Pleaching?

[jkuo]

Anyone tried pleaching some fig trees? I had this idea of braiding a few of my extra cuttings for a fun project. In reality, I probably don't have the time to follow through with it, but the growing season is essentially over and it's fun to imagine.

Some things I wonder about: how long until the trunks fuse? Do I really have to braid the stems together? I'd much rather take the lazy pseudo-pleach approach and just tie the stems together without braiding. What would be good combinations? Of the varieties I have, the ones that tickle my fancy the most are Hollier+Takoma Violet, LdA+Stella, and RdB+Italian Honey.

[Gardencrochet]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-dFl1MHHGk

[COGardener]

This idea is posted at least once a year. Yes you can, yes it has been done, yes they will fuse usually within a few years.

[eboone]

I like the idea of a green and purple fig pleached together. There have been posts at F4F about it in the past.
If I had the ability to raise a large tree I might consider it but for now I will be keeping most of my figs in smaller SIPs and pruning them back regularly, and putting some in ground where nature will prune them back for me. Not sure how well it would work...might have to try it some day.

[jkuo]

The idea of a light and dark fig together does seem like a visually appealing combo. I'm leaning that way if I follow through with trying to pleach some extra cuttings. I also think it might be fun to combine figs with a similar exterior appearance but different interior color or flavor profile. Picking fruit then would become a mini-surpise.

[Dave]

Here's mine I started it in 2012 The 2 trunks are starting to grow together nicely lately I have been trimming the branches to form a nice shape and have even amount of branches from each fig

[eboone]

That looks great, Dave. I think I will have to dedicate some rooted cuttings to try this next spring.

[Dave]

Thanks Ed if I do another one I would definitely do 3

[Jamie0507]

That is soooo cool! I must learn how to do this