Growing figs in Kuban - features, experience

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Fig in the south, on the Black Sea coast, in the Crimea - a huge tree. In our case, in the Kuban, figs rather resemble a large bush, although in Krasnodar in one of the parks I saw a fig tree. Of course, not as big as, for example, in Sochi, but still a tree. In our zone, it is recommended to grow it in the form of a bush, since it is necessary to cover it for the winter, like grapes. Cultivation of figs, agricultural technology, features - this is what we will talk about now.

Contents:
  • Botanical features of figs
  • Specifics of growing figs in the Kuban
  • My experience of growing figs

Figs have always been loved, even honored. The plant has several names. Fig, fig or fig tree, "tart berry" - from the genus-tribe of ficus. The word "fig" of Turkic origin. But the generic name "ficus", moving from west to east, gradually modified - entered our language as the word "fig."

Hence the “fig tree” referred to in the sacred books, the “fig leaf” by which the sculptors covered the nakedness of their statues( this expression later became a household word).In the old Russian books, the fig was called a fig, and the tree was called a fig tree. Now it is distributed throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea coast, in Asia Minor.

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Figs, grapes, olives have been the staple food for many generations. Grapes and figs are mentioned in the Bible together because they were grown nearby. They were symbols of peace, eternal life, health, and happiness.

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Botanical features of figs

Those who have never seen a fig tree can easily imagine a rather sprawling, high ficus with large rugged leaves, numerous fruits resembling small pears in shape, light yellow or purplevarieties).The fig tree is known to man since ancient times and has been cultivated for about 5,000 years.

A fig tree is a long-lived tree - under favorable conditions, it lives and bears fruit for more than 300 years. The fig tree( F. Karika), growing on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, reaches a height of 12 m with a trunk diameter of up to 60 cm. But in the Kuban region it is most often a bush. The leaves are 3-7 lobed, even almost whole, rough, up to 25 cm long, on long dense petioles. The flowers are collected in a dense pear-shaped inflorescence with a hole. From here it becomes clear the expression “to show a fig”, that is, a dulya( dulya - in Ukrainian a pear).

Fig - plant dioecious, with dioecious flowers, edible seedlings. Vegetatively propagated, usually 2-3-year-old cuttings, as well as root processes, shoots. Fruits in 2-3 years. The leaves bloom in April, and fall in October. It blooms 2-3 times a year: in April-May, June-July and August. In Krasnodar, figs even go to winter with unripe fruits. In the forest, propagated by root processes or seeds.

Izhir - one of the oldest cultures, belongs to the mulberry family. It blooms immediately with fruit trees. Ripened, they are also called grapes, very tender and tasty. This high-calorie food product contains up to 40% of sugars( glucose and fructose), proteins, vitamin C, provitamin A, a lot of potassium salts( 1161 mg%), magnesium( 117 mg%), calcium( 227 mg%), phosphorus( 263 mg%), iron( 46 mg%), various enzymes and other substances.

Fig is very useful in cardiovascular diseases, it is used for anemia. The fruits contain the enzyme ficin, which helps to improve the health of vascular thrombus. Jam and compotes are boiled from the berries, they are dried, but it is better to use them fresh.

Increased interest among gardeners for ordinary( Adriatic) fig. It does not require pollination, that is, it has long-pistillate flowers that give edible figs of all generations. The Chinese call fig uh-wah-go( fruit without a flower).Yes, it does not see flowering on it.

In our time, the culture of figs is widely developed in the regions of Transcaucasia, Crimea. More and more such plantations in the Kuban. Now many new varieties are bred. The best of them are of Turkish origin.

In Sochi, the local population grows Eggplant figs, which have elongated medium-sized berries that are more transportable than other new breeding varieties. He has another name - Kara-fig( dark).Light varieties of good Sary-Pise. In Dagestan, the best variety is Ak-fig. We have spread on the Black Sea coast spontaneous varieties - Sochi-7, Cadet, Dalmatian, etc.

The fruit of figs is a seed in an expanded stem. Depending on the variety, the fruits vary in shape and weight: cubical, flattened with a yellowish-green color at Sochi-7, at Dalmatian - green, large, pear-shaped.

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Specifics of growing figs in Kuban

Figs grown in the Krasnodar Territory, as a rule, should be harbored for the winter in the usual periods for grapes, that is, in October-November. By this time, most of the fruits ripen, the leaves begin to brighten, freely separated. The average growing season is 215-220 days. Figs necessarily hiding when grown in our region. Together with the shoots, undisturbed fruits are harboring, they will give an early harvest next year. It is necessary to shelter in a prepared trench, dug on the south side with a depth of 30-40 cm, along the length of the branches of the trunks.

Before sheltering, the entire trunk of a tree or shrub can be lime-washed or treated with a 3% solution of preparation No. 30, or with a 1% solution of copper or iron vitriol. It is necessary to process the pit, the whole plant mass, which will cover the figs. For the shelter it is necessary to tie the bush with a wide ribbon, bending down to the ground should be gradually, if the height is 2.5-3 m and more, then it should be done within 3-5 days. For bending down use heavy objects: tree trunks or reinforced concrete objects. When bending down, the plant at the bend does not break, there are no negative phenomena. The prepared pit for shelter is covered with vegetation, and the top is covered with dry vegetation, then with a film, paper or roofing felt, then with a layer of earth at least 20-25 cm thick & gt;

If you grow a bush-shaped fig, then it is not necessary to drop it in the winter. You can simply tie the branches well with ropes to reduce the volume of the plant, then wrap with a sacking or several layers of the densest covering material - it is now freely sold by shops for gardeners-gardeners. Place at the base of the trunk, too, need to be warmed - sprinkle a mound of earth or cover the tree trunk with a layer of dry cut grass, straw.

Figs ready for winter

It should be noted that ripe figs are often damaged by bees or ants up to 10-15 percent. It is necessary to observe more often the ripeness of the seeds and collect them in time.

Briefly about the cultivation of figs. There is another secret to growing. The root system of the plant is well developed, penetrates 2.5 meters or more. It begins almost from the surface of the soil. Knowing this, the gardener must keep the tree trunk always in working condition. What does it mean? This means that figs are one of those very demanding plants that breathe heavily through the roots with oxygen, so its roots are located closer to the soil surface.

The question arises: how to loosen the trunk circle, because you can injure the roots? And the soil is trampled down, and the access of oxygen drops sharply. What is the way out? It is necessary to apply the tinning method in the wheel circle. This means: to allow grass mixtures( maybe even weeds) to grow to a height of 15-20 cm and mow, leaving the grass mixture in a pristvolny circle. Mowed grass of the second mowing and subsequent mowing will gradually under the action of moisture be subjected to beneficial microorganisms to the process of mineralization. In this method, firstly, the soil above the root strip is little trampled down - oxygen will penetrate freely, and secondly, mowed grass serves as mulch, and this means that moisture to the roots also goes normally.

Figs - a plant of mild warm climate. Depending on the variety, cultivation conditions, it can withstand an absolute minimum of -12 to -16 ° C.Therefore, it is necessary to form the plant, given the growth zone. On the coast, plants are given a stab form. In the rest of the region, the best are fan-shaped or bush formations.

When growing figs, it is necessary to nip all young shoots 50-60 cm long, which ensures the appearance of more fruitful side shoots. Pruning should be done after leaf fall or in early spring, before the growing season. All cuts must be made “on the ring” with a well-sharpened knife, then immediately smeared with garden pitch or paint cooked in vegetable oil. Strong pruning can cause negative consequences, since the cuts in the fig heal slowly, as a result of which the wood sometimes dries out.

The formation of fig plants is initiated after planting. Under covering conditions, plants are planted obliquely, at an angle of 20-40 °, cut at a height of 10-15 cm from the soil surface, leaving 3-4 strong branches that serve as the base of the skeleton;the remaining branches are cut. In the second or third year, second-third-order shoots grow, on which the crop of seed crops is formed.

If fig trees are formed in high shtambic form, the first pruning is done at a height of 80-100 cm from the soil surface, leaving 7-8 of the most powerful shoots on which branches of the second order are laid. Then the shaping is carried out in such a way as to obtain a well-lit sparse crown. To enhance branching pinch young pin shoots. When nizkoshtambovoy shaping the first pruning is carried out at a height of 30-50 cm. It turns out a low-growing tree, convenient in all respects.

To avoid stripping of the branches, excessive thickening of the crown, the appearance of vertical shoots, pruning is used. The strength of pruning depends on the variety. Low-growing varieties with normal branches are pruned only when necessary. The varieties are strong-growing, with small ramifications, pruned more strongly.

In subsequent years, the main, stronger side branches are shortened by about a third, taking into account the entire plant. Shoots of the second, third order are left in the quantity necessary for the normal formation of the crown. Extra shoots are cut "on the ring."Then, only the clearing of thickening shoots and the removal of the dried wood are carried out. Mature plants usually do not need annual pruning. To restore the damaged part of the crown or the whole bush using shoots shoots.

Currently, there has not yet been observed on figs of diseases and pests. But in order to increase the stability of the plant, increase the yield in the spring, in the autumn we add organic fertilizers, and on the leaf we make additional fertilizing with microelements or cheaper, affordable ash solution. We prepare the ash solution by insisting: 200-500 g of ash per 10 l of water for 2-3 days, then pour the top layer, use it for foliar top dressing, and pour the sediment into the holes dug around the figs.

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My experience in growing figs

Figs bear fruit twice a year, in spring and summer, closer to autumn. Berries ripen inactively, this period is extended for the whole summer, plus another autumn. Spring harvest from June can be collected up to one hundred times or more. Sometimes 10-20 berries, sometimes 1-2 kilograms.

In August fruits appear on young branches - this is a wave of the second harvest, which is more abundant than the first, but not all fruits ripen, they simply do not have time.

In September-October, the crop is harvested, and the unripe large fruits can be removed, poured over with boiling water and boiled jam from them. Small unripe fruits are broken, sometimes partially, but in the spring they are still showered. I have not had a chance for the fruits to ripen after wintering.

How do I grow figs? Simply. It grows between apple and peach at a distance of two meters from each tree. Grows supine, tops to the south. There are no trees in front of the figs.

This plant loves light and water. If you don’t water in arid time, the berry can crumble. When a young tree is planted, it must be tilted, tied to a peg, with the top to the south, so that in such a state it becomes stiff. When shoots from the root appear, they also need to be bent down and tied to the pegs.

By the end of the summer, usually the tree is already without a leash. Young side branches will always grow upwards, but they are flexible, easy to bend, easily attached to the main trunks. Then it comes time to prepare the plant for the winter.

In the autumn, in front of a tree on the south side, I put a piece of pipe( any kind of gravity can be), tied to it all the tops of the branches, young - to the old ones. I begin to cover when the leaves fall. I rake leaves from under the tree so that it is not rotted. On the sides of the tree, approximately in the middle, I hammer in two pipes, tied a rope or a wire to them through a bush, stretching it tightly so that the branches are firmly fixed. The tree is lying. I cover with a film, old pieces, at the edges I press down with weights so that it does not disperse by the wind.

I lower three weights through the bush( bricks on wires), from the top I cover with pieces of roofing. Around the bush set the tops of pepper and eggplant, and on top I put all the tops and pruning from the garden. It is a heater, as well as at the same time protection from the wind in winter. To cover one tree, it takes about an hour, and open - even less. Physically it is not difficult.

I open figs after hibernation, when warming begins, there are no severe frosts at night. I do it gradually. First, take off the tops.then roofing. And after five days I remove the film.

The figs are well grafted, the lower branches can be sprinkled with earth, watered, you get excellent cuttings. It is advisable to put pieces of toli or bricks under them.

The fig grows quickly and must be thinned on time. If you run, then poor lighting affects the crop. I just cut the old branches.

Fruiting begins in the first or second year, no need to spray, the plant is very unpretentious. I have a white variety, with a scarlet spot in the middle, the flesh is orange, very sweet. I would call it honey, but I don’t know the exact name, I once bought it as a Georgian white.

I would like to wish amateur gardeners to plant figs, and if there is land, then not one tree: no care, but there is always a berry. He will bring you great joy, especially to children.

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It's time to edit an article written several years ago. Now, alas, it is no longer possible to leave figs without pests. Two years ago, for example, I had a new pest - the first time I noticed it on my fig - a white cicadka. The pest is practically "unkillable" like aphid. That is, plants untreated in time from the invasion of a cyclone may, at best, lose an attractive appearance, and at worst - die. In more detail in the article about the white pool.

Amended on August 22, 2016.

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