Planting a Fig Tree in your Garden

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Planting a Fig Tree in your Home Garden

Figs are one of the earliest recorded grown fruits, with several biblical references to their cultivation. Not only that but planting a fig tree in your garden gives a look that is simply unachievable with any other tree: a look of honor, of tradition. In this article we aim to show you the dos and don’t’ when planting a fig tree, to hopefully make your growing experience more fruitful!

Selecting your Fig Tree

Fig trees come in all different shapes and sizes. Before choosing a fig for your garden, consider if it is compatible with the other elements of your garden design, and are you likely to have plentiful resources from which it can draw and grow?

Additionally, you should consider the cost of the tree, and balance this up with quality. A great source of fig trees and invaluable information is your local garden center, stocked to the brim with experts on gardening through years of first-hand experience. Ask the employees anything: you may be surprised at how willing they are to enter into discussion, particularly when it comes to planting a fig tree or choosing a healthy tree for your garden.

One way to get around this problem altogether is to grow the tree from a cutting. Cuttings are advantageous because they have no roots initially and can so be simply planted into the ground. However, this opens your tree up to the dangers of early growth and is by no means a guarantee of success.

Read More: How To Make A Bonsai Fig Tree

Planting and Growing Your Fig Tree

Fig trees were once considered heirlooms, and passed through many generations for their fruit-bearing properties. It is important when growing a fig that you dedicate time and patience towards it, to produce the best results in terms of appearance, color, and fruit. Trust me, after successfully growing your own, you will notice a real difference in taste.

The first thing you have to bear in mind when planting a fig tree, or when planting a cutting, is that fig trees need sunlight. A warmer, sunny location will help to ripen the fruit in its later stages and simply produce the best results for your tree. Having said that, in hotter climates, the tree does appreciate some shade in the afternoon to keep the worst of the baking heat at bay.

It is also an important consideration that, whilst not invasive, fig trees eventually require a strong root system, so it is important to ensure planting well below the ground to avoid roots showing and potentially causing structural damage. Make sure you give the tree plenty of space and allow it to take its natural progression. It is also imperative to ensure the roots do not freeze during harsher climes, as this will kill the tree, so the element of winter protection is also something worthy of considering.

When planting a fig tree, there are many considerations that need to be balanced, and many factors that can ultimately go wrong. If you care for your tree religiously and ensure it is given the optimum conditions within which to grow, you will see an eventual outcome that will reflect your efforts. It is fun, but hard work.

A fig tree can be very demanding, and if you have any plants in the proximity, this may cause problems associated with the natural competition. When planting a fig tree, there are lots to think about, but it really is worth it in the end.

Cultivation of Fig Trees

With the right care, the cultivation of fig trees can be achieved in even quite hostile environments, even when temperatures can plummet down to -2C. Being quite a hardy plant, established fig trees can be grown outdoors in a planter or directly into the earth. However, they are best at least started off in a greenhouse, especially over their first few winters. When established a garden fig tree can add an unusual shape to the plants in your garden as well as one that can provide delicious fruit.

Read More: How to Take Care of Indoor Fig Tree

Beginning the Cultivation

If it is a single stem cut it back to about 220mm high, or if it has branches cut off the tips of any new shoots. Start a fig tree in your greenhouse in a 300mm pot, transferring it to a 600mm or larger one when required. When you transfer the plant to another pot always plant it 25mm to 50mm deeper than it was in the previous pot to encourage new growth. Also, always use clay/terracotta pot or a wooden planter, not plastic, as the natural materials are better insulators for the young plant being cooler in summer but warmer in winter.

Use a soil-based compost well firmed down to about 25mm below the pot top and after an initial good watering – keep it moist, adding plenty of broken tiles or stones at the bottom of the pot or planter for drainage. Expect growth to start around March with foliage and fruit starting to appear around July. When the fruit starts to be produced give it a regular feed of a high potash fertilizer or tomato feed.

Figs Outdoors

An outdoor fig tree planted in a position in the garden giving it plenty of sun will quite happily grow to 3m in height and have a spread of up to 5m. So, when planting fig trees make sure you’re giving them plenty of room to grow into and dominate. Although they like being against a wall for the reflected heat they get and protection from winds, walls can inhibit the root growth making them unstable.

So, despite being a hardy plant in extreme northerly locations protect the fig tree over winter with layers of a windbreak type of plant blanketing. This precaution should only be needed during the real depth of the winter and can usually be safely removed by March. Make sure you give the tree good mulching in either March or April, ahead of the main growing season, other than that there’s very little you need to do in terms of further cultivation.

If you want to use figs as bushes in a border they don’t fare very well in light soils as the roots don’t bind well. You can have figs in a light soil border but you’ll need to either artificially make the earth heavier or, a better idea is to, put them in planters about 3m apart. The planter needs annual mulching too and any pruning to maintain the bush shape should be done before the main growing season.

Read More: How Prune Fruit Trees

Other Comments for Cultivating

If you can manage to move large planters around it’s probably best to grow your fig trees in planters so that they can spend the warm months outdoors and the colder ones indoors in the greenhouse. A bonus for doing this is that an outdoor fig tree will fruit once a year whereas a greenhouse one will fruit twice.

The fruit can be picked when the fruit hangs down and the stalks are bending; you’ll also see the eye at the bottom of the fig fruit open and drip sugar. The main threat to fig trees is fig rust, a mottling of the leaves caused by getting over wet in growing seasons of heavy rain, which can be treated with a copper fungicide.

How To Grow Fig Tree Indoors

How To Grow Fig Tree Indoors

Fig trees are grown outdoors but nowadays they are even popular for their indoor versions. How to grow fig tree indoors is a relevant question for those who are looking at decorating their house or office by placing a miniature of the popular bonsai fig tree.

Quick Facts About Fig Trees

Fig tree is a member of ficus family, which is popular for its growth tolerance in different climates, soils, and water conditions. A fig tree can easily get accustomed to its smaller size and can grow in small pots or trays. Just like a regular fig tree, indoor fig tree care is important for its healthy growth and existence.

The ficus family has many species of fig tree that can survive indoors. Some of the most popular ones are Benjamina figMicrocarpa figRubiginosa figRetusa figMacrophylla fig, and Salicaria fig. Fig tree, being the easiest among all the plants to develop indoors, is popular among beginners looking to develop fig trees indoors. Moreover, a fig tree is also a fruit-bearing indoor plant.

Easy Ways on Growing Fig Tree Indoors

Let us now understand how to grow fig tree indoors to decorate a corner in your house or office. Some of the points to be taken into consideration include:

Planting a fig tree:

  • To start with learning how to grow fig trees indoors, select a pot of a minimum 5 gallons capacity to plant fig trees. The selection of the pot should be made considering the size of the fig tree’s roots.
  • Fig tree grows better in fertile and moist soilOrganic muddy soil is considered appropriate for the growth of fig trees indoors.
  • Select a plant with a height of around 24-30 inches.
  • Along with the soil and size of plant, the growth of fig tree also depends upon its placement indoors. Make sure that the fig tree is placed where it can get bright indirect sunlight.
  • Avoid extremely cold and hot temperatures. In winters, fig-trees indoors need to be placed away from cold drafts.
  • Again it is important to know about the most favorable season to grow fig trees indoors. It is advisable to plant fig trees in winter season for their roots to become mature by the time spring walks in.
  • Avoid overwatering and scarce watering. Just enough amounts of water and sunlight can make indoor fig trees blossom.
  • Fig trees grow well in a high level of humidity. In that case, it is advisable to mist fig trees 2-3 times a day so that it can even prevent the formation of dust and webs.

Maintaining a fig tree:

The answer to the question on how to grow fig tree indoors might by now be clear. It is equally important to know the facts regarding maintaining a fig tree indoors.

  • Fig trees need regular pruning for sustainable growth. Figs should be pruned every year in its first 3 growing seasons and thereafter, they are pruned as often as needed to accelerate growth.
  • Fertilize fig tree with fruit tree fertilizer 3-4 times in a year avoiding months from November to March.
  • Along with nutrition, fig tree also needs repotting. Change the pot or tray every 2 years with fresh soil and do not fertilize for one month so that roots gets established on their own. In summer, fig-trees planted indoors should be taken outdoors for some time to get sunlight, fresh air, and warm temperature.

The above guide on how to grow fig tree indoors can help beginners in growing and maintaining their own fig tree indoors.


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