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Any advice on this fig tree?

ErgatesErgates Posts: 2,953
edited May 2022 in Fruit & veg
I bought this last year. It has three stems, which were taped together, and to a bamboo cane. It has quite a few new leaves opened, and a few small figs.
Should I leave the tape in place, does it need replacing with a looser tie, or should the support be removed at some stage? 
Any advice very welcome. I have never had one of these before. It is currently in a large terracotta pot on a south facing patio. 

Posts

  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    Yours look better than ours in the ground this year. They suffered really badly in the frosts in April even though in a protected area. Your stems look very thin but leaf growth looks great. The ties do need to be checked that they aren't cutting into the stems. Figs do need to have their roots curtailed so being in a pot may help but not sure how long this will be.
    Hopefully others will have more info about figs in pots.
    Love fresh figs and hope you have some this year.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    You definitely need to remove those plastic ties and possibly the cane too.   The branches may spread out a bit once freed but that's OK.   We had a fig in a pot in our last garden in Belgium and I had to take it into the greenhouse every autumn to protect it from frosts and cold, biting winds.  That way we also got fruits we could eat.

    In this garden we have inherited a large fig tree planted in the ground.  It is covered in fruits every summer but the pesky starlings swoop in and nick every single one when they are still green and not ripe enough for us so we've planted a small one down the garden in the veg plot amongst the globe artichokes and, fingers crossed, the birds haven't found it yet.  I got 2 fruit last year.  Should be more this year.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • ErgatesErgates Posts: 2,953
    Thanks for the advice. I’ll take the tape off, I can always put a looser tie back if the stems flop over too much. It will have to stay outside all year, but it doesn’t usually get desperately cold down here in Devon. I might have to put some chicken wire or similar round the top of the soil, to stop the squirrels playing in the pot. I caught one rolling on its back round the inside circumference of the pot. Maybe having a scratch, or trying to dislodge parasites?
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