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Help, figs fall when near-ripe
Thanks, and it sure is good to hear from you again.
The soil is red clay, I put amendments in when I planted it, but not a big wide basin of better soil, so friable it isn't. We have heat though! The figs are small, so it must be a Celeste it was not labeled but came from a vendor at the Farmer's Market who SAID they only had Brown Turkey and Celeste, and since the fruits are golf-ball size (though plentiful!), it MUST be a Celeste. There are several ripe fruits, but the hornets have gotten to them, moved right over from the blueberry bushes. I have had some close calls where I nearly picked a hornet with a berry. Last year I waited too late into the fall to order figs from Paradise, hope to order some earlier this year, the light green and a purple one, maybe. I think these folks only select varieties that taste good, so I can have fun imagining still life arrangements and choose colors accordingly.... laurie (Mother Mastiff) "Siouxzi" wrote in message news Laurie, I think Kira is right. Maybe too much water, or not enough drainage, or both. The best figs I ever had were in Turkey--lovely red-brown ones, but also a big lovely green variety that were like ambrosia. I am hoping the Green Ischia fig tree that I ordered from Paradise Nursery in VA this spring will someday produce fruit like that--only a few on the 3-ft tree at the moment. Can't get good fresh figs in markets here--they must be picked very ripe, are delicate, and so do not store or ship well. Even in Turkey the vast majority are brown figs that are dried for the international market. Those tender fresh green figs are only shipped locally to market and consumed immediately. Anyway, the area where they grow is rather dry and HOT in summer, with crumbly soil that's been plowed and tended for centuries. My husband's family has a summer house surrounded by huge, ancient, gnarly fig trees that produce lots of the little red-brown figs, sweet as can be. Ohmigosh I can hardly wait for MY figs to ripen--my 5-year old tree was pruned SEVERELY to about 4 feet tall last fall and it is right back to 15 feet tall and loaded with fruit. Keep your fig tree pruned so you can reach the fruit, and maybe cover it with a net! I bet if you email Paradise Nursery they'll help you with anything else. Their web site is full of info. www.paradisenursery.com/ And you might be inspired to order a fig tree from them too. I got 4 different kinds this year, plus a couple of muscadine vines, all doing great and filling me with hope for next year. I got no interest in the company--just think they're nice folks with great product and customer service. Cheers Sue On Mon, 31 Jul 2006 23:46:39 GMT, Jo wrote: Kira Dirlik wrote: On Tue, 25 Jul 2006 01:12:03 -0400, "laurie \(Mother Mastiff\)" wrote: I am still a fig novice, and although the tree is getting HUGE this year and has a lot of small fruit (the size of a big man's fat thumbs), despite watering in hot spells, the largest fruit nearest to ripening falls off. I put more pine straw mulch under it today to try to keep roots cool and moist. Haven't fertilized since once lightly in early spring. Is this early fruit drop a symptom of a particular problem that is curable or at least treatable? A giant magnolia tree shades it in the morning but it gets full sun from noon onward. We have been awaiting our figs very eagerly, imagining the wonderful clafoutis (fruit puddings) to be made.... Would hate to see all the fruit drop off, since there was NO fruit to be seen last year. Thanks for any practical advice, laurie (Mother Mastiff) I've had celeste (?) figs (small) in Durham, and now in Chatham have a brown turkey (huge.. size of small peaches). I never watered either. Maybe you are giving it too much water. I have had a huge first crop of figs this year (usually only get a few on the first crop), and the second crop is coming in big. Last year August was dry, and I had a bumper second crop. But for three years prior, it rained a lot in August, and the little holes would open in the end of each fig before they got ripe, and bugs would get in and the fruit would rot before it got ripe. You'd get drunk just walking by that tree, if you inhaled. I think all the figs originated in arid lands, no? I think the trees themselves like water (mine is now a giant octopus, and I will need to alter my stone walkway this winter to allow for it), but the fruit doesn't. Kira Thanks Kira! I was having similar troubles and that seems to be what I was doing. Jo |
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