Fig Tree Maintenace: The TIMELINE for Proper Fig Tree Care
Updated: Dec 12
Brand new to growing fig trees? Not sure how to care for and maintain them?
Navigate your fig tree with confidence using this essential timeline for proper care. Think of this indispensable companion guide as your garden planner, seed starting and planting calendar, or your Farmer’s Almanac of growing fig trees.
The timeline is dedicated to giving you the information you need at any point during the growing season. If you ever get lost, this guide will point you in the right direction to ensure success.
And don’t miss the 15 steps to success companion guide.
I've even gone the extra mile to create an 18" x 24" poster. Get the beautiful fig tree timeline in poster form here:
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Let's start from the beginning of the season and work our way to the end.
Fig Tree Maintenance in the Spring
Initiating the Season: 30-60 Days Before Last Frost
Begin by performing any tasks overlooked during dormancy.
Complete any last-minute pruning, root pruning, or rejuvenation pruning.
To read more about pruning fig trees, check out this guide for in-ground fig trees, and this guide for container fig trees.
Check for scale, borers, and any other overwintering pests. Consider applying dormant oil, neem, or insecticidal soaps.
Unwrap and uncover fig trees that are planted in the ground to prevent overheating and mold as the weather warms.
Here is more information on unwrapping and uncovering fig trees.
Utilize season extension methods such as heated greenhouses or tunnels in cooler climates for an early start.
To read more about fig trees in greenhouses, check out this article.
Shield any trees that have left dormancy from frost, maintaining temperatures above 32F.
Final Preparations: 0-30 Days Before Last Frost
Focus on awakening your trees from dormancy.
For trees not yet awake, warm and rehydrated root systems are key.
Continue to protect fig trees that are awake from frost.
Ensure trees out of dormancy receive sufficient water, sunlight, and warmth for rapid growth. Use warm water whenever possible. Early efforts provide exponential benefits later in the growing season.
The Growing Season is Starting: Shortly After Last Frost
Once the danger of frost passes, your trees should be fully awake.
Continue to prioritize the maximization of sunlight and warmth with proper fertilization and watering.
Transition trees any previously shaded trees gradually to full sun to prevent sunburn.
To learn more about sunburn, check out this article.
Assess your fig trees:
Identify any winter damage and remove any damaged or dead wood.
Determine weak points on your tree. Are you seeing a severe case of fig mosaic virus?
Consider pruning weak and unhealthy growth.
To learn more about pruning fig trees in the spring, click here.
To learn more about fig mosaic virus, click here.
Fertilizing Fig Trees
Apply container trees with 4-8 weekly applications of a well-balanced fast-release fertilizer. Or apply a one-time application of slow release fertilizer.
Stick to a schedule.
Cover your micronutrients and consider adding lime, diatomaceous earth, compost tea, and mulch in dry/hot locations.
While it's important to stick to a fertilization schedule early in the growing season, be sure to correct any nutritional deficiencies immediately.
If you're unsure of what your in-ground trees may need, the best way to figure out any deficiencies is to get a soil test.
To learn more about fertilizing fig trees, click here.
Shaping, Training, & Pruning Fig Trees
Pruning should have been completed by this point, but it’s never too late.
Thin the new shoots shortly after bud break if they are growing in disadvantageous positions.
These shoots won't receive appropriate levels of sunlight or they'll shade others.
Maximizing photosynthesis is what separates the average fig grower from the exceptional.
Stakes are your best asset. Instead of pruning a branch in the wrong location during dormancy, have the foresight that you can stake it instead into a new position. This will lead to more and earlier ripening fruits.
Temperatures are Getting Warmer: 15-45 Days After Last Frost
As fig trees experience increasing sap flow and metabolic rates from warmer weather, this is the ideal time for repotting, planting, and propagation.
Repotting and planting can be accomplished at any time given the right circumstances, but mild weather in the spring is the perfect time to do so ahead of the upcomming growing season.
Related: Planting Fig Trees: A Masterclass
Start propagation techniques like outdoor rooting, grafting, and air layering, taking advantage of the warmer soil temperatures.
Air and soil temperatures as close to 78F as possible is the most optimal for propagation.
Related: Branching Out: The Many Ways of Propagating Fig Trees | Layering, Rooting, Grafting, Seeds & More!
Fig Tree Maintenance in the Summer
Evaluate Your Fig Trees: 2 months after your last frost
By this point, properly cared-for fig trees are covered in figs. If yours is not, evaluate your tree on these criteria:
Related: Fig Tree, NO FRUIT - Grow Figs Not Leaves | The 4 Reasons Why Your Fig Tree IS NOT Fruiting
1. How much sunlight does your fig tree receive?
Without proper sunlight, as the fig tree is growing new leaves, the fruit buds will not set.
Read up on the sunlight requirements for fig trees, here.
2. How much did you prune your fig tree during dormancy?
Excessive winter pruning can throw your tree into hormonal imbalance encouraging growth and discouraging fruiting.
Read about how to keep your fig tree small with proper pruning here.
3. Is your fig tree healthy?
Check the roots for root rot and root-knot nematodes. Assess your tree’s severity of fig mosaic virus and consider rejuvenation pruning.
Rejuvenation pruning can be critical for your success. Check out more details about this special technique here.
Other Tips During the Summer:
1. Decrease Fertilizer
Now that you have fruit set, cease all synthetic fertilizers and organic fertilizers heavy in nitrogen. Excess nitrogen will decrease fruit quality.
2. Increasing Production
Consider summer pruning, pinching, nipping, topping, or what’s called River’s pruning if you want to time a second crop of main crop figs. This technique can also increase your overall production by over 100%.
To read more about River’s pruning, check out this detailed guide.
3. Watering Fig Trees: Pay Attention to Soil Moisture
If not performing River's pruning, consider reducing your watering regimen to ensure a higher brix in your fruits. However, the summer is a critical time for watering fig trees, and frequently, new fig growers neglect & underwater their fig trees. This is when they need the most water.
Potted fig trees: Start with 1/4th to 1/2 of a gallon of water daily per 5 gallons of soil.
Fig trees planted in the ground: Once a week, deeply water to saturate the rootball and the surrounding soil.
To read about properly watering fig trees, click here.
4. Training Young Fig Trees During the Summer:
Top your young fig trees when they’ve developed large leaves and are showing strong and healthy growth. This will enable them to form scaffolds in their first growing season reducing the time to maturity by an entire growing season.
Lastly, evaluate your fig tree for signs of rust. Prevent severe cases right away by removing leaves with rust and consider spraying with an organic copper fungicide.
Other important preventative measures can be found in more detail here.
Time to Enjoy Your Efforts: 3 months after your last frost
Harvesting Figs
This is when you'll start seeing your first main crop figs ripen.
Decrease soil moisture further to keep brix levels high and protect your harvest when necessary. Organza bags, chicken wire, traps, and netting are all great options.
Harvest when the fig’s neck is soft or before rains.
Don’t skip this article on harvesting figs. After all the work we've done, you don't want to pick them early and spoil the taste.
During post-harvest, consider cutting them in half placing each half skin side down on a tray, and placing them in your refrigerator to slowly dry them. This will concentrate their flavors further.
Refrigerate, dry, or preserve your harvest to extend its shelf life.
Check out this article on drying figs and this article on how to intensify their flavors in the refrigerator.
Fig Tree Maintenance in the Fall
In the fall, it’s best to reduce water in the soil even further to encourage lignification. Pick up and dispose of any fallen leaves to lessen rust issues.
Pick up and dispose of any fallen fruits to lessen fruit fly and other pest pressure.
This is a great time to do any repotting and planting.
Don’t miss these steps when planting your fig tree.
Preparing for Winter: After a few frosts
Pruning Fig Trees
The trees are now entering dormancy. Consider lightly pruning to thin out the tree's canopy.
Make thinning cuts. Not heading cuts.
Remove scaffolds or trunks at the soil level to maintain size, but try to avoid removing too many apical or lateral buds with each cut.
To learn about how excessive and improper pruning can ruin your harvest the next growing season, click here.
Winter Storage
Put potted trees away in storage no earlier than when you see temperatures in the forecast below 15F. That will ensure they're dormant.
Provide a good helping of mulch and water to each tree before placing them in storage.
Root prune/bare root fig trees when necessary.
Begin indoor rooting of cuttings.
Winter Protection
Wrap or protect your fig trees planted in the ground in zones 7A and below when the forecast is predicting 15-20F.
Fig Tree Maintenance in the Winter
Midway through dormancy: Take a Break
To be safe, consider watering dormant container fig trees. 4 ounces per tree.
During dormancy, it is appropriate to do any bare rooting, pruning, root pruning, planting, or any task where the top or bottom of the tree is disturbed.
Propagation of any kind should not take place until the tree is awake and the daytime high and nighttime low temperatures average is close to 78F.
