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abeanglo

Fig waking up in January, newbie oops

orangedoor
9 years ago

This is my first fig tree - Sicilian grown from a cutting - 1 or old. Instructions I got with it did not go into any details about dormancy so I didn't know it needed dark and cold through winter. I did the fig tree shuffle through the Fall till leaves yellowed and fell off. It still had a few little figs on it.

Through the winter it has remained in a heated room that would get a few hours of indirect light each day -- and I realize now it got maybe 30 minutes direct light too. The room fluctuates between 60-68 degrees. I watered very little every 4 weeks.

A couple weeks ago I noticed it started sprouting at the base, there's a fresh little leaf, and the buds at the top are swelling. There were some small figs still on it at the time, so I broke those off. There seemed to be some mites nesting in between them (faint white webbing/netting between them). I also cut off some of the top where the figs were and some other small buds. I moved the plant to a slightly cooler and darker room.

What should I do now? Can it enter dormancy again? (I realize that cutting off the top was counter-productive to that end). Should I just keep it at our room temperature and put a light over it? I have some high wattage full spectrum cfl spotlights. Was planning on putting it into a fresh terracotta pot as well, without root-pruning since it's so young.

I have a fairly large potted rosemary I've overwintered twice indoors, and it requires babying with frequent watering and misting -- I think the fig would be easier to baby till it's warm out (and then harden off to the sun and temps), but is that the best route?

I've searched a bunch here and online trying to get an answer to this but didn't find anything clear for my situation, just "do your best to keep it dormant till the proper time". Thanks for any advice!

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