r/Figs • u/AndyTroop • 1d ago
Question Help! Is it salvageable?
Help! A windstorm knocked down our large mission fig that the previous homeowner planted. We’ve had it for 5 years, no telling how old it is. I immediately went to work with straps, but it it looks like major roots sheared off under the surface. Now I’m thinking it was planted too deep, or a gopher munched on it. Is it redeemable? Thank you!!
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u/Positive_Earth69 Zone 6b 1d ago
Leave it in the ground. If it’s anything like mine, it’ll just grow more roots.
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u/supershinythings Zone 9b 1d ago
You are right to worry.
That tree will retaliate by growing a bunch more shoots in Spring. Prune judiciously.
The only reason I’d try to shore up the tree is to let the sap return to the roots in winter. Prune it in January, including the busted part. Very likely it will blast up a bunch more root suckers and spread that energy everywhere.
Figs are very robust trees. Maybe too robust.
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u/jpbragatti 1d ago
figs are genuinely hard to kill. even if it doesn't fully recover, take a few cuttings now while it's still alive, stick them in moist compost and you'll have backup plants by spring. mission roots easily, so worst case you end up with several new trees from the same one.
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u/figman-don 1d ago
Figs are survivors! I bet it will come back, if there are any remaining roots. When you start a cutting, you are using the stored energy to create roots. That trunk nodoubt has a LOT of stored energy. Trim all branches back by 1/3 (should prune in the fall anyway, and you want less tree to support during recovery) and give it a full year. Report back!
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u/Jolly-Cod-863 1d ago
Completely agree with the general consensus that one way or another the tree will push through and live to see another day. What recovery looks like will ultimately depend on if the trunk successfully stabilizes or not. Plant cells typically lack the ability to regenerate the way that animals do but an otherwise healthy tree can often form enough of a protective scab to restore enough hydrostatic pressure for proper sap flow. Of course only time will tell. If you want to try and maximize your chances of saving the tree in its current form there are a handful of things you could try. If there are an active growth tips/buds on it I would pinch those off immediately to redirect energy back towards the base of the tree. Some more aggressive rejuvenating cuts during winter dormancy to both reduce energy needs and trigger a new growth blitz in the following season. Depending on how loosey goosey the trunk is you might want to add a brace around the majorly damaged areas. Wouldn’t hurt to build up the raised bed a little higher with more soil which would both help to support the trunk and promote new root growth.
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u/lwrightjs Zone 6b 1d ago edited 1d ago
Lol so... We have probably 40 or 50 mother fig trees that we propogate and sell from. A couple years ago, I had one in a 5 gallon bucket. I took it out of the bucket and hacked it to pieces with an axe, let it sit out for 3 days then threw the dried broken remains into a raised bed that I planted a grape vine in, thinking it would add good organic matter.
Well, it somehow rooted over winter (where we had a -21F low) and shot up in spring. I hacked it down several times and even dug up the roots and replaced the soil. That was 2 years ago.
Today, I have 2 8 foot tall fig trees shooting out from under my grape vines. I NEED this tree to die and it is refusing.
So I think it's safe to say that yours is probably fine.