Is this a breba or is the world upside-down?

[TorontoJoe]

I am testing several pruning strategies this season - no pruning, (last season) late summer pruning, hard pruning to older (>1y) wood, and pruning off last season's wood to 1-2 buds. Unpruned definitely wake up and set fruit the earliest, but pruned to last season's 1-2 buds woke up and set fruit almost as quickly; I noticed a 1-2 day lag in bud break and 1-2 days in fruit set. I-258, which was pruned to older wood, lagged by 8 days in bud break and 2-3 weeks in fruit set. But I-258 broke bud 7 days later than other varieties last year too, but fruit set lagged by only a week - all that on 1 yo wood though. So, definitely, the older the wood, the less I-258 likes it. This could very a lot depending on a variety, I wouldn't know.

The thing that I learned for myself is that I want to see many shorter fruiting branches sprouting simultaneously vs fewer branches growing very long and that's how I will be pruning most of my trees. That will ensure much more fruit set early and hence ripen early.

It's late but I very much want to carry on this topic. I'll be back

 

[Kid Fig]

I have something similar on my I-258, it looks like this:

It's not growing directly off of old wood like typical brebas do. I thought it was a main crop fig initially, but later realized it was a breba as main crop figs didn't begin to show for another 4 weeks.

I've also seen brebas grow on new wood on 1st year trees if I root them early enough. It's very common it seems.

That's some explosive growth coming out!

 

[Kid Fig]

Something I think I may start as a new topic... I'd like to discuss....as we prune trees back to older and bigger wood that takes longer to sprout new branches... how to manage the pruning to continue earlier branching. I had to prune my in ground trees to very old wood this year.... I'm concerned they wont put out new growth until it's too late to produce ripe figs.

Interesting ..

Could cutting back up to 1-2 nodes help instead of all the way relieve this issue?

Gonna try this with Girsh after it gets too big and I don't want to disrupt the wasp cycle bybover pruning.

 

[Figgin' A]

That's some explosive growth coming out!

Totally.

 

[Kid Fig]

I love my Florea (I'm in 9A) - it's so delicious and prolific

Think I'll have to add Florea once I start culling underperformers.

 

[TorontoJoe]

Interesting ..

Could cutting back up to 1-2 nodes help instead of all the way relieve this issue?

Gonna try this with Girsh after it gets too big and I don't want to disrupt the wasp cycle bybover pruning.

I think it depends on the age of the nodes. I got really good at protecting in ground trees up here in the frozen tundra... but I've been noticing that the big thick branches that i protect shoot out new wood later and later every year.... so here's the thing... I have a tree that's bigger and thicker and can handle more cold... but it sets new wood later and from that more fruit that will never ripen....

I'm starting to consider a strategy where I don't ever let the trees get more than say, 4 years old.... allowing succession suckers.... kind of like bananas... where I'd always have a optimally aged tree.

 

[Kid Fig]

I think it depends on the age of the nodes. I got really good at protecting in ground trees up here in the frozen tundra... but I've been noticing that the big thick branches that i protect shoot out new wood later and later every year.... so here's the thing... I have a tree that's bigger and thicker and can handle more cold... but it sets new wood later and from that more fruit that will never ripen....

I'm starting to consider a strategy where I don't ever let the trees get more than say, 4 years old.... allowing succession suckers.... kind of like bananas... where I'd always have a optimally aged tree.

I'll have to take notice of my trees and once they start lagging - time to hard prune (down to 3 1/2-4ft) just incase they're no dormant nodes below the soil line.

 

[TorontoJoe]

I'll have to take notice of my trees and once they start lagging - time to hard prune (down to 3 1/2-4ft) just incase they're no dormant nodes below the soil line.

It's also so different four you and I. It's weird.... whenever you post practical stuff, I attribute my default to my experience in Italy. I think our farm near Palermo is pretty close to your climate..... only with, all those italians.. everywhere.... Dio Mio

 

[Figgin' A]

I think it depends on the age of the nodes. I got really good at protecting in ground trees up here in the frozen tundra... but I've been noticing that the big thick branches that i protect shoot out new wood later and later every year.... so here's the thing... I have a tree that's bigger and thicker and can handle more cold... but it sets new wood later and from that more fruit that will never ripen....

I'm starting to consider a strategy where I don't ever let the trees get more than say, 4 years old.... allowing succession suckers.... kind of like bananas... where I'd always have a optimally aged tree.

Another thing that I noticed is that growth from younger wood is thicker and more vigorous, with more and larger fruit. Not always, but there is a strong correlation.