My fig tree in a large pot had 20 figs this year -usually has 5 or 6- but they fell of when nearly ripe. My daughter says it is because I didn't water it in the hot weather. I thought figs liked it hot and dry - am I wrong? Now that its leaves have fallen I see I have about 60 new medium sized green figs. Do I remove these to make room for next year's crop or leave them to overwinter?

On Nov 13, 3:32*am, Patricia Thorpe Patricia.Thorpe.
wrote:
My fig tree in a large pot had 20 figs this year -usually has 5 or 6-
but they fell of when nearly ripe. *My daughter says it is because I
didn't water it in the hot weather. I thought figs liked it hot and dry
- am I wrong? Now that its leaves have fallen I see I have about 60 new
medium sized green figs. *Do I remove these to make room for next year's
crop or leave them to overwinter?

--
Patricia Thorpe

Anything grown in a container will need regular waterings in warm
weather regardless of how 'drought tolerant' the plant is supposed to
be. That's one of the basic differences between container gardening
and inground gardening. Uneven watering - allowing the pot to dry out
too much between waterings, then soaking it - will stress the plant
and often allows for premature fruit drop. Access to adequate soil
moisture is essential when the plant is forming and developing fruit.
Next season, make sure watering is monitored more carefully, keeping
the potting soil evenly moist, niether too wet or too dry. You should
get a better crop to harvest :-) And site the container where it get
reflected heat - the heat is good and will help the plant set and
ripen fruit better. Just keep it properly watered. :-))

And ignore the leaves. Edible figs are deciduous plants and it will
lose that foliage soon, to be replaced by new growth in spring. These
are pretty tough plants and can tolerate being killed back to the root
system with cold and resprouting easily. But depending on where you
live, you might want to move the container to a protected location for
the winter.

"Patricia Thorpe" wrote in
message ...

My fig tree in a large pot had 20 figs this year -usually has 5 or 6-
but they fell of when nearly ripe. My daughter says it is because I
didn't water it in the hot weather. I thought figs liked it hot and dry
- am I wrong? Now that its leaves have fallen I see I have about 60 new
medium sized green figs. Do I remove these to make room for next year's
crop or leave them to overwinter?

Figs have 2 crops a year, the spring (breda crop) and the autumn (main)
crop. If you have 60 figs on it now, those fruit could be your main Autumn
crop. It's hard to know though given that we can't see it and don't know
when the 20 figs fell off.

In fact having just written that, it'd make sense to me to say that the 20
figs that fell off were your Spring Breda crop and your 60 remaining figs
are your autumn crop that haven't managed to reach maturity.