Fig Question

[frustratedearthmother]

Sorry in advance if this question has been asked previously.

I am south of Houston and have a big sprawling fig tree that has never been pruned. Today I got on hands and knees and crawled around in between low hanging branches trying to tidy it up a bit. I found several of those low hanging branches have rooted themselves. (so excited!)

My question is when is a good time to cut them free of the main tree? I'm hoping that I can cut them loose, dig them up and have a brand new fig tree. The tree is showing tiny bits of green leaf buds that have not opened up into true leaves yet. Should I wait until they leaf out or cut them free and pot or plant now?

Thanks ya'll!

 

[PhilaGardener]

Perfect timing! This is a great time to propagate your fig, and those rooted branches already have a head start.

Figs root quite easily, so try to move those with as many roots as possible after you cut the branch free from the parent plant. If the branch is large past the rooting point, but the roots are poorly developed (which you might find when you dig them out) you can prune the length of the branch to compensate and get your new plant off to a good start. You can also cut the branch and let them root in place, to move later, or bend additional branches down and pin them to the soil (use a brick or rock) to root more.

Good luck with them. As with any transplant, water well and protect from direct sun and wind while the new plants are getting established, but again this is a great time of year to do this.

(You can also try to root any prunings from your fig - that can require a little more care and patience, but you can get a lot of plants to share with friends!

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can transplant a tree at any time but some times are a lot better than others. Now should be as good as it gets for you and those figs. Just cut it loose, prune it back so those roots don't have a lot of tree to support, and try to disturb the roots as little as possible. If you can manage to keep a clump of dirt around the roots that would be great, but bare root can work too. Plant it so the same point is at the soil level, and water it a lot for the first year. You really don't need much of the plant above ground. As long as it has a few buds to work with it should grow. It's best to not over burden the roots and try to get them to support a whole lot of plant to start with.

Good luck!

I forgot to mention, never be afraid to ask something even if it has been asked many many times before. Search is great but it is not always easy to find what you need. We need the questions to keep this site active. We don't want it to die. And besides, questions asked before are often pretty easy to answer. It's those new ones we have to think about.

 

[catjac1975]

Depends on your zone. Dormant season is best time for pruning. In pruning an out of control tree you can cut away about 1/3 at a time each year until it is in better shape.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thank ya'll so much! I think I know what I'll be doing this weekend.