Hi gang,

Good to see you, Patty!

Checking in to say that the figs are growing almost as well as the passionfruits!

Robert

Well hello Robert, nice to see you here too.
No sign of baby figs yet but plants are healthy. I planted passion flower seeds & they are now 2 inches up. I don't think I'll get flowers this year
Hey Joan & Theresa, I checked the roots on the cuttings & they are good. Of 4 cuttings, 2 survived -- one of each, so I'll let you decide which you want - either golden It. honey or Brown Turkey. I'd like to get them outside to get adapted before I send them.
Hey Robert & Theresa, how are you doing with the flooding & tornados? Hope all is well.
Theresa, you live just west of me & you really got blasted with storms last wkend & today. You OK?
BTW, the total of trappings is now 4 raccoons & 28 squirrels. More figs & citrus for me

Nothing major for us. Too wet for the farmers to get the corn and soybeans in.

Hey guys, glad to see you all posting again. It is pretty wet out here. I live on the Rock River in a no flood zone (can you believe it?) It has been flooding all around me, lots of people sandbagging especially across the river. It's a sad thing to see. I-94 had been closed due to flooding and just reopened 2 days ago. But all in all it's not too bad out by me. There are some really bad areas around Fort Atkinson and Jefferson due to the Rock River overflowing. All we had is a little basement leakage.

Any flooding out by you Patty?

My Atreano fig is growing and greening up but is still bent over. I think I'll stake it again. Patty, I can't wait to add to my fig collection, there's no need to send it though since I can come out and pick it up. Maybe we can do lunch or something. When's the wedding?

No date set yet Theresa -- too busy. I still live here & he lives off of 60 near Jackson, so we commute 35 miles when we can. He built a new house there 3 years ago but no room for my plants! (or my STUFF LOL)
I have no water damage, everything drained downhill. The river by me has trees in it - still surounded by water over banks.
June 15 we took a ride NW & I couldn't believe all the water -- roads closed, water up to front doors, corn fields looking like lakes & some had white caps! Huge snapping turtles on roads trying to find home.
I just noticed today that I have figs on all 5 trees! Some as big as large marbles. All that rain & some warm weather (FINALLY) did it.
I took couple more cuttings today - there is only the BT that looks good. 2 died & 1 is struggling. I'd like Joan & Theresa to have one of each.
Hey, we finally got summer & now the days will get shorter. How depressing

I was wondering how you were doing with all that rain Patty, glad you are OK, sure is good to see you here again, wondering what happened to Gina too. The weather like you said has been really great for growing the last couple of weeks, and my trees are loving it! What ever fig you want to send my way is fine if you still have one. Let me know the cost so I can reimburse you for your green thumb and the Post Office. I can't afford to go on vacation with the cost of gas so I pretend I am in Florida when on the deck with my collection!

Wow Patty, no room for your plants? That's a problem! Guess you guys will have to expand and build an addition with a nice conservatory.

The floods here produced lots and lots of mosquitos. I forgot to add that the river took one of my leaning oak trees. How could I have forgotten that?

My fig tree is growing, I still need to get lime for it. All I found at the local nursery was powered lime, so I didn't get any thing yet. And I need to repot it into a bigger pot. I guess I do things slowly.

Hey Joan, I have 2 big palm trees on back deck & I pretend I'm somewhere tropical too LOL, & then the mosquitos chase me inside. I've been bottling them & sending them towards Theresa's house

Theresa, you saw the back sunroom addition I built? I shoulda showed you the inside. It's perfect for the plants in winter. Maybe I'll get Michael to build one onto his house
For fertilizing your fig, I'd give it something low in nitrogen - maybe miracle grow tomato food - 18-18-21 or 10-15-10 ..anything lower in nitrogen. These are just what I have laying around. Also, I let the soil dry out before I give it a soaking.

Patty, you did show me the inside of your sunroom. It's fabulous! Your place is so nice. You need to have a new one built on your future home.

I do have tomato plant food and will start using it on my fig. It is growing nicely and enjoying the warmth and sun shine.

Fig update: all 5 trees have figs, some ready to start ripening! One is a 4 yr old cutting & it has 22 figs on it. Someone rooted it for me & sent it on a trade when it was 3 inches tall! It's 2 1/2 - 3 ft tall now.
Looks like I'll get to eat figs & grapes this yr--- last yr critters ate ALL the grapes - every one! So far I trapped 33 squirrels, 5 raccoons & 1 opossum. People are surprised as this is a highly populated area here.
Joan & Theresa, I started new cuttings cuz the other ones died...boo hoo. I will also propagate a different way with more. I have suckers/shoots coming up from a BT, so I will cut the bark away under soil & put rooting hormone on & when they gets roots, cut it off mother. That is a SURE way.
Anyone else have figs yet?

Yes, I picked my first fig of the season off one of my trees a few days ago. There are a few fruits right behind it in terms of ripening. I don't know the type of fig, as it was given to me second hand. Delicious. The other trees have small green fruits so it will be several more weeks for them. All need to be re-potted. Not sure if it is FMV, but they are all showing brown edges and mottled leaves.
I planted one tree in the ground just to see what happens. I will have to protect it in winter, but I want to see if their roots will do better not having to be re-potted so often.

I'm jealous! It will be awhile for me.
I guess I should repot this fall. All but one are in same pot for 3-4 years. I will do a little root pruning.
Your trees will grow MUCH better inground than in pots. More room for roots & you won't have to water as often.
(Got another raccoon this a.m. -6 in all)

Wow Chops, eating figs already? That's great. Mine will have no figs this year (as Jung's stated).

Patty, major bummer on the cuttings not making it, but your new method sounds like it will definitely work. Sounds like you'll be enjoying figs soon.

My trees are small enough, so I decided to bring them out of the garage and into the house in mid-January. They stayed in a dimly lit, cold room till around March (when their buds broke). Then I put them in a warmer room with south facing windows for more light. Their leaves burst out immediately and they looked very happy. However, as Spring trudged on, the light they were getting changed.
In winter, the sun is low in the sky so the light filled the room in January and February. All the plants got direct sunlight. In March and April, the sun keeps climbing higher. That steep angle only allowed the plants right up against the window to get direct light, and there was only so much room in the corner of my kitchen! I can't put out my plants for good till about May 10 around here, so that meant shuffling them in and out of the house to grab what light they could and not have the new growth effected by the cold for too long. That went on for weeks and it was touch and go with the health/happiness of the plants. Once they got to stay outside, everything was fine. I think it was this 'early start' that helped them develop fruit sooner. Normally, the leaf buds would not break until mid-May when they come out of the garage. I have had trouble in the past with getting fruit to ripen before the cool fall weather with the latter method, so I decided to try the above experiment.
Next year, I may try the same experiment with only 2-3 plants to limit the amount of shuffling and worry. Then I can compare, side by side, just how much of a head start the method gives.

Would you believe that I almost cut two of these trees down this year? I am the only one in the whole family that likes figs. They got amnesty from my wife who even though does not like figs could not part with them. As I read through this post seeing how hard you guys up north try to grow them, you can take comfort in knowing that I would easily trade these for the ability to grow kiwi or Cherry down here.
Karl

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