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I beg to differ on that statement ecrane3. One of my friends have the most beautiful fig tree for many years and she have been offering me some cuttings but I did not accept them because I did not know how to root them.The plant was there when she bought the property
Is your friend in zone 6 (and are you sure you are?) There are parts of NYC that are in zone 7 and Ficus carica is hardy to zone 7, but in zone 6 it wouldn't be guaranteed to make it.
Hi ecrane3, I goggled the zone map and I am in zone 6b.Sometimes we get mild winters, last year we did not shovel any snow but in 1998 we had 23 inches of snow in my area.I know you think this is quite strange. (laugh)
We Grow The edible Fig here in UK, they have to be offered protection against a wall in full sun and some form of fleece draped as a curtain over the foliage in winter if there is a chance of night frost, this is NOT a nightly task, only when the temp drops right down in your area.
The other way to grow them is in large pots, All the edible Figs like their roots restricted to get flower and fruit in cooler areas, they have a creeping (Huge ) root system so even when grown out doors in a border against a wall, the custom is to dig a large hole and sink paving slabs into the hole to form a square, to curtail the roots from wandering all over the bed / border.
The next thing to remember is that Edible Figs flower and set fruit one year and you must remove some of the tiny fruits and leave the remaining fruit to grow larger and ripen the following season, The plants like a rich manured soil that's free draining as wet soil will rot the roots.
Don't know the name of the Edible figs you can grow in USA but here in UK we grow a shrub type in a large container that can be moved indoors or out (Called White Marseilles ) it grows pale green fruits that are almost white when ripe.
The tree commonly grown wall trained type are called (Brown Turkey ) these grow large brown fruits and are treated the same regarding root restrictions and thr setting fruit one year to ripen the following year.
Hope this helps you decide if you want to give these tree's / shrubs a go, it will be a few years before you are feeding on the lovely juicey fruits through.
I would grow the wall trained type and train it as a fan shaped tree, they are easier to keep and eye on the temps and the fruits are larger.
Good luck, WeeNel.
i grew up in the country outside of saint louis, mo. which i think is zone 5/6 and the farmhouse across the road had a big circle garden with nothing but figs. the hired gardener would cut them almost to the ground every late fall and pile straw very deep over the whole bed. in spring, after the last frost, he'd uncover the bed and they'd start growing like nothing had happened. granted, they never got large, probably no more than 4' by summer's end but they produced heavily every late summer. the funny thing is that no one from that house ever picked them. i asked and got permission to harvest them and i'd bring them home by the buckets.
it was one of many wonderful childhood discoveries growing up there.
