15 Steps to Success: Fig Checklist | Fruit Talk! w/ Ross Raddi -- EP: 72

A checklist for all fig growers to ensure a successful harvest and happy trees. Make sure there is adequate light penetration into the canopy of your tree. Bend limbs and prune accordingly to open the canopy. Thin new shoots at bud break. Train figs as a tree form or as a cordon when possible. A bush should have no more than 3-6 trunks from the base. Trees with no more than 3-6 scaffolds. Have a well draining & consistently moist soil. Not wet. Not dry. Consistently slightly drier than moist for optimum fruit quality. Applications of 10-4-12 should be applied 4-6 times early in the growing season. Preferably stopping after fruit set. Cover all micro nutrients and trace elements. Specifically calcium, magnesium & silica. Remove weeds, unnecessary suckers and any competition. Keep winter pruning to a minimum when possible. Remove spindly weak growth & lower growth during dormancy. Diseased, damaged or dead wood at any time. Ripen fruits at the height of your season. Usually the driest and warmest time of the year. Your harvest can be timed perfectly with pinching and breba production. Ideally wait until the neck of the fig is soft before harvesting OR harvest before a big rain event. Choose the right variety for your climate. Focus on varieties that are rain/humidity resistant, crack resistant and dry easily in humid climates, varieties that don't spoil, are very tasty and benefit from caprification in very hot/dry climates and varieties that ripen early and are hardy in short season/cold climates. Raise soil temperatures in the spring. Maintain them at or below 95F in the summer. Again raising them in the fall. Sunlight hours, thermal mass, containers & mulch goes a long way. Check for scale, spider mites, fungus gnats & borers. I recommend an annual spray of dormant oil, horticultural oil or neem during dormancy. Pick up fallen fruit and remove split fruit to avoid fruit flies and wasps. Use Tanglefoot for ants and slugs. Organza bags or netting for critters. Rejuvenation prune and root prune when trees are heavily affected with FMV, growing slowly, sickly or have lower than normal production. Allow figs to go dormant when possible. Avoid soils that are heavily infested with root knot nematodes. Grow in pots or graft varieties onto LSU Purple. Pick up fallen leaves and diseased leaves when struggling with rust issues. Apply silica  either at the soil level or as a foliar spray (Dyna-Grow Protekt). Reduce water and fertilizer 3 or more months prior to first frost date.