The Fig Growing Year: A Season by Season Schedule

How the year is shaped

Two clocks run at once on a fig. The early crop sits dormant on last year's wood through the winter and ripens in early summer. The main crop does not exist until spring growth starts, and ripens from late summer until the cold stops it. Almost every job in the year is aimed at one or the other, and knowing which keeps you from canceling one crop while tending the other.

The dates below are deliberately given as seasons rather than months, because a fig runs on accumulated heat. In a long hot summer the whole sequence compresses and the main crop finishes comfortably; in a short cool one it stretches, the main crop is left green, and the early crop is the one that pays.

Late winter: prune, and decide the year

Do the year's structural work while the tree is bare and fully dormant, once the hardest cold has passed. This is the only time you can see the framework, and the only time it is safe to make significant cuts. It is also when you commit to which crop you are backing, because everything you shorten is early crop.

In cool gardens, keep this to removal rather than shortening: dead, damaged, crossing wood and basal suckers, and nothing else. In hot climates where the main crop ripens easily, this is when you cut last year's shoots back hard to keep the tree small.

This is also the moment to plant a new tree. Bare root and dormant container trees both establish best going into the ground just before the buds move.

Spring: bud break to fruit set

Growth starts when soil temperatures rise, and the first thing to look at is the small green fruit on last year's wood. If they are still firm and attached, the early crop survived the winter and will swell rapidly over the next few weeks. If they are dry, brown or absent, they were killed by cold, and this year is a main crop year whether you wanted it or not.

Feed once at bud break with a low-nitrogen slow-release fertilizer, uncover anything you wrapped for winter, and start watering as the leaves expand. Container trees can go back outside once hard frosts are past, but move them out gradually: leaves that expanded under cover scorch in full sun.

Early to mid summer: pick the brebas, pinch the shoots

The early crop ripens on bare-ish wood and is easy to see, so the only real risk is picking it before it hangs. Wait for the neck to bend and the fruit to soften, then pick daily. At the same time the new shoots are running, each one carrying the main crop in its leaf axils.

Once each new shoot has five or six leaves, pinch out the growing tip. This is the highest-value job of the whole summer: it stops extension growth, sends the tree's resources into the fruit already sitting on the shoot, and brings the main crop forward by one to three weeks. Do it in a single pass over the tree in the first half of summer, and leave the tips on any shoots you need to extend the framework.

1. Pick the early crop daily Check every day once the first fruit softens. Early figs go from firm to overripe in about two days in warm weather.
2. Pinch at five or six leaves Take out the soft tip of every new shoot with finger and thumb, once in early summer. Wear sleeves; the latex burns skin in sunlight.
3. Water without swings This is when the main crop is sizing. Mulch and water on a routine rather than waiting for the tree to look dry.
4. Feed containers fortnightly Use a high-potassium liquid feed every 10 to 14 days while the fruit is swelling. Trees in restricted ground usually need nothing more.
5. Tie in fan-trained growth Space new shoots evenly across the wall and tie them while they are still flexible. Once hardened they snap.

Late summer to autumn: the main crop

The main crop hides under large leaves, so from late summer onwards go along each shoot and lift the foliage. Fruit here softens quickly and a fig left a day past ripeness splits, sours and attracts wasps to the whole tree, so daily picking now is protection as much as harvest.

Stop feeding entirely from late summer, and ease off the water slightly as the fruit colors to concentrate the sugar. At the same time next year's early crop is quietly forming as tiny beads in the axils of this year's shoots. Everything from here on is about letting the wood harden before cold arrives.

Do not prune now, however untidy the tree looks. Cuts made in late summer and autumn do not seal before cold weather and die back down the shoot, taking next year's early crop with them.

Late autumn and winter: strip, protect, record

When the cold ends ripening, go over the tree and remove every green fig larger than a hazelnut. Those will neither ripen nor overwinter, and left on the branch they rot and hide the real early crop when you come to prune. Anything pea sized and hard stays: that is next year's first fruit.

Protect the framework in marginal climates once the leaves are off. Row cover or hessian around the branches and straw at the base carries a tree through cold that would otherwise kill the embryonic fruit, which are damaged from around 20F (minus 7C) even though the wood itself survives to about 15F (minus 9C). Containers are easier: put them against a wall or into an unheated shed and water about once a month.

Then write the year down. The dates of bud break, first ripe early fig, first ripe main crop fig and last pick, plus the length of the longest shoot and the winter low, are six lines that will tell you next winter exactly how hard to prune and whether the root restriction is still working.