My first fig tree, an Italian Everbearing, is now in the compost. A moment of silence please.

She was my first nursery/garden purchase in fact. At the time I was so inexperienced and uninformed that I paid a ransom for it. A price that I wouldn't even pay for high end landscaping now. In any case it was a 6-7 foot wonder and I instantly fell in love with her. Over the few years she was in my care I noticed that the leaves were somewhat misshapen and odd. I attributed this to FMV. I am not certain if that is the case or not.

This year I took it out of the garage and it 'seemed' as if the buds would swell and grow but nothing happened. It's now June and the buds still haven't appeared. The other much smaller figs survived, albeit leafed out later than usual. I attribute this to the late freezes of Spring. On closer inspection of my big fig, I noticed tiny holes that looked as if they were drilled by a machine. I discovered tiny beetles, many in fact, that were climbing up and down the trunk. Then I noticed many other holes ranging in size from a pencil point to about the size of a capital 'O' on a phone keypad. I assumed these beetles were the cause. I had never seen them before but they are small, almost jet black and similar in shape to a dung beetle shrunken down.

I trimmed the tree and all branches were dead and dry. Working my way down the tree, I kept cutting till I would get to a green branch- it never came. I guess temps, disease and/or bugs did this one in. My question is this: Is there a pest that attacks fig trees such as the one I describe? I naively thought that figs were relatively pest free around here. Maybe the fact that the tree was weak and dying allowed an unlikely pest to overcome it? I threw everything out but the container it was in. I don't want whatever it is to spread to my other figs. So far they seem untouched.

Below is a link to some pictures. I couldn't get one of the beetles as they are too small for my camera to capture in any detail.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Chopstocky/FigTreeBorer

Anyone with any experience/advice on this?

Thanks,
Chops

Let me ask you two questions that comes from actual experience with a couple of my fig trees. Did you ever water the figs as they over wintered in the garage? Second, did the garage temperature ever fall below freezing at any time during the winter? I lost the two fig trees this winter that I had kept in a unheated garage in Colorado. On top to them being in the garage all winter, I never watered them. They died, but I was not all that troubled as I hate figs any way. The two other live figs that I kept in the greenhouse during the winter I also tossed into the compost pile. - Millet

Millet- The nursery that I bought it from gave me a detailed set of instructions on how to care for them, and for the most part, their directions are sound. As time went on and I learned how to care for them my way, I adjusted things slightly.

Yes, I did water them once a month over the winter. Since they are dormant they don't need much, but they cannot dry out completely. (They need LOTS of water during growing season. Depending on temps I water them at least once, sometimes twice, a day) Also the temps did drop below freezing here for a time during winter. This has not caused a problem in the past, but this year it didn't happen till March when the figs were beginning to wake up. Once the sap starts running through the branches and they freeze- those branches are goners. Normally, keeping them out of the freezing rain and wind is enough for them to survive, but I suppose a lengthy deep freeze could do them in. Perhaps the combination of temperature and little water caused yours to die?

The rest of my figs survived the same conditions that my large tree was in, so I tend to think it was disease or just a weakness in the tree. These borers do worry me however. I have pests that attack other plants in my garden (apple, lilac, flower beds, etc) and it was nice to not have any natural enemies on a plant for a change. *Sigh* Growing things can be frustrating at times.

Chops,
Had you been root pruning it at least ever other year? I lost a large potted fig over the winter too, and I suspect that it may have been because I hadn't been keeping up on rooting pruning, and refreshing the soil.

I root pruned it 2 years ago and placed it in a larger pot with new soil. I did not replace the main root ball's soil at that time. Upon inspection of the root ball before I threw it out, the roots were dense but I wouldn't say they were overcrowded. The soil however could have been an issue.