I will be pitching a tent next to you and bringing my gumbo pot! It can double as a pot to make preserves!Only thing.... clearly @Figgin' A is using "magic" to get that kind of fruit set....
I'm still in awe!
I haven't told him yet but I'm hoping to pitch a tent in his garden and watch his plants grow this season.....
IME, up-potting figs early and frequently to end up in pots with enough soil to grow a large enough rootball and keep the moisture and nutrients adequate and consistent, and plenty of heat and light, does the trick.
One more thing worth mentioning. The one that was less productive initially had some sort of nutrient deficiency as can be seen in this early picture.
I think that's what played a role in the poor initial fruit set, but after I gave it some extra care, it got over it, the leaves cleared up, and it began to set fruit at every node.
Rooting one right now. I don't expect any ripe fruit this season as I just put it in soil a week ago.
I pruned my Smith pretty hard last fall, so I am curious to see how mine responds to that.
This one is my most stubborn fig, grows beautifully but shy on fruit, the fruit I had from it were exceptional and very delicious, but whatever I try is not enough to give me more fruits, sunlight, heat, fertilizer, up potting etc.
I heard that about it too and decided to give it a try out of curiosity. I like a good challenge.
"Come on man?!'I rooted two Smith cuttings from two sources last season. One was productive from the start and fruited like it was on steroids. The other one set only a few figs at first; I thought it was a straggler, but a few weeks later, it was loaded, too. I am convinced that, in most cases, it's not what we grow but how we grow it. If your Smith isn't productive, there is something in the growing environment it doesn't like.
A picture of one of my Smith trees last season, about 7-8 months after I rooted it:
