I remembered reading that no matter the age of the tree, it needs to be in the ground for two years before it fruits. Because of this I did not buy fruiting sized trees. I got the one gallon. I just assumed that either way I would be waiting 2 years so why not start small. Is this correct? I was hoping to know before my order ships, I'm assuming sometime tomorrow (Monday) morning. Should I just switch to the larger trees?

If I don't get a response in time I will probably just call the company in the AM. I will post their answer if that is the case.

Thanks!

Best of luck! (we all started with just one or two varieties and it does get to be something of an addiction)

~Chills

Out of curiosity, from where did you order?

I ordered the trees from Willis Orchard Co. Are you familiar? Opinions?

From what I hear, year three is the first really good yield. But its pretty hard to find thorough info out there. How quickly do they grow? Should I expect a foot per year? More?

I can fully see how it can become an addiction. I wanted to get 4-5 trees! But I decided to wait and be sure I don't kill these first, lol. If I do ok, I will get more. I was thinking black jack? What is your favorite?

Thanks again!

Do a search on Willis Orchard on this site and you will see some opinions. Third year till the first good harvest sounds about right. It would be hard for me to pick a favorite. It's probably a fig I haven't gotten yet. Good luck with your order.

Scott

Do any of my trees need pollinators? Do they have to be near each other or are they fine alone? It seemed the website specified whenever a pollinator was needed, but I just want to be sure!

Thanks again!!

Pollination is possible mostly only in areas where the fig wasp can live and only a few figs need it. If you are interested in the reading more. Ray Givans site has a good summary. (http://home.planters.net/~thegivans/figsex.html)

I got my plants from Willis Orchard and am very happy. They were a little slow to ship (it shipped several weeks after they said it would and it was shipping season) but still got here in time.

Of course they arrived dormant, and there is always the chance they may never wake up! But they did! I also got a cherry and grape that are doing very well!

When I was first putting my Italian everbearing into the ground, I accidentally split part of the root and stem off the plant. I was so afraid I killed it. The broken root looked healthy, so I stuck in a "we'll see" pot just in case, and put my figs in the ground. This was Mid April. My garden is fairly large, mostly planted but with lots of pots as well. Mostly starters and herbs/spices. The pot that I had the fig root in was full of weeds, I forgot all about it. I decided to use it for something else. So as I pulled the weeds out, to my surprise...the fig root was also growing! I thought it was dead since no buds ever formed on the 3 inch tall piece of stem that was attached. But I pulled it out and discovered that it was growing straight from the health root, about 3 inches away from the exposed original stem. I cant tell you how happy finding that made me!! So I got a little bonus.

Over all, I am pleased. Watching them grow and thrive is a beautiful thing. I am ordering three more in the fall and am very excited from next year.

Thanks soooo much!

It is not uncommon for an on-line tree nursery to take a little longer to ship than expected. The important thing is that you got live trees of the varieties you ordered that are healthy and of the size you ordered. Since Willis Orchard Co. opened I have ordered from them twice both times with good results.

As far as size goes I tend to go with the smaller trees too. Not because it takes a long time to get a harvest. I have trees that are only 18"-24" tall that I rooted last year and I am eating figs from them every day. The reason I purchase smaller fig trees is because they grow so fast that there is no need to pay a lot of money for a larger tree.

These figs were all picked and eaten yesterday from trees that I rooted from cuttings last year and the tress are all under 24" tall.

Getting figs from your trees this year really depends on your local weather. If the figs that are forming now are breba then I think there is a good chance you may get some ripe fruit this season.
If the figs that are forming now are main crop figs then you may not as they tend to ripen in the fall and in NJ there is a good chance that it will get cold before they can be harvested.

To help things along I mulch all of my fruit trees with a mix of composted DE-smelled manure and composted leaves. The best time to do this is after the last threat of frost once the tress have leafed out.
Once the breba harvest is complete I will mulch them again to help give them everything they need to carry them through the next harvest. Some people don't mulch and others like myself swear by it.
My trees are in pots though so they need all the love I can give them and they seem to like it.

Here is a 14" fig tree that I rooted last winter. For the last several weeks it has been producing 1-2 large ripe figs per week with a picture of a fig I just picked and ate today.

Here’s another tree about 22"-24" tall with a few dozen figs that should ripen in the next 2-3 weeks. Most of my small fig trees look similar to this one.

I have a Blackjack fig also purchased from Willis Orchards. I was happy with their product and it arrived in a timely manner. I opted for the fruiting size (3'-4'). I planted the tree in a pot and it leafed out nicely. This spring it produced a very small breba crop with little to no edible fruit. The tree is getting its 8+ hours of sun a day. Late summer it started to produce a crop and about two weeks ago the figs just stopped growing. Small figs (about half the size of a dime) are not increasing in size. Larger fruit (about the size of a quarter) are begining to turn purple and likewise not increasing in size. I have to admit that I have been a little erratic about fertilizing, but I do not seem to be getting excessive leaf growth. Ocassionally a leaf will turn yellow, curl up and fall off, but overall it seems like a very healthy tree.

Any help that the community could provide would be much appreciated. Thanks.

If you're in zone 5, there's not enough time to ripen 2 crops of figs. Our summers are just not long and hot enough. Also, due to the unusually cool and wet weather, this has been a horrible year for figs for most of the northern parts of the US and for us here in Canada. Quite a few of the guys here are reporting that their figs are about 3 weeks late in ripening.

It's normal for figs to grow to the size of a quarter and then stop for about 2 months or so. They will double (or sometimes more) in size about a week or so before they ripen. It takes about 70-90 days from when the figs begin to form until ripening.

You can force earlier fruiting in the spring by pinching the tips. Do a search on pinching and you should find a few good threads on it. You can also force earlier (by 2 weeks or so) ripening by applying a drop of olive oil onto the eye of the fig. It won't be as sweet/tasty if you do this though.