On Fri, 31 Mar 2017 09:37:59 David wrote:

One debunked urban myth is that if fig trees produce fruit in the autumn
these should be left on as they provide next year's crop.

So far I have never seen this happen. Second crop Brown Turkey sit around
over winter and gradually die and drop off, and new buds form the next
year's crop.

However this year is unusual in that I seem to have quite a few survivors
on the pot grown tree, and various trees near us that are grown in the
ground also seem to have a large number of over wintered fruit.

Could this be the year?
Probably not.

Your observation is interesting - to me, at any rate.

Last year I had quite a lot of overwintered fruit and for the first time
I had a decent crop - about fifty or sixty, maybe more, I lost count.
Always before I've had no more than three of four fruit in total per
year.

This year, although the baby figs are still on the tree, they are
wizened and dead so I doubt that I shall have last year's success this
year.

On another tack. I took some plants that I'd layered about four years
ago and planted them in my French garden. Last week I noticed that one
of them was leaning a bit drunkenly. On examination I discovered that it
had been completely gnawed off from its roots. It looked like a
miniature version of what beavers do to trees when they're building a
dam. I've put some collars on the remaining ones but I don't have a
great deal of hope for them as the gnawing was under soil level.

Disappointing!

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK