2nd defolitation of PJ

[kez]

Hey folks,

My PJ has gone bananas since it's first defoliation this season and I am wondering if it is ok to do another one. I defoliated it early November and have been feeding it with powerfeed every second week since then, it has put on HUGE amount of growth since then and lots and lots of new leaves and branches.

The thing is now I have a fig with very large leaves, so I was wondering if it would be ok to defoliate again and maybe cut back on the ferts for the rest of the growing season. For a pic of the tree as it is now check out the time to show off your fig thread, second last page.

Cheers,

Kez

[Grant Bowie]

Hey folks,

My PJ has gone bananas since it's first defoliation this season and I am wondering if it is ok to do another one. I defoliated it early November and have been feeding it with powerfeed every second week since then, it has put on HUGE amount of growth since then and lots and lots of new leaves and branches.

The thing is now I have a fig with very large leaves, so I was wondering if it would be ok to defoliate again and maybe cut back on the ferts for the rest of the growing season. For a pic of the tree as it is now check out the time to show off your fig thread, second last page.

Cheers,

Kez

Yes defoliate again and consider your next step.

In Woolongong you could defoliate again in another 6 weeks or so; if you keep the ferts up.

Or back off now and don't defoliate again this season but lose the extra ramification

Grant

[kez]

Cheers Grant, will do. Ill have a good look at the branch structure once it's bare and decide on whether to push for more growth or work on leaf reduction
Kez

[bamboos]

Hi Kez
Just did one of my figs for the second time this year hoping to squeeze another one in before the end of the growing season but I am in Qld
You just haveto make sure it is healthy
Steve

[kez]

Defoliated last night,

I was also looking through some photo's and I thought it would be good to put up a progression of this tree through this growing season.

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So far so good I think

Kez

[kez]

Thought I'd post up an update after the defol

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Really happy with the progress of this tree this season

Kez

[kez]

Thought I'd put up another update of this tree one month after it's second defol

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Next spring/summer this one will go into a new pot, and all in all i'm happy with it's progress this season

Kez

[CraigM]

Looking good. Look forward to getting some figs and trying out. In South Africa we had different species, only ever had one PJ which was never any good, my fault.

Out of interest is the tree planted over a rock, will this cover over time?

[kez]

Just defoliated this one again in preparation for the coming seasons growth,

Thought I'd also update a pic of where it is at, I'm pretty pleased looking back over the pics in this thread

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I'll repot this one in another month or so, and will address some of the root issues but I think this tree is coming along

Kerrin

[Bonbon]

What do yo mean by "gone banana"?

[PAC]

It means 'gone crazy' supposedly like when a monkey sees bananas!

[kez]

Guess nobody is into figs at the minute?

[kez]

Got a chance to repot this one today,

I think I may have jumped the gun on the defolitation this year and my figs have been slower to respond that I would have liked. I think the variable weather has had a bit to do with it as well.

Anyway this fig is ahead of the pack and after waiting another 2 or so weeks more than I had initially planed I got it into it's new home today. I did a fair bit of root clean up and removed a big chunk of a crossed root that should help to improve the nebari, and it will now sit in part shade for the next 2 weeks to recover

Here it is

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I'm very happy with this fig and it's progression over the last year, and looking forward to further refinement over this season. Any comments would be most welcome

Kerrin