Does anyone have Fig or Avagado trees?

I have been seeing Avacado trees advertized at Lowes for the last couple of weeks. I thought it was too hot in the SW desert to grow Avacados with any success. Anyone have any info on this? I also plan to plant Fig trees. If any one has Fig trees, how are they doing and where have you planted them in your yard? Full sun or partial? Can either be kept in large pots or would that be too confining?

Janet,
Surprise, Az.

both trees can get quite large.
Avacados get tall and the figs are a very wide tree.

Locally there are many fig orchards and they are in full sun.

I hope this helps.

Thanks. The only figs I have seen here in the Phx area have been immature and the only full sized fig was in my brothers yard in Fla. Yes, it was a wide, almost bushy tree.

Janet
Surprise, Az.

I think I'm probably in a similar temperate zone to you and I have three figs. The oldest one is 8' tall and about 6' wide. The other two are much smaller but now that they will get some care, I have no doubt they'll grow as large. Figs can easily be kept in line by pruning in the late Fall/ early Winter.

Thanks. I think you are probably right so I'll plant accordingly. My husband used to tell me that the fig tree outside his bedroom window was big enough for him to climb out and shinny down it. It must have been a really big tree.

Janet
Surprise, Az.

I grew up climbing the fig tree in our front yard in Blythe, CA (CA/AZ border where I-10 crosses). Always had way more fruit that we could even give away! It was a small tree when we moved there, but over the course of the 12 years we lived in that house it grew quite large, but at a slant from all the kids climbing on it as it grew up!

I haven't seen any large fig trees in Az. but a neighbor said she had one in Tucson. She brought a cutting with her and planted it in Peora. I'm watching to see how it does here. My husband grew up in the mountains of Greece, so I expect the tree he talked about was a different variety. Certainly a different climate than here in the desert.

Janet,
Surprise, Az.

Do check up on the type of avocado -- there are some species that you have to buy a male tree and a female tree (like kiwis) in order to have fruit -- some are able to pollinate themselves.

Thanks, I didn't know that. I'm planning to research avacado trees this winter so I'll know if it seems like a good idea to try next spring. One step at a time
Janet,
Surprise, Az.

Enjoyed a Summer picnic yesterday with 25   friends in a Fruit-tree society, and our president who hosted us has some Fig-trees with one over 10feet wide+tall. The green kind do really well here. Another member's trees are so prolific   they can't eat them all, so it feeds the compost. So since Figs grow so well in the PNW, surely they should also do well in southern climates. Figs, especially the Black mission figs are very nutritious...

In California, the fig industry used to be big. Urban sprawl has wiped out a lot of the orchards I used to see everywhere. Farmers would put little paper bags of a certain wasp on the trees so they would get pollinated.

I'm totally ignorant about species that don't need that type of wasp. One neighbor had a fig tree in their front yard that still produces figs. The new owner doesn't do anything with the figs. Hmmm

sanderson wrote: One neighbor had a fig tree in their front yard that still produces figs.  The new owner doesn't do anything with the figs.  Hmmm

Figgers! 

I have a 'new' fig tree purchased in the spring. It's called 'Brown Turkey' and can stay outside in winter here on the Cape. It's about 3 ft by 3 ft now and I plan on keeping it smallish, no taller than I can reach. Because I read that it produces more fruits if the roots are restricted, I planted it into a 2 foot round black tub filled with mostly compost, and it sits under my bedroom window. Just today I saw 3 baby figs growing on it. There may be more but I didn't poke around yet. I'm so excited!   I love figs and none will be composted while I'm around. 

CC

camprn wrote:Figgers! 

Booooooo!  

CC  

I have two fig trees that are doing very well here in Glendale, az. they love the heat and I have them planted in full sun. One is 2 years old and the other was just planted this last January. We are already enjoying lots of black mission figs from the 2 year old tree. I can't remember what the other was called off the top of my head.... I plan to heavily prune them each year to keep them smaller.
As for avocados, I hear that they are extremely hard to get to fruit here... I have never really looked into it because I like easy trees!

A friend of mine had a large fig tree in her back yard in N. Phoenix. Her kids climbed it when they were little; not sure how many years the tree had been growing because it was already a full grown tree when she bought the house. Based on her experience I would say figs are a safe bet; I would also love to grow avocados but everything I've read makes that sound difficult (must shade young trees, may not get fruit etc.) but if anyone has had success I'd love to know what they've done!

I live in So Cal and have an avocado tree. I planted it this year and it's growing nicely. I had one last year but it died. I believe I have the right rhythm for watering now. Everything I've read says the roots hate sitting in standing water and the roots will rot (roots are a bit sensitive), but you also can't let the roots dry out either. My soil drains quickly! I believe I under watered my tree last year and at some point gave up on it. I now have a drip system attached to my sprinklers and it keeps the roots moist. Guys at my work put a 5 gallon bucket full of water and a small hole in the bottom to accomplish the same. I have a hose attached to a faucet system and it does the heavy watering every 3 days. I bought a small sample size of water based white paint from HD (mixed it 1/10) and painted the base, so it doesn't get sun burned.

Many avocado trees are sold after being graphed, so you don't need two trees to produce fruit, they will self pollinate. I don't think it takes too long to produce fruit unless you grow a tree from a seed, in which some cases you don't produce any fruit at all. I've seen small trees at the garden shop, slightly bigger than mine, bearing fruit. I bought my tree around April of this year and its grown quite a bit. I'm thinking I may get fruit next year or the following year at the latest...at least I'm hoping. I believe in warmer weather they bear fruit quicker, especially if you fertilize it and nurture it. quickly.

I bought my Haas tree from Costco at a very reasonable price (about $16). They sell them every spring. If you love avocados....something to think about.

CapeCoddess wrote:I love figs and none will be composted while I'm around. 

None of ours get composted while the birds are around. In fact, few of them even reach our table.

And the birds have found my figs. It would be...  but my hubby got so upset about it and is pouting so I can't help but...    Guess it's time to go buy bird netting for my trees as hubby   doesn't think it's very good Saturday morning entertainment to sit here and watch the birds feast on our half eaten figs. I love figs but for some reason this morning I can't help but   about it. Maybe it's because hubby is pouting so and maybe it's just cause I love birds too and don't mind sharing some. But it is a bit much...they didn't just pick one to share they are doing a taste test on 4 of the 5 almost ripe figs. Hubby managed to save one before they decided to try that one out too. So I guess now it is a situation of you might as well   or you will cry  . I sure was looking forward to some ripe figs this weekend.  

TxGramma wrote:And the birds have found my figs.

OMG, I'm so glad you posted this, TxGramma! I had no idea. Out comes the netting today since I my baby figs are popping out now.

Thanks!

CC

I put a bird feeder in my front yard and filled it every morning to keep birds from finding my peaches in the back yard - worked pretty well; by the time the bird seed was gone it was the heat of the day and birds not so active. So far I had the best of both worlds - indoor cats love to watch the birds at the feeder, plan to give them a bird bath out front soon to extend the bird spa options, hope this split keeps working for everyone!

Everything I read said "plant fig on south side of building and where it won't freeze during winter"

Well, about 10 years ago I planted a small brown turkey fig on the NORTH side of an enclosed porch but it was protected. At first, I covered the tree during the winter. Now, the tree is over 20 ft tall and is on its own during our winters.

Because I didn't prune it more when it was young, now selective pruning is the only answer I know - like cutting back the branches overgrowing the porch roof.

The catbirds and mockingbirds love to peck the ripening fruit - 2 pecks per fruit - durn little devils.

Yeah, birds love figs and they will eat every one of them if they can. Judy that's what they did to my figs they came sometime last night and ate a few bites to half a fig on each of the ones that was almost ripe (they missed one) and then came back today to finish them off. It's like they called dibs on them and saved them for later.  

I can't really do the bird feeder in the front yard trick though because my neighbor has 4 or 5 two story birdhouses right beside the fence where our garden is in the back yard. So they have a front porch view of my garden from their little condominiums.  I can't really complain though, the birdhouses were there before my garden and I love birds!!! I'm going to plant them some sunflowers and get my feeders and a birdbath put up and see if I can give them enough stuff of their own to keep them busy.

Hubby is on a mission though...I think he has decided to build a wire cage to put the fig trees in to keep the birds from being able to get to them.    

I think that the avocados can tolerate heat, but the thing to be concerned with is late winter freezes and early spring frosts. That's when the fruit sets, and a drop in temp can be bad for fruit and can kill tender young branches and shoots. The only avocado I know of that can tolerate both heat and protracted cold is a Mexican strain called Zutano.

 Another thing to consider is pollinators. Like some stone fruits, some avocados like to get "randy " with an other variety. They may not be self pollinating, so check if your avocado needs a specific variety to get the job done.

Drainage is another thing. Avocados don't like to have their roots standing in water long. They are susceptible to root rots. Lots of soil in Arizona is caliche, which is hard-pan alkaline, and needs a good dose of gypsum to correct it..and plenty of compost too. Yoiu could find yourself having to condition the tree's soil seasonally to encompass the trees expanding canopy.