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Author Topic: Fig trees  (Read 5964 times)

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Fig trees
« on: May 25, 2012, 11:20:14 pm »
I've always wanted to grow figs.  I know they need their roots confined so I was going to get a large pot when I had saved the deposit for the mortgage on one.  I have a large ball-barrow minus its ball.  Would that be big enough?
 
Do figs need plenty of sun?  My back garden faces south and my back wall gets really hot but the goats go through the area for milking and already eat everything they can.  I have space against my front wall which is very light but doesn't get a lot of direct sun.  Would this be suitable?
 
Hope someone on here knows about figs.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
    • ABERDON GUNDOGS for work and show
    • Facebook
Re: Fig trees
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2012, 11:22:43 pm »
I've had one in a pot for about three years - all it does is drop it's leaves and grow more.  Thinking of putting it on Freegle.  My son rescued it from the B & Q 'poor souls' stand  ::)
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: Fig trees
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2012, 11:28:13 pm »
If I lived nearer I'd be asking for it, Annie. Tell me how you look after it so I can do something different.   ;D   Is it a big pot?  got me worried now.

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
    • ABERDON GUNDOGS for work and show
    • Facebook
Re: Fig trees
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2012, 11:50:14 pm »
I have tried everything I know to try to make it look better.  It is in a 7 inch diameter pot, it's about 2 feet high.  I have had it in the vestibule where it is cool, outside in the summer when its warm, in the kitchen in wintertime, now it's in the bathroom where its damp.  I've watered it till it's almost floating, I've starved it of water, I've given it a little every day.  Nothing makes any difference.  ::) :'(  Damned thing just drops it's leaves and regrows more.  It is very twiggy looking. Just don't know what to do with it and I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone spending £15 buying one. (Tesco!)
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

plumseverywhere

  • Joined Apr 2013
  • Worcestershire
    • Its Baaath Time
    • Facebook
Re: Fig trees
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2012, 08:19:01 am »
When we moved into this house there was a large fig tree in a huge pot. It was about 8 feet tall. We moved in mid-June, had 3 figs off said tree.
Started 'caring' for the tree ie. watering it on days when we needed to water the garden and it died!


THe house had been left empty for 3 years so seems the fig tree thrived by being ignored and we killed it with kindness. 
Smallholding in Worcestershire, making goats milk soap for www.itsbaaathtime.com and mum to 4 girls,  goats, sheep, chickens, dog, cat and garden snails...

Mammyshaz

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Durham
Re: Fig trees
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2012, 08:24:28 am »
I loved the idea of a fig tree so mothers day brought one about 4years ago. It's in the yard in an 8 inch diam pot. Never fed, barely watered except maybe once on very hot weeks. Every year it grows figs and every year they fall off before they ripen.  Very disappointing  >:( 

smithycraft

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Fig trees
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2012, 10:01:56 am »
I've had a fig tree in my polytunnel for several years.  It's in an old wooden crate which measures 18 x 20 x 24 inches tall.  I ignore it all winter and only water it in the summer months.  It produces figs at odd times, sometimes they ripen and sometimes they drop off.  We have eaten a few figs off it and I'm sure we would do much better if I looked after it properly.  It's a beautiful tree.

Goldcraig

  • Joined Jan 2012
  • North Ayrshire
Re: Fig trees
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2012, 10:10:15 am »
We had a huge fig tree in our back garden when we lived in Spain, there was plenty furit and even more flies...it was a nightmare. We decided to trim it back and I had some some of reaction to the sap, ended up with huge blisters all over my forearms...worth it though to sit at the pool and not swot flies all day...
Trust me.....I'm a Chef !!

Liz M

  • Joined Sep 2010
  • Carrick on Suir - Tipperary
Re: Fig trees
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2012, 04:42:39 pm »
I got so excited when I saw this and thought you were all going to tell me how to grow my figs. I have 2 now - one in the poly tunnel and one in the garden. Both are about 2 years old and don't do anything but grow a few leaves. Think I may give up now
 ???

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: Fig trees
« Reply #9 on: May 27, 2012, 11:26:34 pm »
I'm depressed now.  shall I bother?  Shall I forget it ? shall I bother?  Shall I forget it?
 
I tried to rescue one from a building site near here.  It was about ten feet tall in the garden of a cottage which was knocked down to make way for a new school.  I asked the workmen if I couol have it.  They said yes and to go back the next day when it would have been dug up.  The next day it was totally destroyed.  It was covered it fruit as well.
 
Shall I bother?  Shall I forget it?

jaykay

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Cumbria/N Yorks border
Re: Fig trees
« Reply #10 on: May 28, 2012, 07:11:18 am »
My understanding is that although the trees will live in Britain, unless you've got a particularly hot sunny corner, in the very south of England, you're highly unlikely to see any fruit, as they need much more sun than we get for fruit.


Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: Fig trees
« Reply #11 on: May 28, 2012, 09:34:38 pm »
That's me out then but the one I saw was just round the corner.  Maybe it's having the full sun that makes a difference.  My back garden is a real sun trap but i would be forever fighting the goats off.

 

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