Tons of branches - how did they do this?

[elriba]

Hi,
A nephew of mine, who lives in Miami, Florida, purchased locally some smallish fig trees in 7 gallon containers. He sent me a Violette de Bordeaux and a Celeste, which I received yesterday.

I was very surprised to see the shape of the trees (all of them were similar). I am attaching a picture of the one that is suppossed to be a Violette de Bordeaux (I say suppose because it has an "HS" or "SH" written on the side). Anyway, what surprised me is the large number of branches that the trees have. I am imagining that the initial intention of these trees was to provide branches for reproducing.

How did they do this? It seems as if they had sprayed some kind of hormone that induced branching. I am VERY intrigued about this. The branch that seems like the leader branch, attached to the bamboo stick, has not been cut.

How is this done? Do you guys know?

[don_sanders]

From a nursery? Probably tissue culture trees that just weren’t pruned.

If you wanted to do it yourself, you could just plant a tree deep in the pot and pinch the tips a few times to encourage lots of branching.

[elriba]

Yes, I think it was from a nursery.

[goodfriendmike]

Tissue cultures almost always produce multiple branches/trunks

[TNJed]

Like mentioned it’s probably a tissue culture tree. Some ppl say you may get fruit sooner by removing all the low side branches and letting the central leader grow a strong trunk. You can airlayer the branches off if you want multiple copies. Also many people report that airlayers from a tissue culture parent will fruit sooner than the parent tree. Good luck

[elriba]

Thanks for the extra information. I will try air-layering it. This will be my first try at this too!

[HeavyDuty75]

In my learning process and eagerness to have some fig trees, I started out with a TC YLN and Olympian from Baker Creek in ‘19. I have five of each and have been airlayering and grafting to my other trees because I read that you have to do that to get the propagated plants to start fruiting. I don’t have any figs on the mother trees. Will they ever fruit on their own or am i even on the right path? Maybe patience is all I need. I appreciate all I have learned from you guys’ knowledge. HD

[TNJed]

HeavyDuty75 Yes I think patience is all that you need. Others have gotten fruit from TC versions of Olympian and YLN within 2 yrs.

[JCT]

I'm not an expert at tissue culture trees, but I've noticed that a lot of TC trees seem to have a large 'knot' of wood at the base of the tree where a lot of branches seem to originate.

VdB on it's own, whether a TC or cutting grown tree, likes to sucker a lot and it actually takes some work to keep it in a tree form rather than a large bush.

[AscPete]

Sometimes the callus at the base of the Tissue cultured stem (which is part of the TC multiplication Stage) is left on the new individual plant, creates a “Crown” which continues to produce multiple stems. That is why Air layering or rooting Cuttings eliminates this problem...

[Brian M]

This is not necessarily a TC. Just cut the suckers off and leave the main leader.

[acerpictum]

With "HS" on the container - not VdB, this can be seen from the leaves. This variety does not have a strong tendency to tillering and branching, or rather, it is normal.

[elriba]

Sorry Andrew, I don't understand, what do you mean?

[Drfig]

Tissue culture

[don_sanders]

With "HS" on the container...

What would HS stand for? Hardy Shicago in ebonics?

[AscPete]

https://www.agristarts.com/_ccLib/attachments/pages/avail.pdf

Possibly Item Code: - ISCH...?

[acerpictum]

elriba : "I am attaching a picture of the one that is suppossed to be a Violette de Bordeaux (I say suppose because it has an "HS" or "SH" written on the side)..."
In the photo is no Violette de Bordeaux, judging by the leaves
I do not know how much figs "from a test tube" gives lower shoots, but the shape of the leaves should correspond to the phenotype of the variety, it seems to me.