ya

Temperatures up here in the Pacific Northwest are still kind of cold. Certainly not ready for citrus to start putting on any growth yet. It's supposed to drop down just slightly below breezing in the night two days from now, which is rare here in the month of April.

Mine have been out for about a week. This morning, upper 30 temps, but today the real challenge is winds - up to 30 mph gusts. Right now, sustained low teens. I've had a few blow overs already. Piled soil and compost bags..hope not to have any more. Of course, I'm losing blooms and some new growth gotten shredded.

Pulled mine all back in due to wind and one more chilly night. Nothing freezing, but I like to not shock blooming plants.

Still in the greenhouse here bob! Very windy and wet couple of nights to come maybe in may cant wait! Bob I gotta say you shape all your trees very well beautiful! Bob not to hijack Your thread but I think I found a source for smith figs right here in Vancouver and something else he recommended called ciccio Nero heard of it bob? Apparently very productive for our Vancouver climate!

Jan, go for it, get both. Don’t know how big they are, maybe you can get cuttings from both to start a couple more.

Hope you are not staying tooooooo busy, pace yourself. Stay super healthy!

Btw, you can hijack all you want.

Here in Montreal, temperature is still 30F at night. I will have to wait until it gets over 40F before I can put my trees out like you.

Bob, someone is selling fif]g cutting for 5 each. Is it a hood price? I am thinking to get a florea, ronde de bordeaux and dalmatie?

Amy, i you going to enter the crazy world of FIGS, you have to careful to what to grow.The high end varieties are still very expensive. Smith, the one I advise Jan, is a very good one, definitely one to consider. It is now reasonable prized, more like $10.00 a stick. But yes, $4.00 is a good price. Bob’prices are hard to beat.RdB andDalmatie are also good ones, Florea , don’t know. Even Chicago Hardy is a common one but still an excellent one, plus Hardy. Violette de Solies, is a super large fig, has to be dead ripe to taste good. I have that one, have several of them.

When you consider a fig to grow, use Google, just punch the name and it will show up. The ,”Ourfig forum“ they go nuts over there, but all good guys over there. Very good source for how to grow figs. There is a trick for growing figs like after May, little nitro bot more ca.and s. Phosphorus.

No long branches, pinch of after 5 or 6 leaves, to start side branches for more figs.

Nice going Bob! I hope the weather holds out for you so they can stay out. Mine, as you know, have been out since the first days of March. They have had some nights in the 30s - even low 30s - but show no signs of damage. They are happy and sprouting. I fertilized them with Oscomote a few days ago and am identifying which ones need repotting for the season. I still need to spray a few for scale. I may do that today.

Oh and Bob, my figs are all sprouting. They had no damage this winter, so hopefully it will be a good year for them.

Bob I am trying to keep as busy as possible thank God for this hobby and this forum otherwise I’m pretty sure I’d start getting squirrely! trying to see what else I can graft bob lol! bob I’m getting the figs from pino over on the fig forum Maybe you know him. He is shipping small trees I believe bare root for $29 per tree or $21 for three cuttings. I believe I will be getting the cuttings if they’re not difficult to root! Any tips on rooting a cutting bob?

laura what varieties do you have?

Does it include shipping? Try to get the finenest he has. Once you got the tree you really like , you can make more the same in no time.

Use your new cuttings for future trade, just don’t go bonkers.

Jan, check all about how to do cuttings, there are so many ways to do cuttings, most are just simple. They have so many that are sure ways.

Yes I believe it does bob! He has so many Italian varieties I’m just lost at which ones to choose I suppose I can just try the ciccio Nero first since he’s suggested it and has high praise for it saying it’s top ten for flavour and second one I guess I’ll get a smith and the third cutting who knows! I’m just going through his pages of varieties bob it’s dizzying how many there are! It’ll take me a while to decide but that’s half the fun right!

im definitely using this time to learn as much as I can about fig trees bob! Nothing else to do good thing it’s a beautiful day today been in the yard all day! Stay safe bob Heard it’s getting worst out there!

Mine are all out for better or worse, mostly in stasis with a yuzu and prague citsuma actively growing. But whether I take losses or not it is what it is, only the strong survive. getting someleaf loss as they are getting wind, rain, sunburn, and lowish temps (high 30's at night worst m,ostly mid 40's to high of 60ish) all at once. I expect most to do well as soon as temps rebound.

Bob! Thank you for all the tips. I have save your post so I won’t forget what to do from now on. By figs are leafing out know and I give them some 24-8-12. So, if I understand correctly, I can still to do that until may and then I will have to give them more phosphorus?

Also lime or gypsum depending on your container mix, lime will raise your P/H. Some uses only Osmocote and organics/mulch.

This might be an important part: rootpruning.

Here again, this is what “ I “ do.

Trim the sides of by about a coupe of inches.

Trim the bottom by about three inches. More or less to your liking, maybe it makes you nervous in the beginning.

Final, take out wedges from top to bottom in 3 or 4 places, just a couple inches deep and two inches wide.

Put rootball back in container, fill with fresh mix and you are good to go for about 3 years.

ii it fun, I use an electric chainsaw or bow saw, can do one in about 20 minutes.

It is also time to trim the tree to your liking.

I would use a 15 gl container max for easy moving. If want to use a smaller pot, you can.

I also like to use squat containers, figs roots go wide more than deep. Outside, squats are more stable in strong winds.

Bob your trees are looking great. Tons of new growth on them! Like Jan said above, the shape of your trees is perfect, just the way I like mine shaped too. Glad they’re out for the season for you.

Evan

Taken a que from your trees there in California, always keep in mind tree shape in commercial orchards but way smaller.

Bob, I also do that every fall after t’my fig trees go dormant but I also repot them in a bigger pot each spring so maybe that’s where my mistake isbecause I think that my plants focus on growing roots to fill the container instead of growing the top.

Amy, I don’t do anything when tree’s are dormant, nothing, let the tree stay dormant. Come spring you can do just about anything you want to do with them. You going to hurt the tree more by messing with them, root rot!!. With a decent container mix you don’t have change your mix maybe after 3 years.

What to do with old inground figtrees? You cut them down to ground level and start all over with new growth. Any new shoots will be pinch after shown 5 leaves or 6. Any unwanted starts will be eliminated.

They look great! Glad they are out and enjoying spring!

I’m learning so much about figs! Didn’t know we had to root prune when they’re root bound bob! I too am marking this for when I get my fig trees thank you!

Just read a note, 7 years old, don’t know going that far back, the Orchard/fruit forum by Cousinfloyd about failure in persimmon grafting. Most of those heavy weights guys are now in another forum. Just plain funny to read.

My fig trees have little fruitlets on them now. The cold did not affect them much this winter, so they are actively growing. I'll need to find good fig recipes. :)