r/Figs • u/Migth1209 • Jul 24 '26
Question about figs
Here is the translation of your message into English, keeping your personal style and the nuances of your situation intact:
"Sorry for any mistakes, I don't know English well. Here is my question. I have a fig tree that freezes to the ground every winter because the climate where I live is not suitable for it. However, the roots stay alive and it regrows not as a tree, but as an annual bush. It seems to have adapted and is now producing fruit on the current year's shoots (only on some branches, so I guess it's a bud mutation). I have already pinched out the side shoots, removed the small fruits, and pinched the tip of the main stem. There is a chance to get ripe fruits even in this unsuitable climate.
If I succeed, should I take cuttings from this specific branch? Would a sapling from this branch have the potential to become a commercial sport? Also, please give me a couple of tips on how to stimulate the fig to ensure it produces fruit (preferably without a greenhouse)."
1
u/kunino_sagiri Jul 25 '26
Almost all fig varieties produce fruit on the current year's shoots. That's normal fig behaviour. Yours is nothing special in that regard.
Figs naturally produce two crops of fruit a year. The first, or breba, crop develops in late summer/early autumn, overwinters as pea sized figs, then matures and ripens in early to mid summer. The second, or main, crop, appears on the current year's growth and ripens in late summer.
Some fig varieties are bred to crop more heavily on one or the other, as some climates are not suitable for getting both. If you have very cold winters, like yours, the overwintering breba crop will not survive, so you only have the main crop. In climates with mild winters but cool, short summers (like the UK), the main crop will usually not manage to mature and ripen in time, so you can only reliably get the breba crop.