AusBonsai

My observations lead me to believe that, unlike most plant material, fig species don't seem to be heliotropic. Does this mean that we don't need to turn them to get even growth?
I ask here because your growth rates are much faster than mine and observations would take less time.

in my experience with figs don, i havent had to turn them bugger all to be honest. i may occasionally do it. like once every 6 months but i find the growth to be so explosive and all over the place it isnt an issue.

i am in a climate that they thrive in too. dont need hot house or anything. humidty here in qld is never low. i havent had a hot dry day in 5 years of being up here.


jamie

stymie wrote:My observations lead me to believe that, unlike most plant material, fig species don't seem to be heliotropic. Does this mean that we don't need to turn them to get even growth?
I ask here because your growth rates are much faster than mine and observations would take less time.

That is an interesting question Stymie. I am not sure how they go on the Eastern Seaboard of Australia. But here where the sun sets.
I do not turn mine on the benches unless they are near a fence that stops all day sun.
In my other home where the garden layout was different, I used to turn them but only once per month 190%.
Not sure it made that much difference. It was done because I was told by some one, who had been growing them for much longer than I.

Which led me to unless I have proved it do not pass it on, which is still my philosophy. Which brings me to I do not do it as I said unless I know that the fence stops the sun for sure. I have a fig house where the sun does not get to them all day, but they grow well picture coming tomorrow. Might even have one on here some where.

Cheers Pup

on the note of full sun, my figs get that pretty much, only exception is from the midday heat, they have about 3 hours from 10am-1pm of shade, the rest of the day they get full light. and like i said, i rarely turn them, maybe once every 6 months and thats when i remember and mine get even growth throughout

jamie

I agree that turning is not necessary if your trees are outdoors and have light exposure from all sides.
Fences, other trees and bonsai that block some hours of sun exposure will require the trees to be turned. And growing them indoors, like I do, requires a turn for even balanced growth.
Jerry

Well then. To reiterate, has anyone else noticed the lack of turning toward the sun by figs in pots. Surely, it can't be a phenomenon restricted to the northern hemisphere.

i think once they bud,which is random and sporadic the leaves and shoot do grow towards the sun

As a general rule of thumb, plants that naturally grow in habitats where they are overshadowed by taller trees display little or no heliotropism.

The tropical figs, being smallish trees and shrubs, fall into this category. If plants growing in shady places were subject to the same heliotropic pressure as sun-loving plants, they would waste a lot of energy through etoliation (growing tall and spindly in an effort to reach direct sunlight).

Instead, plants adapted to growing in such places put their energy into growing leaves with more pigmentation, in order to extract every scrap of energy from the weak, ambient light they recieve. Hence why such plants tend to have very dark green leaves, whilst those that grow in full sun have paler, yellow-green leaves.

Shade-growing plants also tend to hold their leaves at more widely varied angles, to intercept dispersed light from all angles, whilst sun-growing plants only really arrange their leaves to avoid their own shade, but largely hold them directly facing the sun.

Does this make sense?

The shady side of my "non rotated" fig (too large to move unless absolutely necessary) displays the same sort of growth with the same length of internodes. The leaves are a slightly different colour, that is about all i can tell.

I work with huge mature figs (many different species including Small Leaf Fig - Ficus obliqua, Moreton Bay Fig - Ficus macrophylla and Port Jackson Fig - Ficus rubiginosa) and all the ones i see have a perfectly symmetrical canopy. The light would hit the north side more than any other side in the southern hemisphere. They are all in full sun. This leads me to believe you are correct.

However, could it be summed up by saying they have a greater tolerance for shade? Sun loving species would not accept the shaded side of the tree, and thus would grow on the other side only. Figs grow everywhere because they have the ability to tolerate the shade.

JayC

Don I have also noted where some of my tree's get less sun than others there is a tendency. To have larger and much greener leaves, than those on benches where there is more sun.
As I said I have taken some pics for you so here they are I will explain, there situation in the comments line. Cheer's Pup