A neighbour has a fig tree laden with figs which which aren't ripening. He
has planted the tree in a decent sized home built concrete planter (to keep
the roots from spreading. He has been told that a fig tree planted in open
ground will yield ripe fruits but his confining of the roots is preventing
ripening.

Anyone have any ideas on this please?

Bill

On 25/10/2013 15:40, Bill Grey wrote:
A neighbour has a fig tree laden with figs which which aren't ripening. He
has planted the tree in a decent sized home built concrete planter (to keep
the roots from spreading. He has been told that a fig tree planted in open
ground will yield ripe fruits but his confining of the roots is preventing
ripening.

Anyone have any ideas on this please?

Bill


I always thought it was figs that had their roots confined that fruited.

On 25/10/2013 16:08, Martin wrote:
On Fri, 25 Oct 2013 15:40:16 +0100, "Bill Grey"
wrote:

A neighbour has a fig tree laden with figs which which aren't ripening. He
has planted the tree in a decent sized home built concrete planter (to keep
the roots from spreading. He has been told that a fig tree planted in open
ground will yield ripe fruits but his confining of the roots is preventing
ripening.

Anyone have any ideas on this please?

He's grown it as recommended here.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening...grow-figs.html

and
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandst...opping.gardens
"Figs can produce three crops simultaneously and invariably have two
on the go at any one time. At this time of year there will be the
large ripening figs, half-sized ones and, if you look closely, tiny
pea-sized - even pin-head - fruit tucked into a joint between stem and
leaf. These tiny ones are next year's harvest. The in-between ones -
essentially any that do not ripen by the middle of October - will
never ripen in northern Europe. In a mild winter they start into
further growth, but the skins are tough, so they split and fall off,
which weakens the plant and delays the growth of the very small ones,
meaning that they often fail to ripen too. So the solution is to wait
until November and then ruthlessly remove every single fig bigger than
a pea. Resist the temptation to spare some that are hazelnut sized and
put your trust in the minute figlets - these will grow and swell
rapidly the following summer."

I don't recall ever finding wild ripe figs up here in North Yorkshire
and there are plenty of mature fig trees with big unripe ones on.

We just don't get enough sun. You might stand a chance some years in the
London heat bubble or the extreme south but I reckon it is borderline. I
do have a Brown turkey fig but it never has useful fruit. Its
predecessor was killed in the same winter that did for my tree fern.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Martin Brown wrote:

On 25/10/2013 16:08, Martin wrote:
On Fri, 25 Oct 2013 15:40:16 +0100, "Bill Grey"
wrote:

A neighbour has a fig tree laden with figs which which aren't ripening. He
has planted the tree in a decent sized home built concrete planter (to keep
the roots from spreading. He has been told that a fig tree planted in open
ground will yield ripe fruits but his confining of the roots is preventing
ripening.

Anyone have any ideas on this please?

He's grown it as recommended here.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening...grow-figs.html

and
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandst...opping.gardens
"Figs can produce three crops simultaneously and invariably have two
on the go at any one time. At this time of year there will be the
large ripening figs, half-sized ones and, if you look closely, tiny
pea-sized - even pin-head - fruit tucked into a joint between stem and
leaf. These tiny ones are next year's harvest. The in-between ones -
essentially any that do not ripen by the middle of October - will
never ripen in northern Europe. In a mild winter they start into
further growth, but the skins are tough, so they split and fall off,
which weakens the plant and delays the growth of the very small ones,
meaning that they often fail to ripen too. So the solution is to wait
until November and then ruthlessly remove every single fig bigger than
a pea. Resist the temptation to spare some that are hazelnut sized and
put your trust in the minute figlets - these will grow and swell
rapidly the following summer."

I don't recall ever finding wild ripe figs up here in North Yorkshire
and there are plenty of mature fig trees with big unripe ones on.

We just don't get enough sun. You might stand a chance some years in the
London heat bubble or the extreme south but I reckon it is borderline. I
do have a Brown turkey fig but it never has useful fruit. Its
predecessor was killed in the same winter that did for my tree fern.

We are on the Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire border, one the edge of a
village.

The fig tree is planted at the base of the SW facing wall a recent
extension, and the roots are in quite a bit of builders rubble and
cement.

Provided we don't get a late frost (May) it does very well - ~40 figs
eaten this year and very juicy and tasty they were.

We follow advice from Bob Flowerdew some years ago - Jan/Feb time,
remove everything that looks like a fig, even the very small figs. As
spring gets underway, new fig quickly appear and swell. They are ripe
from late July on.

We used to let the small figs over winter and while they did ripen the
following year, they tended to split and were not so juicy as the one we
now get.

Larry

In article ,
says...

I don't recall ever finding wild ripe figs up here in North Yorkshire
and there are plenty of mature fig trees with big unripe ones on.

We just don't get enough sun. You might stand a chance some years in the
London heat bubble or the extreme south but I reckon it is borderline.

Istr Kay has a fruiting fig, she's in Leeds.

Janet

"Bill Grey" wrote in message
...
A neighbour has a fig tree laden with figs which which aren't ripening. He
has planted the tree in a decent sized home built concrete planter (to keep
the roots from spreading. He has been told that a fig tree planted in open
ground will yield ripe fruits but his confining of the roots is preventing
ripening.

Anyone have any ideas on this please?

Bill

Figs ripen fine in the UK, they just need a long growing season and this
year we had a late start so we are still picking Brown Turkey which normally
is all eaten by the end of September, if the figs are bigger than golf ball
size there is still hope!


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

On 2013-10-25 16:05:54 +0100, David Hill said:

On 25/10/2013 15:40, Bill Grey wrote:
A neighbour has a fig tree laden with figs which which aren't ripening. He
has planted the tree in a decent sized home built concrete planter (to keep
the roots from spreading. He has been told that a fig tree planted in open
ground will yield ripe fruits but his confining of the roots is preventing
ripening.

Anyone have any ideas on this please?

Bill


I always thought it was figs that had their roots confined that fruited.

That's the conventional wisdom. But they need Med conditions. Sharp
drainage and south facing - lots of sun. If it's in a planter, I
suspect the drainage isn't good enough.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

I have a Brown Turkey fig tree, three years old, growing in a root restricting container as per the Telegraph article.

It is on a south facing fence and has produced a bumper crop of full sized figs this year, absolutely delicious!

I live in Louth, Lincolnshire.

On 26/10/2013 09:49, Johno wrote:
I have a Brown Turkey fig tree, three years old, growing in a root
restricting container as per the Telegraph article.

It is on a south facing fence and has produced a bumper crop of full
sized figs this year, absolutely delicious!

I live in Louth, Lincolnshire.


I guess figs are similar to passion fruits. Ours have ripened well this
summer.
There is a huge fig tree in a square behind St.Bart's Hospital in
Central London which I was told fruits well

On Fri, 25 Oct 2013 15:40:16 +0100, Bill Grey wrote:

A neighbour has a fig tree laden with figs which which aren't ripening.
He has planted the tree in a decent sized home built concrete planter
(to keep the roots from spreading. He has been told that a fig tree
planted in open ground will yield ripe fruits but his confining of the
roots is preventing ripening.

Anyone have any ideas on this please?

Bill

Just to check - is it a known variety of self fertile fig such as Brown
Turkey?

A neighbour had a mature fig tree which was given to him as a present by
someone who had brought it back from the Med, I think, and it was always
laden with fruit but they never ripened.

When the fruit was cut open there was the inside-out flower but no real
flesh.

Turned out it was a Mediterranean variety which relied on a specific
species of wasp for fertilisation - had to crawl in through the hole at
the base of the inside-out flower to fertilise it.

Obviously, no population of wasps here so no fertilisation.

It was never going to produce viable fruit.

We have (Suffolk) a Brown Turkey in a pot which always produces a few
fruit (four this year IIRC) and is now laden with the second much larger
crop which are not going to ripen as we don't have a glass house.

There are quite a few trees in gardens around town which look to be
unrestricted judging by the size, which are also on their second crop.

If the tree is producing figs then root restriction is not the issue.

Root restriction is supposed to limit the foliage growth to encourage the
tree to put energy into fruit instead of leaves and branches.

So unless you are in an unsuitable climate - far North or up in the hills
- a fig such as Brown Turkey should produce one crop of edible fruit an
average year.

If it has its first crop now, then that is very late.
Again, are you sure that this isn't the second crop?
Judging by our little potted tree this year we had a late start, a few
first cop figs, then a surge of growth and a bumper second crop which are
on the tree now.
So the tree may have produced a small first crop which he missed.

Cheers

Dave R

I'm on the border of North Yorkshire, 400ft above sea level, and get a useful crop every year gtom an outdoor fig, ripening mainly in September and October. Brown Turkey of course - the fig a friend in the ALgarve gave me really doesn't like Yorkshire weather, despite overwintering in the greenhouse.

And the Sheffield figs give good fruit, don't they? (I know that's a lot further south).

"David.WE.Roberts" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 25 Oct 2013 15:40:16 +0100, Bill Grey wrote:

A neighbour has a fig tree laden with figs which which aren't ripening.
He has planted the tree in a decent sized home built concrete planter
(to keep the roots from spreading. He has been told that a fig tree
planted in open ground will yield ripe fruits but his confining of the
roots is preventing ripening.

Anyone have any ideas on this please?

Bill

Just to check - is it a known variety of self fertile fig such as Brown
Turkey?

A neighbour had a mature fig tree which was given to him as a present by
someone who had brought it back from the Med, I think, and it was always
laden with fruit but they never ripened.

When the fruit was cut open there was the inside-out flower but no real
flesh.

Turned out it was a Mediterranean variety which relied on a specific
species of wasp for fertilisation - had to crawl in through the hole at
the base of the inside-out flower to fertilise it.

Obviously, no population of wasps here so no fertilisation.

It was never going to produce viable fruit.

We have (Suffolk) a Brown Turkey in a pot which always produces a few
fruit (four this year IIRC) and is now laden with the second much larger
crop which are not going to ripen as we don't have a glass house.

There are quite a few trees in gardens around town which look to be
unrestricted judging by the size, which are also on their second crop.

If the tree is producing figs then root restriction is not the issue.

Root restriction is supposed to limit the foliage growth to encourage the
tree to put energy into fruit instead of leaves and branches.

So unless you are in an unsuitable climate - far North or up in the hills
- a fig such as Brown Turkey should produce one crop of edible fruit an
average year.

If it has its first crop now, then that is very late.
Again, are you sure that this isn't the second crop?
Judging by our little potted tree this year we had a late start, a few
first cop figs, then a surge of growth and a bumper second crop which are
on the tree now.
So the tree may have produced a small first crop which he missed.

Cheers

Dave R

Thank you David for very good reply. Unfortunately I've no idea which
variety of fig he has:-(

Bill

"David Hill" wrote in message
...
On 25/10/2013 15:40, Bill Grey wrote:
A neighbour has a fig tree laden with figs which which aren't ripening.
He
has planted the tree in a decent sized home built concrete planter (to
keep
the roots from spreading. He has been told that a fig tree planted in
open
ground will yield ripe fruits but his confining of the roots is
preventing
ripening.

Anyone have any ideas on this please?

Bill


I always thought it was figs that had their roots confined that fruited.

Thanks to you David and others who suggest planter growth is the way to go.
He is not using a "planter" as such but the tree is grown in a small patch
of ground surrounded by a concrete "wall", sort of!

Bill

On 2013-10-29 15:02:01 +0000, Bill Grey said:

"David Hill" wrote in message
...
On 25/10/2013 15:40, Bill Grey wrote:
A neighbour has a fig tree laden with figs which which aren't ripening. He
has planted the tree in a decent sized home built concrete planter (to keep
the roots from spreading. He has been told that a fig tree planted in open
ground will yield ripe fruits but his confining of the roots is preventing
ripening.

Anyone have any ideas on this please?

Bill


I always thought it was figs that had their roots confined that fruited.

Thanks to you David and others who suggest planter growth is the way to
go. He is not using a "planter" as such but the tree is grown in a
small patch of ground surrounded by a concrete "wall", sort of!

Bill

I'm sure lots of us have seen fig trees grown like that in the Med
countries. It may mean - may - that it drains well, gets hotter in
sunshine and that the roots are confined. Iow, a combination of all of
the best circumstances. The confined roots theory probably depends on
the idea that when a plant is stressed, it puts out fruit to propagate
its progeny, even if it's going to die itself. it is just possible
that he simply has a bad plant. It does happen and nobody knows until
the thing gets to the age at which it's supposed to do something.
Plants are not unlike people at times!

We have a fig tree in the field which has loads of fruit on it which
has never got to edible size this year and Ray has had one fruit from
it. He doubts they'll go through the winter to ripen in the
spring/summer of next year and suspects our cold spring has affected
our tree, so may well have affected others. Otoh, and this is my two
pennorth, for what i's worth, could the concrete of the planter affect
the tree in some way. I don't know.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

On 29/10/2013 18:43, sacha wrote:
We have a fig tree in the field which has loads of fruit on it which has
never got to edible size this year and Ray has had one fruit from it. He
doubts they'll go through the winter to ripen in the spring/summer of
next year and suspects our cold spring has affected our tree, so may
well have affected others. Otoh, and this is my two pennorth, for what
i's worth, could the concrete of the planter affect the tree in some
way. I don't know.

Just a thought,
We say to grow a fig with it's roots confined.
What would happen if you trenched around a fig and root pruned all the
large roots?
David