Cutback perennials for continued blooms in fall

By Audrey Post
MS. GROW-IT-ALL

Q: Some of the perennial flowers I planted in my garden, such as salvias, mums and black-eyed Susans, are starting to flop over and look pretty bedraggled. When I bought them, the tags said they would bloom summer to frost. What I have done wrong?

A: You’ve done nothing wrong, but there is one more step you need to do: Cut back your plants to rejuvenate new growth.

The tags don’t tell you that summer-blooming perennials usually grow vigorously during spring and early summer and then they get leggy and tired. To rejuvenate them, trim them back by a half to two-thirds.

If the stems are soft, you can pinch them back by hand. If the stems have become woody or the plant has become a sprawling mess, it probably would be easier to take hand-pruners or garden shears to the plant. It will look a little barren for a few days, but you’ll see new growth soon.

Q: I have a great crop of figs, but the birds are getting most of them. Someone suggested I buy netting and cover the tree, but the birds just peck through the webbing. Plus, the tree is so tall now, I can barely reach the fruit at the top. Do I have any chance of tasting a fig this year?

A: It sounds like you bought the netting sold in garden centers, which has an open weave – openings about an inch or so across -- and is great for creating net trellises for fruits and vegetables, but it’s not so great for protecting fruit. Go to a fabric store and ask for the netting used for little girls’ ballet costumes and princess outfits. It’s also used for lots of craft projects. It has a tighter weave but still lets rain and air through. It comes in lots of colors, too, if you want to amuse your neighbors.

You can also use the floating row covers that you use to protect your vegetables from frost. It’s a spun fabric-like material that lets rain and air through, but it also raises the temperature beneath it, so I don’t recommend using it in our summers.

If you live in the Tallahassee area, mark your calendar to prune your figs in December so you can reach the fruit easily next year.

Overgrown figs need special treatment

By Audrey Post
MS. GROW-IT-ALL

Last week’s column on pruning fig trees generated quite a bit of reader response and several more questions on the topic, attesting to the popularity of figs in the home landscape.

Q: I, too, need to prune my fig trees, but my tree already has buds on it. Can I still prune it now or should I wait until after the fruit makes?

A: If your fig tree already has buds on it, you might want to wait until fall to prune it. Although we’ve had several hard freezes, we’ve also had many very warm days and several readers report that their figs have already gone into bud. While the trees will re-sprout and likely bud again in summer if you prune now – the kinds of figs that grow in the Southeast fruit on new wood, unlike figs in California, which fruit on last year’s wood – your yield could be reduced.

Plus, the milky sap, or latex, has started to rise and the tree will likely “bleed.” You’ll have to take off this year’s growth as well as last year’s when you prune in November or December, but these are resilient trees and should recover.

Q: Our fig tree has gone untrimmed for about 20 years. We have had good crops every year. We do no fertilizing. Last year, we couldn’t reach about half the crop. Since I am only 6 feet tall and the fig is on a sharp slope, ladders don't work. We’re willing to do without figs this year if that’s what it takes to resurrect the tree and get fruit next year. Or are the birds destined to get the top of the crop?

A: You have options. You can shorten the tree over the next few years, you can do nothing and leave the top fruit to the birds, or you can bend the tall branches down to where you or a taller friend can reach the fruit. Fig branches will lean with a gentle tug, as the reader who sent in last week’s question noted, because the wood is soft.

Considering how long your tree has gone without pruning and how tall it has become, I suggest you pick a couple of really long main stems each year and prune them back to the point where a younger, thinner side shoot is growing toward the outside of the plant. You don’t want branches crossing back over the plant. Cut the main stem flush with the lower side branch; that side branch now becomes a main stem.

Pick about a third of the main stems to remove this year and repeat the process over the next two years. At the end of three years, you should have a fig tree that’s a manageable size. Annual pruning should keep it in bounds.

You can shorten an isolated stem that has shot up far beyond the rest of the branches by cutting it back to just above a bud or twig that is growing out from the branch.

Prune figs annually for best production

By Audrey Post
MS. GROW-IT-ALL

Q: I failed to prune my fig trees the past few years since I planted them, and now I have to grab the branches and pull them down to pick the figs. What’s the best time and way to prune them?

A: The fig, Ficus carica, is one of the easiest fruits to grow. The large leaves make the plant an attractive addition to your home landscape. The fruit is one of the luscious treats of summer –provided you can keep the birds – and dogs -- away from it. More than one southern gardener has talked about having to prune his or her fig trees beyond the reach of Fido.
Ideally, you would’ve pruned your fig trees every year since you planted them, to train them to grow in a certain shape. Since you didn’t, we’ll have to do a bit of drastic pruning but the trees will be better for it. You’re going to have to prune the tree as though it’s a new planting, and now is the time of year to do it here in North Florida.
As a new planting, it should’ve been pruned it to 2 or 3 feet tall. Over the next year, side shoots would’ve developed where it was topped to form the basis of the tree’s framework. Over the next couple of years, continued selection of the strongest side shoots while pruning the rest would’ve produced a strong, healthy canopy.
Now, since your figs didn’t get that disciplined treatment, we have to send them through a rehabilitative process. Cut your trees back to 3 to 4 feet tall and let the process begin. As the side branches grow and develop side branches of their own each year, keep the three to five strongest and prune the rest back flush with the branch from which it grows. Remove any branches that cross over each other or grow back toward the main trunk.
If your figs sustain freeze-damage in winter, wait until all danger of frost has passed before pruning. Prune diseased, dead or damaged limbs.
Once you have your fig trees rejuvenated, after three or four years, plan on cutting them back about one-third each year. Figs need vigorous pruning or else they’ll get woody, lose vigor and reduce fruit production.
Note: Figs, the fruit of the trees of the same name, produce a white latex that promotes the decomposition of protein, similar to the papain found in meat tenderizers, which irritates skin. Use gloves when harvesting the fruit.