Phoenix Tropicals Gardening

[Bkaus]

The Black Mission Fig under 50% shade and is doing really well with lots of Figs! Second year in the ground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqYbvc6uzQ4&index=1&list=UUaVhPEbsxjOyqWV4JGx9Jug

[Kellogg-Briand]

Your fig tree looks great. I have a Black Mission Fig also in its second year (full exposure in the summer). Did you do anything to get the bushier shape of your plant or is it naturally growing that way? Mine has a very upright habit and is already taller than all my trees except a seven-year-old Wonderful Pomegranate. The tree fit in the passenger side of my coupe when it was purchased. The Black Mission Fig seems to do very well in Phoenix. Keep up the good work, the plan looks fantastic.

[Bkaus]

It came more like a bush but I was reading where the Japanese will prune them intensively to fit in a desired space. How is yours doing on producing figs? I gave mine a shot of fish fert in the spring just when the first leaves were showing up and another shot a few weeks ago when the figs started showing up. The figs are twice a big as last year.

[Kellogg-Briand]

My fig is not prolific yet. I had a few pieces of fruit, but the birds got them all this spring. I used a 50/50 mixture of 5:1:1 fish emulsion and 0:10:10 Morobloom to fertilize the plant. The fig seems happy with that mix. I would use something stronger like Miraclegro or Osmocote Plus if I did not have a young Macadamia and Tamarind in close proximity. My fig never went into full dormancy this winter so I have a few older beat up leaves from last year but the plant is healthy.

[phoenixtropicals]

I have a black mission fig tree as well. It is in full sun and I actually water it even less often than my citrus. However, there is a lantana nearby it that gets regular water so probably its getting some water from there. When I first planted it, it was about 2 feet tall and had fruits on it. However, after that it grew a lot but didn't put out fruit for about 4 years. During that time I also gave it a lot of water. After 4 years I cut way back on the water and it also started producing. I don't know if giving it too much water kept if from fruiting or if it was just an age thing.

[Bkaus]

It's interesting on how fruit trees do different things. The hole that the current BM fig is in had another BM fig in it for a year but our pet rabbit ate the bark off it. So my wife brought me a large 15gal tree the trunk was as big as a broom handle and put it in the same hole. I don't remember adding any fertilizer to it the first year and it was producing figs. Come to think of it the tree doesn't get very much water it's not on the irrigation line only hand water and sometimes I forget and may have watered only twice during the winter. Maybe less water is more for figs?