Figs aborting ! Why?

Vitooch1

Vitooch1

Well-known member
Anyone else facing this issue. I’m having a hard time figuring out what’s happening. I feed all my trees well and as much organic stuff I could get. I’m not sure if it was the heat wave we went through or the humidity and smog. It only affected all the etna types, it’s bizarre and frustrating to see them all drop. Anyone know the reason why?
 

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Every year when the heat and humidity kick in my potted trees drop.
In ground are fine.
I could do more to regulate it but im just too busy and never get to it.
I really need to do something.
Sorry to aee your dropping...are they potted trees?
 
ktrain said:
Every year when the heat and humidity kick in my potted trees drop.
In ground are fine.
I could do more to regulate it but im just too busy and never get to it.
I really need to do something.
Sorry to aee your dropping...are they potted trees?
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Yes they’re all potted. I don’t know if there’s any way around it. All my potter trees get equally watered almost everyday. All my adriatics perfectly fine, etna struggled. My smith was terrible they all dropped with nothing left. My inground is a beast it’s over 8ft and figs are holding great I hope I’m able to eat them on time in September.
 

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I don't think it's the heat per se. We've been experiencing very similar weather, as we are not far from each other. My Mt Etnas are all fine from what I can tell. No drop. Some have been ripening, some are still green and both look fine.
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I would look for another reason. I see your trees are on a drip system. Those drip emitters are notorious for channeling and leaving a lot of dry pockets. Something to think about. I am not saying it's the reason, but it's definitely something to investigate to be sure.

Another reason could be the size of pots. All of mine are in 15g pots with some still in 8g pots. Anything smaller and my mature trees would struggle big time.
 
My tree started aborting as well now since we had couple of weeks of constant 112+ temps and my tree is in ground with plenty of water but the temps are just too much for it I guess
 
Mine dropped figs because I cut off their water, a bit too much, in order to get better flavor. I have to add more water gradually or they may split.

I think he is talking about the inground tree. Etnas don't usually split so you can probably hand water it in addition daily for a few days to see if that makes a difference.
 
I’ve had a rough go with heavy rains daily for weeks along with high temps. We’ve had rust and other fungal issues. Celeste types are aborting majority of the figs like Texas peach, sweet Diana, Celeste, southern brown turkey. My etnas have developed heavy spotting from the fungal load and some split open as they grew from the scabbing. Adriatics or a lot of them outside of Celeste or Etna types seem unphased. When cut open it looks like the rust has infiltrated the flesh on a few that have fallen.
 
In the spring I kept it weed eated around my potted fig trees but with this heat I let the grass grow up around the pots. It keeps the temps down on the pots. The grass blocks the direct sun on the pots. I had 100 figs on my 3 year old Celeste. It dropped about 15 of them. The only other tree that dropped was a 2 year old Green Ischia. I think it has FMV really bad. It only had 3 figs and they dropped. I only have about 20 potted and I give them a lot of water.
 
I noticed one of my Etnas started dropping figs this evening.

It is growing very well, but in a terrible location - Maple Trees to the east and above, up against a Juniper to the south and with chipmunk tunnels running throughout. It gets more water than my other inground trees (lawn sprinkler over spray) that are holding all their figs.

I am attributing it to root damage of some sort. Is it possible your Etnas and Smith are more rootbound than your Adriatics and not being able to uptake the supplied water?
 
TheMick27 said:
I had to put up a shade cloth, the pots were getting too hot, they are against a brick wall and on pavers. They would droop baldy in the afternoon if I didn't water 2x. Are your Etna's drooping from the heat at all?
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It definitely happening on hot hot days , all my trees are in full sun all day. Lately we’ve been having such great weather but I also don’t want to over water.
 
It's been hot here but not like their native habitat.

Vito, Cover the pots or paint them white. I'd be willing to bet this is the roots getting hot. Even if the pots aren't that dry, they will be hot.

I assume this isn't happening to your in ground trees, right?
 
TorontoJoe said:
It's been hot here but not like their native habitat.

Vito, Cover the pots or paint them white. I'd be willing to bet this is the roots getting hot. Even if the pots aren't that dry, they will be hot.

I assume this isn't happening to your in ground trees, right?
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The inground is great and growing full throttle. This one white pot is even helping. I might have to shade it somehow. My other pots are hiding behind my pool so I don’t see how those are getting hit by the heat. I thinks it’s more about being in the shade.
 

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Vitooch1 said:
It definitely happening on hot hot days , all my trees are in full sun all day. Lately we’ve been having such great weather but I also don’t want to over water.
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It's almost impossible to over water in this heat. If the pots and mix have good drainage Id hit them with more water in the early afternoon to cool the roots.
 
You know I don't usually say I'm really sure about stuff... but if the ones in black pots are dropping... I'd bet you it's the roots.

Personally, I'm not a fan of shade cloth for figs up here. I think they need the sun.... but the roots.. even in the old country, don't get that hot. They're underground. Cover the pots or paint them. In the short term even just drop some white rags around them. Anything to keep the sun off the roots. The leaves are fine .

I have a bunch of black pots but my trees get a little water, 3 times a day.... and there are so many they shade each other.... so it's not a problem. Your black pots look like they're in full sun, sitting on concrete
 
TheMick27 said:
It's almost impossible to over water in this heat. If the pots and mix have good drainage Id hit them with more water in the early afternoon to cool the roots.
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I agree. Until the fruit starts to swell and if the mix drains well... you can water all day long... Definitely at least every day just to keep cool.
 
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