French Fig Farm, frenchfigfarm@gmail.com. Give them a call or visit. Their web site is extremely informational for cold climate fig growers like us.

Keep your fig between 40 and 25 degrees F. all winter long. No light is needed. Water when needed just to keep soil moist. Do not let the fig sit in water in a catch tray. Its roots will rot.

My largest fig pot is 10 gallons. I use black nursery pots, Gro Pro pots, made in USA, and BPA free, are best. Through periodic root and branch pruning a fig tree (I keep my fig trees at 4-5' X 3-4'), can grow excellently, and produce tons of figs. You don't need a larger pot to have success. Of course, a larger pot is perfectly OK, cumbersome, but fine, too. The larger the pot, the harder it is to shuffle it around. Your back will not thank you.

I wish you great success.

Moses

Jae,

Sorry I cannot provide photos. I am an old timer and am barely computer literate, and do not have a photo capacity.

I do have a three year old Black Spanish Mission. It is about 4' X 3' in a 10 gal black plastic nursery pot. It produced 14 figs last year and 75 figs this year. Half of this year's crop are still ripening, the others have been eaten. It is a delicious fig with a rich flavor and great sweetness.

Unfortunately mine has Fig Mosaic Virus. It came with the virus which was not detected at first. The word on FMV is generally do not purchase a fig tree if it is an infected one, but if you do, it should do fine as long as stress on the tree is kept minimal. Mine is as vigorous as the best of my other figs.

I have just purchased 4 tiny, tissue cultured, Black Spanish Mission fig trees. Tissue cultured fig trees have been disease wiped clean. When these mature I will watch and see if their virus free state makes a difference.

Here is a list of my fig trees:

Black Spanish Mission

Beers Black

Chicago Hardy (of Sicilian origin)

Celeste

Conadria

Brown Turkey

Lattarula

Little Lucy

Little Miss Figgy

Magnolia

Olympiad

LSU Gold

LSU Purple

Panache

Petite Nigra

Yellow Ischia

Yellow Long Neck

Violette de Bordeaux

Texas Ever bearing

White Marseilles

(I have multiples of some of them)

Strangely, my favorite for rich fig flavor is Little Miss Figgy. Its figs are by no means little. The tree is little, a natural dwarf, getting app. 5' tall without pruning. Usually the darker figs have a richer fig flavor, and the light colored ones are not as robustly flavored......but that said, everyone to their own notion! 1/3 of my figs are light colored. Conadria has a light amber colored fruit, and produces figs for me that are 2.5" across. They taste something like a Kiwi with a hint of mild strawberry.

Moses

Martin, thank you for the photo. I hope my tree will do well and get some growth next spring. It's still pretty warm but the tree hasn't gotten any new growth at all...I'm going to ask the Georgia nursery about this!

Moses, thank you for sharing your knowledge - very helpful for new gardeners like me. You have an extensive collection of figs! That's amazing. I hope my tree doesn't have any diseases. It hasn't gotten any new growth at all in the past month, so I called the nursery and I'm waiting for a manager to call me back. I will mention everything you said in your posts. I just want to succeed in growing a nice fig tree and I've been taking care of it well but it currently does not look very good. I'll see what the nursery says. Meanwhile, here are some photos of the poor thing. I had to stake and tie in a couple spots because the tree was so wobbly and curvy.

Jae,

Please tell that nursery to send you a replacement tree with all its branches and all its leaves in tact, immediately. Or, if you prefer, demand a full refund, the cost of the fig tree and shipping....no giving them any other options. Take courage, and take control of the situation.

Sending that miserable fig tree is unpardonable of them. They have no excuses.

I hope you sent payment by charge card. If necessary, your card company will see to it that you are credited for the entire amount you sent them.

No matter if that fig recovers or not. They pulled a fast one on you.

Moses

Moses, its been a while but I wanted to thank you for recommending French Fig Farm! Rich, the owner is so nice and so full of helpful information. I will buy my figs from him from now on!

As for my poor fig tree - Rich actually advised me that it looks dead so I contacted the nursery and got store credit which I will use to buy a Southern Magnolia!

Thank you Moses, you've been very helpful!