Sunday, November 3, 2013

A Long Figgy Tale

My fig cuttings are doing well so far. B got six cuttings 12 to 14 inches long which were two year wood cuttings (stem that were from previous two growth seasons) from a friend in Adelaide, taken off a tree that produces Brown Turkey-like fruits. The cuttings were then soaked in water, which resulted in them quickly putting out root primodia and also the breba crop that was promptly removed to prevent exhausting the cuttings.
Four of my fig cuttings. The plastic container allows me to observe the root growth.
Fig cutting putting out breba crop (blue arrows) before the leaves emerge when they were first soaked in water.

Four were potted up whilst two more were ‘neglected’ and left in the water. The first four went on to produce leaves and more breba fruit that needs to be removed. The two neglected cuttings were finally planted two weeks ago and has been doing very well. In fact it produces more growth points than the first four cuttings.
The leaves are bigger than my palm.
Roots from the fig cuttings.

After pulling most of the breba off, I finally decided to leave one on just to see if it will develop and to determine the breba fruit shape since the cuttings have a lot of roots and I have been feeding it frequently.
A breba fig that I didn't cull. Notice that it comes from the older, woody section of the stem.
Blue arrow: a breba fig that I decided to let it be. Green arrow: bumps that can develop into current season figs (I am hoping it does not do so).

Since fig has become a hot item over here, below is a short explanation of fig types and pollination requirements.
Four of my fig cuttings. Now to give them a proper home.

A fig is not a proper fruit, but the ‘fruit’ that we eat is a synconium, which is an enlarged, fleshy, hollow peduncle that bears closely massed, tiny flowers on its inner wall.

Ficus carica (the common, edible fig) are gynodioecious, meaning that there are male trees with functional female flowers and female trees that only produce female flowers. The male trees are the caprifigs, and they have short-style female flowers that are fully functioning. The fruit (or rather the synconia) are usually not fleshy and rather dry, thus are only eaten by goats, hence the name caprifigs. The female trees, on the other hand, produces synconia that can develop into a sweet, juicy fruit that is highly sought. Hence caprifigs (MF plants) are considered inedible and female (F) plants are called edible figs.

Male or caprifigs produces three crops of synconia in a year in Mediterranean/temperate climate whilst the female (or edible) fig produces two crops of synconia. The first one is called breba, and is produced on the previous year’s growth (old wood) in Spring. The main crop comes later and arises from the new wood of the current year’s growth.

Now, putting sex and crop cycles aside, fig trees are also classified into another set of characteristics, based on the need (or the lack of) for actual pollination to occur to allow the synconia to mature. Thus we have the caducous (or Smyrna), persistent or San Pedro type figs.

The caducous type requires pollination to allow the synconia to develop and mature. There are caducous caprifigs and caducous edible figs. The Smyrna (and Calimyrna) figs are female caducous figs that require pollination/caprification to allow the synconia to develop into mature ‘fruit’ that we eat. Caprified edible figs have better taste partly due to the presence of mature fruit and seed inside the synconia.

Persistent type figs on the other hand, do not require pollination for the maturation of the synconia. The synconia will parthenocarpically mature despite having no pollinated flowers inside. There are also persistent caprifigs (male+female) but they are much rarer in nature.

A third type has characteristics of both the above. They are usually called San Pedro type. The first crop (breba) is persistent whilst the main crop is caducous. Thus the main crop synconia requires caprification for it to mature.

In a country where the specific symbiotic wasp (Blastophaga psenes) are not native, the planting of caducous/Smyrna type figs are avoided as it will result in the dropping of the synconia due to the lack of pollination that is required for the maturation of the synconia. Instead, persistent type and San Pedro type should be grown as it will offer large fruit crop production. A lot of Turkish sounding fig cultivars are the caducous type such as Sari Lop/Lob Injir, Bardajic and Gök Lop.

Another trend that is going around in this region is the large numbers of nurserymen selling seed-sown figs. Well, there are a few things that one needs to know about figs, especially when growing/buying seedlings (and not cuttings):

1) SEX (as in gender, not the act of…)
2) Persistent characteristic (parthenocarpic development of synconia)

Figs (as said earlier) have either 
a) female flowers with long style (eg. the edible fig is female only, whether caducous or persistant) or 
b) flowers of both sexes (caprifigs, having short-style pistillate and also staminate flowers)

Persistent characteristics
Whether it is a caprifig (male + female) or edible (female only), they either require 
i) pollination to allow for the synconia to mature (caducous/non-persistent) or 
ii) they can mature without pollination (persistent)

Persistent synconia is governed by the allele P/p. The dominant allele P (for persistence) is lethal for the ovum, and hence can only be carried by the pollen/sperm. 

So when you plant a fig seed, the following scenario comes to play

In terms of gender:
a x b [edible female fig x caprifig] = 1a : 1b [1F:1MF]
b x b [caprifig x caprifig] = 1a : 3b [1F:3MF]

So you have a 50:50 chance that the seedlings of edible figs are caprifig-type that is not considered palatable.

2) Persistent (making figs without caprification) and caducous types (figs that require caprification or pollination from a caprifig)

a) caducous fig (female) x caducous caprifig (male+female) = all caducous (not persistent). Caducous caprifigs are the common caprifig and are home to the fig wasp. These are the caprifig types used to pollinate caducous female figs, aka Smyrna types such as the Sari Lop aka Turkish dried figs.

b) caducous fig (female) x persistent caprifig (male+female) = half caducous and half persistent   (persistent caprifigs are rare in nature but have been found and are used for breeding programs).

c) Persistent fig (female) x caducous caprifig (male+female) = all caducous

d) Persistent fig x persistent caprifig = half caducous and half persistent

So only if the pollen comes from a persistent caprifig, will you have a 50:50 chance of the offspring being persistent and not require pollination. Taken with the fact that persistent caprifigs are rare and mostly found in breeding stations, hence seedlings from commercially caprified (pollinated) figs will most likely be made with caducous caprifig, thus the seedling will all be caducous, which is bad news for fruit production in a place where the wasp are not native.

Having said that, Ficus carica can also form viable seeds when pollinated by pollen from other members of the family such as Ficus pumila (the creeping fig), Ficus pseudo-carica and Ficus palmata. Hence ‘accidental pollination’ by ‘stray’ wasps that are not native to them with compatible Ficus sp. pollen that allows development of seeds will result in fruitful caprification of the synconia. Also, research has shown that pollen from other members of Moraceae, e.g. pollen from mulberry will also trigger the development of the synconia when artificially introduced, albeit no development of viable seeds. 

Consequently, the adventurous gardener here may still get a small percentage of fruit set from caducous figs despite the absence of the Blastophaga psenes wasps. One other advantage of seed grown figs is that they will be free from mosaic virus infection.

So one should not be paying high prices for seed-sown fig plants, and also do not place high hopes that the tree would be fruitful or even produce good tasting fruits since the odds are ½ female x ½ non-caducous (at best scenario where persistent caprifigs were used) x a small, small number that gives good fruit characteristics = very very very very small odds of getting a good plant. By all means do so if you have the space and time to keep them (or you are very lucky), but don’t pay high prices for the seedlings. You might as well sow your own seeds from dried figs (they are caducous female x caprifig) and hope that the farm uses persistent caprifig instead of caducous caprifig.

A long listing of older fig varieties (Condit’s paper)‎

Discussion on the sex and persistency of figs were extracted and summarised from this forum thread:


  1. Oh ada jantan dan betina juga ya. Never thought about it sure an eye opener for fig world. Really fig tree boom this year. Err...olive tree ada sex juga ke I wonder. Did not received your email at ( .

    1. Just sent another email. Yup and susah kalau dapat yang kena pollinate. Tapi rasakan our wild figs boleh trigger caprification kalau ada serangga yang sanggup masuk ke dalam. Err rasakan takde bagi olive, tapi kalau from seed takes a long time to fruit and can be bad tasting and more suitable for oil production. Kena graft. Also best to have two different trees to increase fruit set from cross pollination. Bob did ask me if I want olive seedlings from his garden, since pokok olive jirannya selalu mengugurkan buah dan bercambahlah merata-rata kat laman dia dan kena cabut dan buang.

  2. Our local wild figs tu senang betul tumbuh meratakan kadang-kadang rasa bestnya kalau palatable. Dulu tried grafted olive but mudah RIP in this wet humid country. But now tengok yang from seeds sturdier and can somewhat survive by itselves different varieties. Tak dapat makan buah, buat stok minyak zaitun hehehe...mahal kat sini. Bestnya bob olive self-seeded ada jadi kat tempat dia. My neighbour dulu banyak buah jatuh tapi no seedlings .Macam apple orchard kena ada different varieties nak aid pollination kan. Dengar ladang avocado dekat Oz pun sama tanam variety lain-lain untuk aid pollination. My mother tanya buat apa I tanam banyak dah pokok avocado kat belakang -takut mati sebab tak jaga dan for successful pollination hehehe...received email nanti I balas. Thank you reserved 1 for me please.

    1. Oh yang grafted senang RIP? Patutlah tengok org biasa jual kat sini yang ditanam dari benih.Buat bonsai pun cantik. Avocado memang patut ada dua atau lebih pokok dari type yang berbeza. Satu jenis receptive to pollen in the morning and drop pollen the next afternoon. Jenis satu lagi receptive to pollen in the afternoon and drop pollen the next morning. So kalau ada dua jenis tu, dapatlah banyak buah.

    2. Most of the Sabah avocado young plants I tried is poly keluar 2.

    3. Avocado can be poly (two shoot, two root), but can also have two shoot one root caused by branching close to cotyledon junction :

      So if your have two shoot with separate root system, then the more vigorous one should be the nucellar. Sometimes they can have 3 embryos... really amazing things

    4. Tak check pula akar dia separate atau tak, sebab transplanted dia masih atttached with the seed coat. Kalau lebih satu shoot errr,,,banyak lagi buah kan kira double bonus hehehe...sebab 2 batang pokok attached.

    5. Yup, dapat double bonus. Best kalau macam tu.

    6. Wondering if any of your weekend free...hubby dah balik so can meet anywhere at your convenience.

    7. Sure. This and next weekend free. Where is a good place?

    8. This weekend ok tak? Meet somewhere

    9. Wednesday you cuti tak and free? I can come over to your place or if you want to visit us at Kebun Bahagia Bersama or we can meet somewhere convenient for you.

    10. Yup. Can we come and visit? What time is convenient?

  3. Sean L, my friend was looking for a fig tree to grow the other day. Yup looks it is the trend now. You have some precious precious cuttings there!! And you have just made me read up so much about fig... long long figgy tale haha... I think they grow well in containers. So good luck and hope these cuttings produce lots of figs for you. Meanwhile enjoy the beautiful leaves and the shade it will provide for your balcony. Btw, 'I Like' that you acknowledge those references. Oh you are so good :-)

    1. Hopefully they grow well and I can start passing cuttings around, the more ppl plant them, the merrier :-). They are supposed to be fast growing. The leaves are shading my other plants, so i would need to move things around abit. I guess it is something that carried on from doing research.

    2. Sean L, cool, keep it up (y) Btw, do research if the space could take the weight of all your potted plants yeah :-)

    3. Hahaha, no worries, the balcony isn't a cantilevered one.

  4. Hi Sean I have been searching for a fig plant for ages and have visited every nursery that I know of in the Klang Valley. To stumble upon your blog and reading this post is like the holy grail. Is there any chance I can acquire/buy a cutting from you that would be the highlight of my gardening life.

    If you will indulge me please email me at thank you

    1. Hi Fong Yow. I am unable to give you a cutting at this moment as all the plants have their 'owners', but if you would like to wait, I can definitely reserve cuttings for you in the future. There is apparently a nursery in Cheras that sells them.

  5. Morning Sean
    Thank you so much for your reply. After I sent it I had reservation wondering if you think I am so weird anonymous creep haha.. I have searched a long time at least 3 years for a fig plant/tree/cutting so don't mind waiting as long as you are willing to reserve one for me :)

    In the meantime could you give me some details of this nursery in Cheras that may have the fig plant for sale please..

    Your post about the creeper fig was very interesting and informative coincidentally it was not so long ago that I learned that this creeper is a family of the ficus and it bears fruit which I thought was quite amazing and I went and looked for it and bought and it's creeping up one of my walls now low but steady. I also have a few pots of the fiddle leaf ficus that I keep indoors, a plant that I absolutely love having in doors they look so nice.

    Looking forward to your reply. Thanks once again

    Fong Y

    1. The person who posted the Cheras nursery link (My Mix Garden) have removed the post. Try contacting the author and see. Else you could join the Pokok Tin Malaysia facebook group ( where members would offer cuttings of various types, some are rare and expensive.

  6. Hello Sean, just started to join in the Fig trend. Read your article a couple of times, but still don't understand (due to my limited comprehension). Was wondering if you could give me the names of the Figs that you feel thrives well/ able to produce fruits in Malaysia? Am thinking of getting some cuttings from overseas for trial. Thank you in advance.
    By the way, I am also into Avocado.

    1. Many had success with common cultivars like Brown Turkey, Masui Dauphine, Taiwan Golden Fig, White Genoa etc. As long as the fig is a persistent type that does not need pollination, it should be fine. There are some that supposedly will drop fruit if the temps are too high, like Celeste, but in the humid heat (as opposed to dry heat in many fig growing areas) things might go differently. Perhaps the greatest joy is finding success in trying :-)

  7. Hi Sean
    I am trying to plant my first fig plant in a pot (not much garden space).
    Do you know where I can get a baby fig plant in KL-PJ area?
    How much would it cost?
    Thank you.
    yan (