Growing Figs
I have been actively growing figs in Maine for the past 3 years. I have over 100 fig trees with over 25 varieties. The harsh Maine winters can make growing figs challenging, but there are steps you can take to become successful. I grow most of my figs in 10 gallon felt grow bags so I can bring them into my greenhouse from mid-October through mid-March. I have a hardy variety “Smith” planted in the ground year-round and have been successful in growing that outdoors, as it survived last winter. Outdoor figs in Maine will die back to the ground each winter, so they become bushes with various new shoots each year, but they will never become “trees” in this climate without extraordinary efforts.
If you have never picked a fresh ripe fig off from a quality fig tree, then I doubt that you have truly experienced what figs have to offer. The soft, luscious jam like interior offer up flavors ranging from berries and melons to honey. Each variety has it’s own unique characteristics from hardiness and color, to flavor and vigor.
In my “Growing Figs” video, I give a brief introduction to figs and take you on a short tour of my greenhouse. Then I go over the basics of fig propogation using fig cuttings and take you outdoors to my orchard where I take cuttings from my “Smith” fig trees. Back into the greenhouse with the fig cuttings, and I walk you through the steps required to pot up the fig cuttings and get then to root into live plants.
Follow a few steps and you can turn a piece of a fig branch into a live fig tree.
For more information on growing figs, the resources are almost endless. One of my favorite fig growers and teacher is Ross Raddi at FigBoss.com. I highly recommend his site for great fig videos, information on varieties, and often he has fig cuttings and trees for sale.
I will also be offering fig trees for sale in the Spring. All of the cuttings from the video will be offered for sale along with some of my more mature 1-3 year old fig trees. Contact me by email (ChefMichaelSalmon@gmail.com) if you are interested in reserving a fig tree of your own.
