I have a confused Fig!

[itryalot]

I live in the Midwest and it has been cold, so I brought in my fig about a month ago. It shed all of its leaves and went dormat. Stupid me, I moved it to the other side of the room, which with the sun being lower in the sky gets morning sunlight for 2 hours a day. This confused the poor fig who suddenly had green buds. Woke up this morning and found four bright green leaves. So, in order to force it back to sleep, I moved it to my insultated, but unfinished, basement.

Advice?

[morwen]

My original fig (Brown Turkey) is now covered with leaves and fruit buds. I've been leaving it out on the south porch in shade for a couple weeks now and bringing it in only when there's a threat of frost. The prunings from that fig are now in clear plastic cups filled with half and half vermiculite and potting soil and are leafing and showing good root development. My husband and I are so pleased with them (and so greedy for lots o' figs) that we added a different variety, Celeste, to the family. We hope Celeste and Turkey will be happy together!

[itryalot]

Where do you make the cut for offspring?

[morwen]

I pruned back to just above a leaf bud. The shortest pruning is about 4"-5" long and is actually half of a much longer twig. I cut that twig in half just above a leaf bud and that bud has since opened. The other prunings are probably 6"-8" long. I didn't make the cuts specifically for offspring, just to shape the tree a little. Then I followed the info on the Figs4Fun website since I couldn't bring myself to throw them away. I just wrapped the prunings in damp paper towels, put them in a sealed baggie and in 3 weeks they were showing root development. Then they went into the plastic cups described above.

[itryalot]

Confused has turned into depressed. One of them (smaller one) looks like black edges and leaves dropped. What to do?

[morwen]

Have you checked their roots? Are they root bound? Even though figs like to be somewhat rootbound I imagine there is a limit. How about fertilizer?

[itryalot]

Tried fertilizer. Will check roots. Thanks

[itryalot]

Update on my crazy figs. Getting another very cold spell here in the Mid west. My one plant has a dozen or so leaves on it; it is a fairly young plant.
My very young plant has since dropped the leaves and the tops of the stems are black and look like they are shrivelling up.

I am hopeful that with some sun and warmer temps, things will improve. Thanks for the website; will check that out.

[EWSflash]

If it was me, I'd prune off the shriveled ends until I hit live tissue.

[itryalot]

Will do. Should I wait until we get some warmer, sunnier days?

[EWSflash]

I'd be more concerned about stopping any rot that was happening on the ends. Let us know how you do...

[itryalot]

OH NO (yes, I am shouting). What does fig rot look like, what causes it and how can I stop it?

[Ginger9]

Fig trees are very hardy...not easy to get rot. I put a fig tree (brown turkey variety) in a storage container (public storage) for six months once with no water (I know... not nice to the plant!), but I was moving, and it survived! I saw you first posted this thread in November... back then, i would have forced it back into dormancy. But now (April), time to let it grow!

[EWSflash]

I was going to recommend a guy who calls himself Pitangadiego on GardenWeb for information, but in looking him up I see that figs4fun is actually his iste. He knows more than nearly anybody. You could also check out the fig forum on GardenWeb. I'm not sure if Dave's Garden has a ficus forum but it's worth a look.

Good luck!

[itryalot]

Morweb, I am hoping the same thing now after reading your post. My other fig which I thought was totally dormant and behaving in a normal fashion has now joined the madness. Buds have beens sprouting for days. I am hopeful.....

[morwen]

My fig seems to be moving right along with spring now. Seems it does know what it's doing. Plenty of leaf buds, emerging leaves, fruit buds promising an early crop. Two weeks ago I did some minor pruning on it, wrapped the removed twigs in damp paper towels, and put them in a plastic bag as per the suggestions on this site: http://figs4fun.com/basics.html and today when I checked them they are beginning to bud and root (woohoo!)!

[morwen]

Mine seems to be partially dormant. It's in my kitchen in a south window, lost most of it's leaves but has leaf buds and tiny fig buds. I have a Brown Turkey fig and read somewhere that it will put out little fig buds in the winter which will produce a small first crop in the spring and then a regular main crop in the fall. So I'm hoping mine isn't confused but knows what it's doing even if I don't!

[itryalot]

Health check...been to the basement where fig is still in solitary confinement. There is one window which does not give direct sunlight, but lo and behold.....9 bright, healthy leaves. This thing thinks it's in California!!! With snow and below freezing temps, the basement should cool down.
An intervention may be in order.

[itryalot]

Dormant...not dormat! :o)

[Sam Fujisaka]

Therapy! Expensive and long term therapy!

[Cachetes]

Psychobotanical therapy perhaps? Though I think a bit of existential therapy for the plant ahead of time might have enabled it to avoid all of this.