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The fruit is carried
on the previous year’s wood. The replacement
shoot is stopped at the fourth leaf, at the end
of July – not before, as the fruits expected
to mature the following summer will form too quickly
at the expense of new wood. Yet if the shoot is
not stopped, the tiny figs will lack nourishment,
turn yellow and fall off.
The fruits form at the leaf axils the previous
year and begin to swell in spring. If the shoots
are pinched back late in July, new fruits will
form at the axil of each leaf and will be next
year’s crop. If the tree begins to make
too much wood, some of that which carried the
previous season’s fruit should be thinned.
Figs under glass, growing in gentle heat, will
bear two crops yearly. The fruits formed the previous
year will swell early in spring and be ripe by
early summer, and then those formed in spring
will mature by late September. The shoots formed
in the last weeks of summer will bear next spring’s
crop.
Propagation is a simple matter. It is either by
cuttings or by suckers. By the former method a
well-ripened shoot 20cm (8in) long should be removed
in January. The base is dipped in hormone powder
to encourage rapid rooting, before being inserted
in a small pot containing gritty compost. It should
be placed over a radiator or in a propagating
unit, for bottom heat is necessary; it will root
in three months. Re-pot into a large pot before
placing outdoors in May, in a sunny position to
ripen the wood. Plant it in its permanent place
the following spring. Or the plants may be moved
to larger pots in which they will fruit. They
should be 180cm (6ft) apart for they will soon
reach that height and will grow to the same width.
The method by which plants are grown on from suckers
is the easier way. These should be detached with
their roots and grown on in pots.
To harvest figs, remove them before they split
but not much before, and place them in trays lined
with cotton wool. They may be kept for several
months in a frost-free room.
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