Anyone experience the summer doldrums for plant growth?

[m5allen]

Maybe this is more of a southern states issue, but usually in the middle of summer, most of my figs seem to just stall out on growth. Some of this I think is due to fruit set on certain varieties, but others don't seem to put out many figs, but many still seem to stall out. Although, I will say that I have a few varieties that still seem to power through and keep pushing new growth and fruit set.

And this year, we have been getting enough rain, but not too much, but it has been a little warmer than usual. Overall, I can't really figure this out. My plants are mulched heavily, so they are surely not drying out.

[eboone]

Many of my figs seem to stall out growing with a good crop of figs on - these are potted plants, maybe can't handle both developing figs and growing at same time.

[Bluemalibu]

We experience the same here in Northern California, Mike. Only maybe one in 20 will continue to grow robustly once the blast furnace kicks in. With temps over the century mark, and cloudless skies for four months, we water even in-ground trees here almost daily.

[hstark]

Most of mine are still small and not figging yet, and they too are stalled from all the heat here.

[Sarahkt]

Yes, anything with fruit set has gone to a near stand-still on my potted trees. Little to no progress on air layers during this time, either.

[m5allen]

Well I guess I should have said this could be a west coast issue as well. I can't forget my poor friends in California with those gorgeous beaches and beautiful mountain landscapes as well.

[Harborseal]

I increase my fertilizer at this time and still have good growth. I never use full strength fertilizer, especially in this heat.

This year has been unusual in that I've only had to water every 2 - 3 days despite temps near 100 for over a week. I attribute that to the Dr Earth Life fertilizer I used for the first time this year. Even VdB isn't drooping. Mycorrhizal fungi are known to increase drought resistance.

[Figfanatic57]

Most have come to a standstill due to the darn heat. Once the leaves turn brown, I have moved to more shade. Then it forms new buds. I have been searching for a magic formula. I have just ordered some Dr Earth Life liquid off of eBay. Will update any improvements.

[jmaler]

The temps here in south central Texas are warming up fast. The trees require constant attention so as not to let them wilt.

The tomatoes are gone so the birds and squirrels and whatever other critters are turning to the ripe figs.

Guess it's just that time of year.

[ThaiFigs]

Lots of rain or heavy watering will leach nitrogen. Replenish the nitrogen and things will kick off again, unless your skies are too cloudy. Also remember daylight hours are now decreasing...

[AscPete]

Yes, with about 1/2 of my fig trees.
Its usually due to the heat and lack of constant soil moisture or wet / dry cycles . The trees that are in shaded containers, larger containers or pots that are partial buried in ground have not stopped growing, probably due to the cooler root mass since roots will slow their growth at temperatures above 85F and stop growth above 100F.

[Tonycm]

Potted trees;
The trees with a lot of figs on look as though there is no new growth. They must be concentrating on ripening the figs. Most of the new trees without figs are growing very good and don't look like they're slowing down
In ground trees;
All seem to be putting on growth and figs with no problem.
It must be just as Pete stated about moist and cooler roots that are keeping the trees growing.

[Altadena Mara]

My figs in the ground in full sun are in the doldrums, but the ones with afternoon shade are thriving. The little ones moved up from one gallon to five gallon pots especially are doing well.
I'm the one with the biggest summer doldrums. With temps between 100-105 and toxic orange air raining white ash from local forest fires, all I want to do is sit under the air conditioner, read and munch ice. And post here -of course. The joys of "fig paradise".

[ThaiFigs]

Wood ash can also be used as an amendment for organic hydroponic solutions, generally replacing inorganic compounds containing calcium, potassium, magnesium and phosphorus. (from Wikipedia).

Notice that nitrogen is conspicuously absent. So if you're getting ash fall from forest fires, that's not bad for your figs. More water and more nitrogen should fix your overstressed figs growth issues.

I regularly have had peak temps near 100 with cloudless days in April and May. My figs in basket SIPs put on their best growth then. The water evaporating from the sides of the open baskets incidentally helps cool the roots.

[cis4elk]

Mara and Tony have it right.
With a new bigger yard I finally have lighting options. Almost all of my smaller fig trees are under the shade of large trees(not fig) and probably get about 4 hours total of directish sun in the morning and afternoon. Because of the shaded area(very good indirect light though) this is the first year that I have had consistently good growth through the heat of summer since I started growing figs. All my bigger trees are out in the full sun all day and there is very little growth going on in the last month or so regardless of fig load on these trees. The one exception is as was mentioned here and in a different thread and that is up potting. All the figs that I have up potted to a substantially bigger container are nice and green and actively growing even if in full sun, I say the green part because the majority of my big trees are lighter lime bordering yellow green despite having the pots mostly shaded and getting fertilized. I imagine if I really boosted the feed I could get more growth, but with keeping it organic I'm fine getting the good growth spurts in spring and late summer/early fall.

[cjmach1973]

I have some trees that seem to stop producing leaves while the figs are growing.( B. Mad, Italian Honey in pots H Chicago-in ground) and then others right next to them that keep going skyward,( Macool, H Chicago-in pot, Brunswick)and pushing figlets at the leaf joints.All in the same area with about 7 hours of sun, and an automatic sprinkler set up. Go figure?

[lilfiggy]

humid hellhound heat has put my figs to sleep just sitting there. chilling and doing absolutely nothing

[ross]

I went through this last summer. Even on my 1st year trees with no figs. It's 100% because of too much heat in the root zone. I realized the power of mulching my pots & I also added tin foil to cover the sides of my pots to reflect heat and they went straight back to growing in about 7-10 days.

[ThaiFigs]

To combat rootzone heat in potted trees, some commercial nurseries use a pot in pot system. Basically one pot is permanently buried to a depth of 90% in some very well drained location (often some drainage system is installed first). Then the potted plant is placed inside the buried pot, often using some form of root control to keep the roots ftom growing into the dirt, and maybe a small brick or piece of PVC pipe as a spacer between the pots to keep the two pots from sticking together. (With figs, it wouldn't be terrible to let the roots escape the pots during the growing season, and prune them back when it's time to bring them inside.)

Using this system you get most of the advantages of growing in ground but still have the ability to do a winter fig shuffle.