Brown Turkey Fig Tree

Ring any bells for anyone? my dad just brought me over one. looks like a nice big stick right now. In a pot from Mellingars nursery. thats not far from here...never have been ...YET! Anyways. If anyone has had one. sure would love to hear from you!

Sure, Mings, what did you want to hear? It is one of the best for making preserves, and great for eating the fruit out of hand. Give it plenty of water and sunshine. This variety doesn't require caprification, you just plant it and let it go. In this area, zone 7-8, it is hardy, but you might want to protect it more, or even grow it in a pot.

wow! thanks! it is just a big stick now...hopefully it will leaf out soon. I just adore figs. WOnder how long it takes to bare fruit...

It takes about 6 years to bear fruit, and the first year or two won't be very much.

oooooooo wonder hos I tell how old it is???? HUMMMMM Interesting

You start counting when you plant it.

Came already planted...in a huge pot and its about 36 inches tall and maybe half inch around....so...that makes it a newborn???

i put mine in the ground last fall i have 2 of them can't wait to take the wimter cover off them. hope they do well this spring i love fresh figs

If you are going to leave it in the pot, it is now in its second year. It might not bear well there, they need root space, but it will survive and bear some, depending on the pot and other conditions. If you replant it now, you won't have to disturb it unless the weather forces you to in order to take it inside. OK, I just got out the book, and here is some of what it says: How To Grow Fig Trees In Pots: When grown in pots, Figs do well. Trees should be potted in autumn, using 10- or 11-in. or larger pots for well-developed trees, smaller pots for young trees. A suitable compost for potting consists of good topsoil with some dried manure and bone meal added. The pots must be well drained, and fairly firm potting is essential. The trees should be repotted every second year; in alternate seasons the surface soil and some from the sides should be carefully removed and replaced, with fresh compost. When repotting is necessary, the tree should be turned out of the pot as soon as the leaves have fallen; all loose soil is shaken from the root ball, coarse roots are shortened and, after the drainage material has been renewed, the tree is replanted in fresh compost. Young, strong trees can be placed in a pot one size larger than before, but Figs can be kept small and compact in growth for several years in a 9-in pot by careful pruning; thick roots should be pruned off and the tree replaced annually in the same pot. When growth starts in spring, the trees should be removed to a greenhouse, light sunroom or some similar place, watered regularly and kept syringed. After the weather has moderated and there is no danger of frost, they may be placed outdoors and buried nearly to the rim of their containers in a bed of ashes or sand. Regular watering and feeding with diluted liquid fertilizers during summer are important, and so is timely stopping of the shoots in summer. All strong growths should have their tops pinched out when they have made four or five large leaves, unwanted, ill-placed, crowded shoots being removed as they appear in spring and summer. Winter pruning, after the leaves have fallen, should not be severe; it is sufficient if older growths are pruned off to make room for young, short-jointed shoots which will bear fruit the next year. The pot trees may remain in a greenhouse during winter or, in fairly mild climates, they may be plunged to the rims of their pots in ashes out of doors in a sheltered corner over winter in a cool, but frostproof or nearly frostproof cellar or outbuilding.

This message was edited May 21, 2005 2:16 PM

I am jealous of you! Mine just now started producing fruit, a couple of years ago when they were at least 6 years old. Of course, they have been totally neglected, and it's amazing they produce at all. I was always told it was six years, but it sounds like that isn't accurate.

I have quite a few different kinds of figs. Some seem to produce earlier than others. Aimee, lots of good info you just wrote...I'm gonna hafta print that out. (Was that in a book written strictly for figs?)
And by the way, "caprification" should be in gardenology, eh? Race you there!!!

everyone here is just SO smart! I feel like I am soaking it all in. Thanks

Shoe, did you enter that for us? I am so lazy! The information I printed out was taken directly from the famous encyclopedia I used for the botanical information I submitted in the little contest vols ran. I learned from looking it up. I confess I have always taken figs for granted because we always had them near. I love them, and miss the sweeter ones we had in La. but just thought they were almost like wildflowers. I sent some cuttings to a man several years ago and you would have thought I had sent gold. I think he was in some nursery business, but he didn't say as much. Just gladly accepted about 30 cuttings. I always like to think it's insurance against the day when I might not have a fig tree.

I am in zone 5 here in Massachusetts and I have my turkey fig in a pot. It was given to me last year as an 18 inch twig with a leaf bud on it. It did have 2 figs beginning in Sept. but when I brought it into the house...I put it in a bigger pot and it lost all its leaves...and the two unripened figs.

We have had one in the garden for several years now and last year was the first time that it produced figs. In the winter we have to bury it in leaves...wrap it in a towel...then a trash bag and secure the whole thing till after frost. I am going to dig this one up and keep it as a shrub in a very large pot because I am tired of having to
worry about it in the spring.....a few hot days and the thing dries out and burns up and then has to be cut back.
If you forget....you have to cut it way back and begin again.

This is a whole new way to look at figs. I think I should start one for the greenporch!

For your fig care questions, I posted a lengthy bit from my garden encyclopedia.

I had a brown turkey fig last year, before the dogs dug it up. It had great tasting fruit. Actually I prefered it slightly, over a Celeste.

oh! what a shame! Dogs will be dogs!

i just put some large tomato cages around mine when i took the winter cover off so my own little white wonder would not run over them. mine are only about 1 1/2 feet high

We planted a Brown Turkey fig last year and it bore fruit right away. This is the second year and it has little figs already. I wonder if it has to do with living in the high desert. It is quite small. In fact I'm a little concerned that it doesn't have many leaves, maybe all it's energy is going to produce fruit instead of leaves...who knows. I do know if I thought it would take six or seven years I wouldn't have planted it..... This from the gal who just planted cherries and lemon trees from seed. :)

I bought another brown turkey fig....also a texas everbearing. The Tx Everbearing I havent tried yet. They are both very small...maybe next year I will get fruit.

wooo hooo I just found fruits on my BR turky figs today about 10 devided between 2 plants the smallest is the seze of a pea and the largest is about the size of a dime

Well, I spoke too soon. All the leaves on the top of our fig tree slowly dried up and fell off, the figs as well. We have healthy new growth coming up at the base of the tree. Anyone have any idea what happened. It has been extremely hot here. We give it plenty of water.And it is supposed to do well in this area. Help....

If the air is really hot and dry, it can burn the leaves, and too much exposure to wind can do much the same. California is one of the best areas for growing figs, so it must be a transient thing. Since yours isn't a new tree, there shouldn't be any need for misting. Just blame the weather! You might want to think of some kind of protection for the new growth if the hot weather persists. I was sort of envying you the climate and conditions for growing figs, but this year all bets are off for temperatures and conditions.

I really water my new trees a lot. I have brown leaves on some of my fig trees....I think it is the heat, regardless of water.... I just heard that the Tx Everbearing and the Brown Turkey Fig are the same thing....anyone else hear this? If so I have two brown turkey figs now.....

*ducking the empty pots being hurled my way* can't help but to put my .02 in..I have 2 huge trees here. They are planted in the ground and are over 12 ft tall...*duck*....I picked so much figs this year I couldn't keep up...*duck*...I make several different kinds of preserves to sell at the farmers market. I was also able to sell figs in 1# servings for 2.50. ... duck...;-)...ahhhh zone 9...giggle...*smack* ouch! that one hit me..

Ok Lisa....rub it in...Im warming up my good arm for another throw your way......hehehe.