"Chicago Hardy" Fig tree

[LizzzyJo]

Lizzy, those are beautiful!

Thank you! They die back completely each year and sprout new growth and branches every spring. At least that's how mine do it?

 

[nchls school]

Thank you! Do the figs need pruned yearly like apples/pears? I have read figs root easily, so if pruning is required I'd try to propagate some.
My Father was stationed in Greece for several years, and my in-laws are from Eastern Europe (Poland). I would like to grow some of the fruit they talk about. Figs being one of the items on the list.

Any pruning we do is to start new trees. Figs do not need to be trimmed like apples and pears; at least not as much. I would assume that overgrown trees likely need to be trimmed to keep the fruit nice and big, but we never have-not yet as our trees are still young. I am going to top one this year as I can not reach the fruit easy.

 

[nchls school]

Thank you! They die back completely each year and sprout new growth and branches every spring. At least that's how mine do it?

Do they grow fruit that ripens? What kind do you have?

 

[LizzzyJo]

Do they grow fruit that ripens? What kind do you have?

Yeah I get about 20-30 nice ripe figs a year. I expect they won’t grow much bigger than that but it’s still a nice treat.

 

[pintail_drake2004]

Any pruning we do is to start new trees. Figs do not need to be trimmed like apples and pears; at least not as much. I would assume that overgrown trees likely need to be trimmed to keep the fruit nice and big, but we never have-not yet as our trees are still young. I am going to top one this year as I can not reach the fruit easy.

Awesome, I'm no stranger to propagating plants. I have read the figs root easily via cuttings or air layering. I am close to finishing my greenhouse, so I would have a place to move potted plants, and cuttings to while they get started.

 

[Noreaster Egger]

I have quite a few figs up here in NH, but none planted in the ground. I’m going to experiment with a caged Chicago Hardy in the run this year. I expect it to die back every season, but to shoot back up every spring. Ronde de Bordeauxs are fairly hardy as well and grow great as a potted plant. I had a 2” caliper one in a whiskey barrel that I left outside this winter, but mulched with snow heavily, and it completely died back (no surprise given a few nights in the -10s with wind). I’m going to start cuttings in small air pots and eventually size them up in those. They grow like weeds so I think the root pruning pots will be very beneficial.

 

[nchls school]

I have quite a few figs up here in NH, but none planted in the ground. I’m going to experiment with a caged Chicago Hardy in the run this year. I expect it to die back every season, but to shoot back up every spring. Ronde de Bordeauxs are fairly hardy as well and grow great as a potted plant. I had a 2” caliper one in a whiskey barrel that I left outside this winter, but mulched with snow heavily, and it completely died back (no surprise given a few nights in the -10s with wind). I’m going to start cuttings in small air pots and eventually size them up in those. They grow like weeds so I think the root pruning pots will be very beneficial.

I have Chicago fig near the poultry run and planted elsewhere in the yard where the birds free range. They do great. I think you will find the figs and poultry a good fit.

 

[Noreaster Egger]

I have Chicago fig near the poultry run and planted elsewhere in the yard where the birds free range. They do great. I think you will find the figs and poultry a good fit.

They love my potted figs. They jump up and pick them right off the lower branches. It has to be in their top 3 for food they go nuts over.

 

[ElectricDaisy]

I have a young Chicago Hardy Fig also. I’m in Zone 10b in Southern California. Mine also loses all leaves and re-sprouts in Spring. He’s a lovely little guy.
My ducks, and honorary ducks (the chickens) go crazy over my Pakistani Mulberries. They camp out under the tree waiting for berries to fall. It’s hilarious.
If your zone allows I highly recommend it.

 

[LizzzyJo]

I am a transplanted southerner. It's taken me years to establish a fig tree in northern Ohio. I used to eat figs like candy out of all my relative's yards. Now they are like a delicacy. If a chicken ate one of my few precious figs that I get every year I would blow my stack. You would hear me screaming from a mile away. I'm angry at the mere THOUGHT that a chicken may eat a fresh fig