Friday, June 16, 2017

Notching your fig trees to induce branching

Notching is a practice of inducing a plant to grow a new branch. My I 258 fig is getting a bit tall and top heavy. I want to develop it's branching and then probably air layer the tips. I also don't want to sacrifice fruit production so I decided to notch 1st then air layer after it fruits.

This plant has 3 great strong branches. These will become my scaffolding branches for arterial branches.

Here you can see the new bud breaking where I notched it. Notches have to made above a bud where you want the new branch to grow from. This tricks the plant into thinking that the branch has been cut and so it spends it's energy into growing a new branch.


5 comments:

  1. Can you notch a fig anytime it is actively growing? Or is there a specific time you need to do this. This looks like a great technique - I want to get some more branching on my Smith. Thanks

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  2. Can you notch a fig anytime the fig is actively growing? Or is there a specific time that it needs to be done? Looking forward to trying this on my figs. Thanks.

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  3. Hello,
    I bought a fig tree and all the figs and leaves are at the very top of my 4 foot tree.So I will try to notch as shown here.Also the figs that are still green just fall off which is very disappointing.It is in a very large pot right now.Any suggestions to help me out?
    Thank you.
    Dennis

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  4. It may not like the amount of water it gets. Depending on the variety of fig the amount of water can effect ripening. For example I was getting regularly ripened figs on my Green Ischia and then the Florida rains started, and they were not ripening, stayed green. So this was due to excessive water I think. Also for more fruiting: Low nitrogen fertilizer will promote more bloom/fruiting, where more nitrogen will promote vegetative growth.

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  5. Well I followed the advice to notch my new fig tree and I'm so glad because I now have new buds developing that will be new branches.I notched about a half inch above each growth line and I'm very happy that it has worked and I thank you for the great advice.
    Dennis

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