Hold up, did you know that winter is the perfect time to start getting your garden ready for the growing season? There are tons of things you can do around the yard before spring rolls around. One of the best is growing new plants indoors that you can then transplant outside once the weather warms up. You can propagate all sorts of plants this way, and common fig trees (Ficus carica) are one of the best fruit trees to try it with. In fact, the dormant winter months are the ideal time to take cuttings from your fig tree. Common fig trees are part of the mulberry family, and they’re super popular for their tasty fruits, especially in the Mediterranean and West Asia where they originated. These woody, deciduous trees can grow 10 to 30 feet tall, or they might take the form of a smaller shrub. They have those cool, lobed leaves and their inconspicuous flowers turn into those signature fig fruits in the spring. Figs do great in USDA hardiness zones 7 to 10 and they’re generally pretty easy to grow and maintain. If you want to get a head start on your fig harvest, just follow these simple steps to propagate your tree over the winter.
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How to propagate a fig tree indoors
Tyada_Nam/Shutterstock Your fig tree will be ready to propagate during its winter dormancy. Just make sure the tree is at least 2 to 4 years old. Look for those pencil-width, dormant branches called hardwood cuttings. Cut a healthy young branch at a 45-degree angle, and make the cutting around 16 inches long. Chop off the top, leaving a few buds. Now just pop that cutting into a pot with some well-draining soil. You can use rooting hormones if you want, but the key is keeping the soil moist (but not damp) to prevent rot, and maintaining a temperature of at least 70°F. No need for sunlight until the leaves start growing.
Once spring comes around, your cutting should be all rooted with new leaves. At that point, you can transplant your little fig tree sapling into your garden. Just make sure to find a nice sunny spot where it can soak up 6 to 8 hours of direct light every day. Give it plenty of room too, since these plants can spread out quite a bit. Some varieties can grow 3 to 4 feet in a single year and might even start producing a few unripened figs in that first season. But in most cases, you probably won’t see any actual fruit until the second or third year.
Growing your fig tree in a container
Aslam1332/Shutterstock The cool thing about fig trees is that they do amazingly well in containers too. Some great varieties for growing in pots are Brown Turkey Figs and Petite Negra – they can give you a nice little harvest once the tree is big enough for a 5-gallon pot. The larger the container, the more fruit you’ll get. And if you do propagate your own fig tree, you could just plant the rooted cutting right into a pot to grow a compact, space-saving tree. Just know that potted fig trees need a bit more care to really thrive.
To keep your container fig tree happy and healthy, use well-draining soil. If you want to make your own mix, do a 50/50 blend of rich stuff like compost or worm castings with lightweight amendments like vermiculite or bark chips. Once the tree is established, feed it a slow-release fertilizer at the start of the growing season or quick-release throughout. Keep the soil moist but not soaked, and bring the plant inside for the winter. As it grows, remember to repot it into bigger containers. Follow those tips, and you’ll have a beautiful potted fig tree producing fruit in no time!
