No doubt one of the weirdest foreign born plants we grow around here is the fig tree.
It’s not much trouble to grow and figs have adapted to our climate reasonably well, as they have most warm spots in the world.
But we debate whether the fig is a fruit at all and we question why some years more figs come on a tree after we have picked all that were made the first time.
I’ll come back to the “second crop” in a bit. Note: this is known as holding reader attention.
The fig originated in the Mediterranean area and is believed to be one of the first food crops farmed. Plus it holds numerous mentions in both the Old and New Testaments.
Like a lot of plants, fig trees prefer dry air but plenty of soil moisture.
That’s why irrigated arid farms produce most of today’s figs and why California is home to about 15,000 acres of fig orchards. And it’s why we in the humid Southeast relegate fig trees to a spot or two in the backyard.
There are several types of figs. The one called common fig is the one we grow here. Two common fig varieties still popular for local backyard trees are Brown Turkey and Celeste. I’ve heard the fig referred to as an “inverted flower” and not actually a fruit and that is pretty much true.
The inside of the common fig is a mass of blooms, all of them female blooms. These blooms have the ability to produce seeds without pollination, though actual seed formation in this climate is not reliable.
Another type of fig is the caprifig. In order to bear seeds, caprifigs must have pollination from a tree with male blooms carried out by a tiny wasp that enters the fig and spreads pollen.
A third fig type does both; one set of blooms is self-fertile and a later set hosts the fig wasp for pollination.
OK, why do fig trees sometimes have new green “fruit” in September but they never ripen? Minus the whims of weather, our common fig type attempts to put on two crops every year. The first is called the breba crop and it is put on the previous year’s wood growth. Botanically, the breba crop should be small, short-lasting and likely to drop off before maturing.
Then the season’s main crop appears on the current year’s wood growth. This should be the figs we harvest. Sometimes weather bolsters the breba crop and/or delays the main crop, leaving it late, green and unripened.
All of us with fig trees can vow to educate ourselves this year by keeping some simple notes. Let’s write down when green figs first appear and if and when we (or the birds) harvest them.
Then let’s likewise record the second main crop. In a few years, we should better understand fig trees.
But don’t be on the lookout for the minute fig wasps. They are not coming to Mississippi. They are in Spain with the caprifigs.
Terry Rector is spokesman for the Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District.