Figs in UK
 

I have a fig tree that I have been growing for two years after buying it as a shrub in a nursery. Its 'brown turkey' as I recall.

It thirved through last summer, then when Winter hit in the UK it lost all its leaves.
When Spring came it started growing again but the only leaves that have come back are on the new growth at the tips.

If it continues to do this its going to look a little odd.

I have seen figs in the UK with many thousands of leaves, growing in pub gardens and the like.
I wonder if this is normal behaviour? It seems healthy and even sprouted a fig this year. Its about 5ft tall. I wanted to keep it in the greenhosue for a few years to bulk up, before letting it out in the gasrden permanantly. If it repeats this behaviour its going to be tall and lanky but with leaves only on the top and my greenhouse is going to need a roof extension ;)
I have put it outside in the sun when warm thinking it might be lackinmg sunlight, but no perceivable action yet.

Any advice please?

It's normal. In our temperatures they lose their leaves in winter and regrow at the ends of the branches. The recommendation is to prune to encourage branching (since the figs too grow only nearly the tips), but I've never sorted out how to do this - in the growing season the sap oozes, and in the winter there are always tiny embryo figs. So what I do is to prune in winter any branch which doesn't have embryo figs on it, and when the first leaves appear I carefully pinch out the terminal bud.

I'd have though Brown Turkey should be OK outside at 5ft. It'll be easier to manage outside as they are quite susceptible to red spider. I'd imagine they'd also be susceptible to scale insect, like other Ficus species.

The figs which start developing in summer and are between pea and ping pong ball size at the end of the season won't come to anything, so remove them - the ones that will ripen are the ones that start in late autumn and are tiny less than pea sized) at the end of the season. They will be ripe in late summer.

Google on Reads Nurseries for more info - they are fig specialists

TYhanks for trhe input Kay.
OK so leaf loss is normal, so, does this mean that each year the leaves return only at the top of the plant leadeing to legginess??
Seems odd?

Oops sorry about the spelling!

Yes, they return only at the ends of the branches, no it doesn't necessarily lead to legginess. You'll notice that the new growth on each branch is soft and green, and last year's growth is brown and hard. It's the soft green growth that has leaves.

In the mediterranean areas, figs grow in areas which don't have all-round rainfall. They produce very long roots which find their way to moisture deep in the soil. They have the same structure of bare stems and bunches of big leaves at the end. The overall effect is of a well clothed tree, because you can't see what's going on underneath. And I think the arid conditions tend to give a tree which is more bushy. Add to that, that Portuguese cultivated trees (I can't answer for other areas) are pruned ferociously! Big branches cut off to simulate lots of small branches - precisely because it's the ends where you get the fruit (and leaves), and the more ends you have, the more fruit.

In this country, our figs don't lack water (and if they do, because they are in a pot and haven't been watered, they can die from drought), so we restrict growth by restricting the root run, for example by planting them in a metre cubed hole lined with paving slabs.

If yours is still young and 5ft high, I suspect you may have potted it quite generously.

If you are getting leaves only at the top, that suggests you only have one stem. I would plant it out, restricting its root run, but giving it plenty of water through the summer to make sure it's established.

If it still isn't showing signs of branching by the winter, you may need to do something. Obvious would be to cut the top off. But I'd probably go for a belt and braces approach and air-layer the tip. In summer, scratch through the bark on one side just above where you'd like to cut it (needs to be on the brown bit not the green). Wrap it in a water-retaining medium - I use coir-based (peat free) compost, a good handful. Make sure it good and moist , almost dripping. Wrap that in clingfilm and tie string round top and bottom to keep it in place. After several months, you will see through the cling film that the compost is full of roots. At that point (early spring rather than winter), cut below the cling film, open up the clingfilm carefully and put up your new fig plant. You now have a spare if the original takes umbrage at being pruned!

thanks fro a very comprehensive answer

Figs in UK
 

In article ,
says...

I have a fig tree that I have been growing for two years after buying it
as a shrub in a nursery. Its 'brown turkey' as I recall.

It thirved through last summer, then when Winter hit in the UK it lost
all its leaves.
When Spring came it started growing again but the only leaves that have
come back are on the new growth at the tips.

If it continues to do this its going to look a little odd.

I have seen figs in the UK with many thousands of leaves, growing in pub
gardens and the like.
I wonder if this is normal behaviour? It seems healthy and even sprouted
a fig this year. Its about 5ft tall. I wanted to keep it in the
greenhosue for a few years to bulk up, before letting it out in the
gasrden permanantly. If it repeats this behaviour its going to be tall
and lanky but with leaves only on the top and my greenhouse is going to
need a roof extension ;)
I have put it outside in the sun when warm thinking it might be lackinmg
sunlight, but no perceivable action yet.

Any advice please?





Figs are almost always deciduous in the UK, they can be pruned in such a
way as to make a bushier less leggy plant
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

Figs in UK
 

On Wed, 18 May 2011 11:04:30 +0100, Charlie Pridham
wrote:

In article ,
says...

I have a fig tree that I have been growing for two years after buying it
as a shrub in a nursery. Its 'brown turkey' as I recall.

It thirved through last summer, then when Winter hit in the UK it lost
all its leaves.
When Spring came it started growing again but the only leaves that have
come back are on the new growth at the tips.

If it continues to do this its going to look a little odd.

I have seen figs in the UK with many thousands of leaves, growing in pub
gardens and the like.
I wonder if this is normal behaviour? It seems healthy and even sprouted
a fig this year. Its about 5ft tall. I wanted to keep it in the
greenhosue for a few years to bulk up, before letting it out in the
gasrden permanantly. If it repeats this behaviour its going to be tall
and lanky but with leaves only on the top and my greenhouse is going to
need a roof extension ;)
I have put it outside in the sun when warm thinking it might be lackinmg
sunlight, but no perceivable action yet.

Any advice please?





Figs are almost always deciduous in the UK, they can be pruned in such a
way as to make a bushier less leggy plant

After the 2009-10 winter I thought my pot grown fig was dead. I cut
it back to about 18 inches. It sent out lots of new shoots last
summer. Now it is shooting agin (starting at the tips) and has at
least 5 figs, about grape size. I have high hopes of some fruit this
year.
Figs fruit on 2 year old wood, not on new growth.
As Charlie says, it is usual for it to lose its leaves in winter in
UK.


Pam in Bristol

An interesting comment, Pam. I've just looked at the two in my greenhouse. The Brown Turkey has about an inch of green growth at the end of each branch which it has put on this year, and this green growth has embryonic figs which I expect to be ripe end Aug/early Sep, ie definitely figs on new wood. The cutting of unknown identity as put on about two feet of new growth this year, and not a fig in sight. If it's not going to put figs on till the second year, then I need to be pinching out tips.

Figs in UK
 

On Wed, 18 May 2011 18:21:14 +0000, kay
wrote:


'Pam Moore[_2_ Wrote:
;921999']
Figs fruit on 2 year old wood, not on new growth.


An interesting comment, Pam. I've just looked at the two in my
greenhouse. The Brown Turkey has about an inch of green growth at the
end of each branch which it has put on this year, and this green growth
has embryonic figs which I expect to be ripe end Aug/early Sep, ie
definitely figs on new wood. The cutting of unknown identity as put on
about two feet of new growth this year, and not a fig in sight. If it's
not going to put figs on till the second year, then I need to be
pinching out tips.

I'm going on some advice given on GQT by, I think, Chris Beardshaw, as
they had had a lot of questions about growing figs. It was early this
year.
I carefully took notes, but have lost the piece of paper! Maybe it's
archived somewhere on the net.
Quite good advice he
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening...grow-figs.html

The fruit on mine are on last year's wood. I'm amazed at how early
the fruit have started to swell, as it's been out all winter. Time
will tell.

Pam in Bristol