[turnpike]

Hey all,

Should a fig tree be showing signs of life by now?

I have one which was moved from a pot into the ground and it did really well last year after heavy pruning.

Now it looks very dry and dead but perhaps it just doesn't get going early in the year?

Thanks,
Carl.

[8doubles]

Mine are only just starting to show signs of life so give them a bit longer.

[Trillium]

Lightly scratch a branch or the trunk with a fingernail. If it's green, it's still okay, just late. I've heard that this past winter was hard on figs and many are late in recovering. You might have to do a bit of pruning later.

[turnpike]

Thanks.  The other day I removed a lower weak branch which wasn't needed anyway.  I've scratched that yesterday and it did seem to have some green underneath.  I've tried it in another place high up on the actual tree and can't say it looked green at all.

I hadn't realised it might have killed parts of the tree but not all.  Cheers for that.

It looks and feels dead to me but I'll wait and see.

It was moved from a pot to the ground only last year so perhaps I made a mistake not protecting it more from the record low yorkshire temps.

[stu007]

Hi, i have a brown turkey fig and it is showing no signs of life yet. Seems i'm not the only one, let us just hope the cold winter has just slowed them down.
Stu.

[turnpike]

Fingers crossed Stu. Yeah brown turkey here too.

[Swing Swang]

Topgrowth all dead on my fig (branch buried in ground last spring), but a tiny green shoot sprouting from the base of the main stem. Hopefully your roots are alive even if above ground it's a disaster.

[Apostrophes]

My fig tree this year is looking dead too. I think a rabbit has gnawed away the bark at the bottom. I am wondering how the original poster's fig in this thread faired.

Richard

[arugula]

It would be good to think they'll come back and let you know, but they haven't logged in for 10 days short of a year..

[mattwragg94]

i dont know if its any use to you apostrophes - but my brown turn has just started to grow (buds are opening).

[Apostrophes]

Hmm, I am in the SE too so if some people's are growing again I'd have thought mine would be. I didn't cover it with anything when it got really cold, and round my way it dipped to minus 12. I wonder if that did it.

[mattwragg94]

as far as im aware figs are realy tough - have a closer look at your fig - there may be some tiny buds?

[Apostrophes]

No tiny buds yet. I will do the thumbnail test tomorrow by sticking my nail in and seeing if it is green beneath the bark. I'll report back when I know.

[carlrmj]

I've got a brown turkey fig,which I planted last year.

Its only a thin stem about a finger width, about 2 ft6 tall.

It didn't seem to be doing much,but now there are small buds coming through along the

length of the stem.

When frost was predicted I covered it with fleece.

[Apostrophes]

Just an update: I did the thumbnail test and the main shoot is still green right the way to the top. So fingers crossed.