Inground Project zone 4-5

TorontoJoe said:
Too many of my trees aren't showing any figs yet this year. Really hope we get a lot more sun and heat really soon.

I do have more weeds in my pots than you do! :LOL:
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Ha-ha... I only noticed those weeds after I posted the pic. Went and pulled them out. LOL.

The forecast starting Monday looks good. More rain than I'd like to see, but not bad, and the daytime temps are in the 26C - 28C. A lot of my figs are behind last year's at this time. A lot of figlets are smaller than I like to see by now. I hope they ripen by the time cold weather hits.

I hope Farmer Almanac's long-term weather forecast for Southern Ontario is wrong...

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Figgin' A said:
Ha-ha... I only noticed those weeds after I posted the pic. Went and pulled them out. LOL.

The forecast starting Monday looks good. More rain than I'd like to see, but not bad, and the daytime temps are in the 26C - 28C. A lot of my figs are behind last year's at this time. A lot of figlets are smaller than I like to see by now. I hope they ripen by the time cold weather hits.

I hope Farmer Almanac's long-term weather forecast for Southern Ontario is wrong...

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LoL! My comment was genuine... I've had to go out of town a few times since pulling the trees out and the weeds got away form me. I wish my pots were as clean as yours. I have (I hope) a few stable weeks ahead before I'm in Italy, so I'm going to hunker down and really try to stay on top of things so they don't build up too much while I'm away.
 
TorontoJoe said:
LoL! My comment was genuine... I've had to go out of town a few times since pulling the trees out and the weeds got away form me. I wish my pots were as clean as yours. I have (I hope) a few stable weeks ahead before I'm in Italy, so I'm going to hunker down and really try to stay on top of things so they don't build up too much while I'm away.
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Italy... I am jealous... :)
 
Vitooch1 said:
An update on my inground. It’s been very vigorous with growth but no figs so I decided today to pinch 🤏 every branch to see my next result. Kinda frustrating not seeing any figs. 😡
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The growth on that tree is quite skinny and spindly; it's not ready to support fruit. I once had a couple of trees that looked like that. Mine were shaded too much and didn't get enough light. Both set fruit once the fruiting branches thickened up. Your tree may not have been getting enough light. Or maybe it has too many fruiting branches to support. Removing a bunch of weaker ones may help.
 
Figgin' A said:
The growth on that tree is quite skinny and spindly; it's not ready to support fruit. I once had a couple of trees that looked like that. Mine were shaded too much and didn't get enough light. Both set fruit once the fruiting branches thickened up. Your tree may not have been getting enough light. Or maybe it has too many fruiting branches to support. Removing a bunch of weaker ones may help.
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It’s actually gets full sun from the east to the west, that is why I placed it on that corner. I only gave this tree four main leaders so I don’t see why it’s not fruiting. To me it looks like it focus is on growth.
 
Vitooch1 said:
It’s actually gets full sun from the east to the west, that is why I placed it on that corner. I only gave this tree four main leaders so I don’t see why it’s not fruiting. To me it looks like it focus is on growth.
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There are about 20 - 20+ fruiting branches coming off those four scaffolds. That's a lot to handle for a young tree. I would target no more than two - three per scaffold. That way you will get thicker, more mature branches faster and the faster fruit set, IMO.
 
Figgin' A said:
There are about 20 - 20+ fruiting branches coming off those four scaffolds. That's a lot to handle for a young tree. I would target no more than two - three per scaffold. That way you will get thicker, more mature branches faster and the faster fruit set, IMO.
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I’m not sure if that’s the case. Some of My potted plants have way more then 20+ fruiting branches and there are way ahead. My inground has been in the ground since 2021. I just can’t wrap my head around it. I pinched it all yesterday I should be getting something showing up in July 🤞 I hope. I appreciate you input and I’ll keep that in mind but what about @TorontoJoe any thoughts?
 
Vitooch1 said:
But do you think 4 years is still young?
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I should have said the growth was young, not the actual tree. I've had several trees that were behind others, likely because of not getting enough light or having too many fruiting branches, and I noticed that they set fruit a few weeks after other trees once the fruiting branches matured and thickened up. In-ground trees are naturally behind potted ones by a few weeks, so you shouldn't compare them to your potted ones.

Has this tree ever produced figs? If not, then maybe it's time to try a different variety.

Personally, given all the knowledge I have on growing figs in the ground in our climate, I'd avoid pruning in-ground trees, or I would prune only some branches very lightly. That way I'd gain back 2-4 weeks towards ripening. I imagine it would require a better winter-proofing to protect those young branches. I'd probably also put some sort of a greenhouse type structure around it mid/late April to give it a bit of a headstart. Which is why I don't want to go that route myself. Too much work. Who knows, perhaps I will try one day, but not right now.
 
Figs start to form on my inground trees ~4-5 weeks after the first leaves get to full size. Looking at your earlier photos from mid-May and mid-June, I’d reason that your tree got its first full leaves around June 1, which should put fig formation between now and early July. Maybe add another week or so due to cooler temperatures up there.
 
Figgin' A said:
I should have said the growth was young, not the actual tree. I've had several trees that were behind others, likely because of not getting enough light or having too many fruiting branches, and I noticed that they set fruit a few weeks after other trees once the fruiting branches matured and thickened up. In-ground trees are naturally behind potted ones by a few weeks, so you shouldn't compare them to your potted ones.

Has this tree ever produced figs? If not, then maybe it's time to try a different variety.

Personally, given all the knowledge I have on growing figs in the ground in our climate, I'd avoid pruning in-ground trees, or I would prune only some branches very lightly. That way I'd gain back 2-4 weeks towards ripening. I imagine it would require a better winter-proofing to protect those young branches. I'd probably also put some sort of a greenhouse type structure around it mid/late April to give it a bit of a headstart. Which is why I don't want to go that route myself. Too much work. Who knows, perhaps I will try one day, but not right now.
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I decided to go out right now to examine the bumps and I do see quite a few bumps that seems promising after the pinching I did. Yes I did have figs last season but I had it chopped down to 12” inches in height every season. This is the first year I kept four main leaders at 5 feet and winterized it annd got no die back. Each main branch is at least 1” thick and the main trunk is about 2-3” thick.

This is what I got in the photo from some the new growth. I feel like July will be its month for figlets.
 

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Vitooch1 said:
I decided to go out right now to examine the bumps and I do see quite a few bumps that seems promising after the pinching I did. Yes I did have figs last season but I had it chopped down to 12” inches in height every season. This is the first year I kept four main leaders at 5 feet and winterized it annd got no die back. Each main branch is at least 1” thick and the main trunk is about 2-3” thick.

This is what I got in the photo from some the new growth. I feel like July will be its month for figlets.
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That's great. Glad it worked for you, though it could have been a mere coincidence. A lot of growers don't seem to believe that pinching causes fruting. I haven't noticed any correlation with my figs, but then again, I never experimented specifically with that.

Looking forward to further updates on this tree, especially when they start to ripen, and what percentage ripens. Who knows, you may convince me to plant one tree in the ground. :)
 
I’ve learned more recently that pruning back to really old wood on in ground trees really slows things down. I’m back to working harder to protect younger budding wood so it can fruit earlier…..

I’m also hoping the ground heat waking them up earlier will help with this.
 
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