Fig seedlings need to be grafted onto appropriate rootstock to ensure fruiting.
Figs are an ancient fruit that grow on trees in the Ficus genus. They are sweet, succulent orbs that grow in a variety of sizes and colors. Fig trees are tropical to semitropical plants with shallow, spreading root systems and long lives. The average fig grows 10 to 30 feet tall and has lobed, mitten-shaped leaves with three to seven indentations. The fruit is actually an inverted flower with reproductive organs inside. The fig can carry 30 to 1,600 seeds in each fruit. Fig trees readily germinate from seed but the plants are not true to the parent and rarely fruit. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Chose a ripe plump fig. The larger fresh figs generally have more seeds, however you can also use seed from a dried supermarket fig. Start your fig tree indoors in late winter.
2. Extract the seeds from the fruit. Cut the fruit open and squeeze the pulp into a bowl of water. Let the pulp soak for an hour; the flesh will begin to float away from the seeds. Pour the mixture through a fine sieve then run water through it to rinse away the rest of the fig meat.
3. Prepare a seed flat with peat moss. Sow the fig seeds 1 inch apart on the surface of the peat. Mist the entire flat until evenly moist and place the lid on top. Put the flat in a very warm room or greenhouse at 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Figs need moderate light to germinate.
4. Keep the flat evenly moist until germination. Germination can take 15 to 90 days and is notoriously erratic. The seed doesn't have any listed dormancy requirements; germination varies according to heat, light, humidity, viability of seed, variety and freshness.
5. Try a different germination method with another batch of seeds to ensure seeds germinate in at least one of the batches. Collect seeds the same way but place them on three to five layers of paper towel in a saucer of water. Cover the saucer with plastic wrap and place it in bright, but indirect, window light.
6. Remove the lid or plastic wrap from the germinated seed. Care for the seedlings until they have two sets of true leaves and then gently prick them out and pot them up in commercial planting soil. Do not fertilize the figs for two weeks and then begin a program of 1 to 2 tbsp. of liquid seaweed diluted in the irrigation water every two weeks.
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