Brown Turkey Figs
One of the first things I planted when we moved to our central Virginia home 20 years ago were three brown turkey fig trees. Positioned on the southeastern corner of our house to protect the roots in winter, they started producing fruit in about 3 years, really hitting their stride at the 5 year mark, producing hundreds of ripe figs per day for weeks. Then "the music died." Late freezes damaged the young fruit (which is really a flower in disguise) and the subsequent fruit could not ripen in time. For the last 4 years we got nada, zilch, nothing.
So, then I read up on unproductive fig trees. As the trees mature, they tend to fill in the center and send up straight, unproductive branches. This shades the tree, reducing the potential for ripening. Last January, our figs trees had a date with a Japanese pruning saw. I removed much of the interior growth, and the vertical, crossed and dead branches, and took off some of the height. At first, I was disappointed, the tree grew back lushly and I though we would not get figs. But I think pruning, plus no late freezes, did the trick and now...THERE BE FIGS HERE!
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