Dick’s Love of Figs
I have a big tree that produced over 400 figs last summer. I’d like to share the photo and my 50+ years of fig growing experience. I currently have over 30 trees in my yard here in Narragansett RI.
I have been charged with the responsibility of caring for the tree in my parents’ yard that was smuggled into America about 60 years ago by a visitor who taped the cutting to their arm to avoid detection. My mother’s tree is in the ground on a south facing wall near where the furnace is inside the basement. It sits on the edge of the garden. Many years of amending that garden soil with organic matter including seaweed and microorganisms shows every year in the wonderful produce. The new growth on the tree exceeds 7 feet each year. I cover it every year. I have friends that are caring for clones all over America, I ask only that they remember to ID it as a clone of my father's tree. Some do well, the rest don't. I have a bachelor friend who just ignores his....that one does the best! I have one in a high tunnel at my farm in New Hampshire.
Each year, I clone it by laying low branches on potted soil and watching the root develop. Once I have good root, I re-pot it and we have a tree. I have 4 trees in my yard in Arizona [the birds enjoy it more that I] and 2 potted in Warwick RI.
To me, seeing a fig tree in the yard tells me a lot positive about the residents. I have cloned this tree many times and the resulting trees are all over America. I have two in the yard of my home in AZ. A clone of this tree produced a fig that weighed 4.7 OZ.
I cover the tree in winter with a frame filled with leaves. Much of the top is lost to cold damage as it adds many feet each yr. I often end the season with many figs on the tree that do not ripen. Those that do ripen are pure heaven.
