A fiddle leaf fig hardly ever blooms or bears fruit away from its natural habitat. However, we’ve provided a picture of the fruit’s appearance (right).
Instead of their ability to produce fruit, most owners appreciate these houseplants for their foliage and size.
Is fiddle fig fruit edible?
As owners of fiddle leaf figs, we adore those lovely, recognizable fiddle-shaped leaves, but we frequently overlook the fact that ficus lyrata is actually a species of fig tree. Therefore, occasionally, our fiddles will pay off!
Today, indoor trees—which are what the majority of us have—rarely bear fruit. But occasionally, in tropical environments, outdoor fiddles will produce tiny, rounded fruits that resemble figs.
These fruits aren’t edible figs like the ones we typically find in the produce area of the grocery store during the summer, nor are they like the mouthwatering Fig Newton filling. Those figs often come from Ficus carica, a relative of the fiddle.
There’s a good reason why ornamental fiddles are more common than fruit trees. The fruits have a poor flavor but are not poisonous. The skin of the fiddle leaf fig tree’s fruit is leathery even when it is fully ripe. They are supposed to range from bland to somewhat sour and have an unpleasant mouth-drying effect. They are not sweet like the regular figs we eat. Not very appetizing!
We’ve got you covered if you’re a die-hard admirer of fiddle leaf figs and want to understand more about this tree’s intriguing reproductive system.
Let’s first discuss the main cause of indoor fiddles failing to bloom or bear fruit.
How can I tell whether my fig tree is a male or a female?
A male caprifig can be identified by its five stamens, which protrude from the fruit’s bottom and are encircled by petalless, outward-facing bracts made of tissue that resembles the fruit skin. On female trees, stamens do not emerge from the synconium.
Does the fruit on fig trees come before the leaves?
A few figs have been produced by one of my two fig plants. The largest and healthiest tree, the other one, has never had a fig on it. Each was sown six years ago. Why doesn’t it produce?
A: It might have to do with getting older and being too active. A fruit tree spends the majority of its energy growing leaves and shoots when it is young. The plant will yield little to no fruit until it reaches maturity and slows down in the growth of leaves and shoots. Your tree may need another year or two to gradually transition from generating primarily leaves and branches to producing and developing some fruit. It takes patience.
Be careful not to overfeed and/or overprune your fig tree. The tree will become extremely robust at the expense of setting and ripening fruit if too much fertilizer, particularly nitrogen, or severe pruning is applied. This includes whatever fertilizer the tree may have drained from a neighboring patch of grass. A tree’s roots will extend two to three times as far into nearby lawn areas as its branches do.
The outcome of overfertilizing a plant and/or overpruning it results in the plant becoming extremely vigorous in growing leaves and shoots at the expense of producing and maturing fruit.
Additionally, the list that follows, which was drawn from an Extension paper on figs, covers the most frequent causes of poor fruiting in descending priority.
- Young, robust plants and plants that have received excessive fertilization frequently yield fruit that ripens too early. Stop fertilizing plants if they are growing too vigorously. Because figs have a long juvenile phase before producing fruit of edible quality, it’s quite common for three or four years to pass before the plant matures a harvest.
- Fruit quality problems might result from hot, dry spells that happen before ripening. If so, mulching and additional watering during dry times will help to solve the issue.
- The range Regardless of how well the plant is cared for, Celeste frequently drops its fruit too early in hot weather. It is still a wonderful variety to cultivate, though.
- When the circumstances are as stated in item 2, a root-knot nematode infection can exacerbate the issue.
- You might have a fig plant that needs a certain wasp to cross-pollinate it. This is an uncommon issue. This means that it will never produce a good crop. Replacing the plant with one from a rooted shoot of a neighboring plant that consistently yields a healthy crop is the best solution.
What advantages does the fiddle leaf fig have?
Why should you purchase a fiddle leaf fig out of all the available house plants? They have quickly gained fame and appeal for a number of reasons:
It’s Highly Versatile
While fashions come and go, the fiddle leaf fig endures. It’s a common houseplant for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it goes with any style, including modern, contemporary, coastal, country-chic, and more! It’s a tried-and-true method of updating a space and adding elegance without the effort and expense of renovation.
It Cleans the Air
This plant has aesthetic value, but it also serves a purpose. It is a very effective air filtering plant because of its broad, violin-shaped leaves. As a result, you may breathe easier in your home or workplace knowing that a living Fiddle Leaf Fig plant will purge the air of common pollutants like formaldehyde and other harmful substances.
Minimal Care
Floppy Leaf Fig plants are not too difficult to care for, but they might be scary because they do need specific conditions to flourish. They grow nicely with little upkeep once they have had time to acclimate and settle in. Just keep an eye out for any warning signals, like underwatering, in the leaves (continue reading for the care instructions).
Do fiddle leaf figs make people sick?
One of the most well-known and poisonous indoor plants is the philodendron. The leaves, which are also referred to as fiddle leaf figs, have crystals comprised of the poisonous calcium oxalate. A bite from a fiddle leaf won’t kill you if you’re an adult, but all philodendrons can be extremely hazardous to kids and animals.
How should figs be consumed?
A fresh fig is one of the most unique things in the entire universe. They have an unbeatably sweet flavor and a remarkably soft, jammy texture. Furthermore, there isn’t a single correct manner to consume figs. Enjoy them raw, on a pizza that has been grilled and drizzled with honey, or stuffed with nuts and cheese.
No matter how much you enjoy them, you should move quickly. The season is very brief. They are available in early summer, or you can buy a couple during the main crop, which lasts from late summer to early fall. The remainder of the year, you can eat dried figs, but if you know how to consume them, fresh ones are preferable!
How to Eat Figs
Figs are best eaten raw, with the skin and seeds still on. If you like, you can also peel the figs and remove the seeds. You can also bake, broil, or grill the figs. But cutting the stem off and eating the raw fig is the quickest and simplest way to enjoy these treasures.
Can you eat fig skin?
Although some individuals don’t enjoy the texture of fig skin, it is nonetheless edible. Early-season figs have thin, delicate peels, whereas late-season figs have thicker, more robust skins. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the skin if eating the peels isn’t your thing. If not, simply twist off the stem and consume the entire fig!
Can you eat figs raw?
Typically, fresh figs are eaten raw. In fact, they are at their tastiest when picked fresh from the tree when still warm from the sun. Naturally, having access to a fig tree is necessary. Since figs have an unparalleled sweetness and honeyed flavor, we frequently avoid cooking them. Simply split them in half, top with some feta cheese or soft goat cheese, and eat.
But if they’re underripe, boiling them can bring out their sweetness and make them more juicy. To caramelize the sugars in cut figs, you can either place them directly onto a hot grill or under the broiler. When baked with cocoa and savory spices and filled with nuts, they can make a fantastic appetizer.
Can you eat a fig whole?
Although most fig recipes call for slicing the bloom in half to reveal the lovely interior, figs can also be consumed whole. (You read it correctly; figs are technically blossoms rather than fruits.) You don’t need to cut into them to remove anything because the seeds in the middle are fully edible. There’s really no excuse not to pop one into your mouth after twisting off the stem as you can eat the skins.
How to Buy Figs
The first thing to check for while purchasing figs is clean, imperfect-free skin. Avoid any figs with cuts or bruises on the skin. The figs should be soft if you gently squeeze them (be careful; it’s really simple to oversqueeze a fig here). The hue of the fig will differ according on the variety: Mission figs are a rich purple color, while Kadota and Calimyrna figs are green and yellow-green, respectively.
If you intend to eat the figs within a day, keep them at room temperature when you bring them home. Alternately, you can keep them for up to two days in a plastic bag in the coldest section of the fridge. Since they taste best at room temperature, you should take them out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before eating. Until the flesh softens, underripe figs can be kept at room temperature.
Simply wash the figs under cold running water when you’re ready to consume them. Take off the stem, pat dry with a fresh towel, and savor.
How can a fiddle-leaf fig be made to resemble a tree?
It’s important to take good care of your fiddle-leaf fig for its overall health, so make sure to give it everything on the list below so it can flourish:
Sunlight
Place your fig towards the area of your house that receives the most sunlight once it has been watered and made comfortable in its new pot. Figs adore natural light, so it’s best to find a location that faces south and receives a lot of indirect UV ray flow throughout most of the day.
Humidity
The rainforest is one of the most humid locations on earth, with year-round humidity levels ranging from 77% to 88 %. Your fiddle-leaf fig will obviously require a lot of moisture in the air to remain content and healthy.
Your fig has to live in a location with at least 65 percent humidity to survive; the humidity in the normal home ranges from 30 to 50 percent. If your home tends to be on the drier side, be sure to make an investment in a modest humidifier to keep your plant in an area that as closely resembles its natural environment as you can.
Water
You have two options for watering the soil to grow fiddle-leaf figs: 1) More water less frequently, or 2) Less water more frequently. It’s best to find the ideal balance by examining the soil at least once each week because figs don’t like too much or too little water. Check the soil’s moisture content by pressing your finger into it at least two inches deep in several locations.
Don’t water if the soil is still wet. Make sure to thoroughly water the soil in the morning if the top 2 inches of soil are dry so that your fig will have all day to soak up the sun and dry. To aid your fig’s ability to photosynthesize, rinse the leaves while you are watering.
Food
Plants require appropriate nutrients to survive, just like humans do. Use Jobe’s Houseplant Food Spikes to give your fiddle-leaf fig the nourishment it needs. These handy spikes are pre-measured and deliver plentiful fertilizers like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium directly to the roots of your fig tree without any mess. Simply bury these spikes in the soil surrounding your plant every two months for optimum health and development.
Pruning
Your fiddle-leaf fig needs to save its energy for healthy leaf maintenance rather than trying to restore dead ones. To encourage new growth and general health, make sure to remove any leaves that are discolored, bruised, or otherwise damaged from your plant using clean pruning shears.
Your fiddle will start to overrun your space and bow to fit your home if it is really happy and healthy. Make sure to cut the tree’s top off at least 8 to 10 inches below the ceiling’s peak.
How can a fiddle fig become a tree?
When notching, a precise cut is made above a node as opposed to clipping the top sprout. Only if you don’t want to lower the height of your fiddle leaf would I advise employing notching over pruning, which is a sophisticated method.
Another way that notching functions is by obstructing the hormones that control growth—again, auxin. The impact is gone as the wound calluses over, and hormones will start to flow once more.
How to notch your fiddle leaf fig
First, some dexterity is needed for notching. If the incision is made too deeply, you run the danger of amputating the limb. (But hey, even if you accidently cut off the head of your ficus, there will still be branching.) If you make the cut too shallow, it might not heal.
It doesn’t yield reliable outcomes like pruning. Though it can result in less-than-ideal gaps in your fiddle leaf branches, think about cutting a few more notches than you desire branches. (Again, pruning doesn’t have a problem here because it works best on the nodes closest to the incision.)
It works better on a woody stem than on more recent, softer green growth.
This is how you do it:
Make an incision above a node using a clean, sharp blade. I applied a brand-new X-Acto knife blade’s tip edge. (The kind where the old blades can be removed with a snap.) I was able to secure the internode because of this. If using pruners makes you more comfortable, do so.
Make an incision that goes 1/3 of the way around the stem and no deeper than 1/3 of the stem just ABOVE the node. There will be some latex sap, which you should brush away in case any children or animals decide to taste it because it does like milk.
Making the incision above the node as opposed to below it prevents auxin, a hormone that controls growth, from functioning properly. By switching the flow of carbohydrates from vegetative development to reproductive growth when a node is cut just below it, blooming and fruiting are encouraged (flowers & fruit).
Leave it alone to recover, and maybe after a few weeks you’ll have buds that develop into branches. As with pruning, your chances of success will increase if you attempt this during your fiddle leaf’s prime growing season, which is in the spring or early summer.
One last piece of advice: wait to remove leaves from the trunk of your fiddle leaf until the new branches have begun to grow. Your plant should be as robust as possible because those leaves aid in the development of the new lateral buds.
So that’s pretty much it. Your single-stalk fiddle leaf can easily be transformed into a full, tree-like canopy. Waiting for those branches to appear after you’ve finished your trimming or notching just requires patience.
How do you feel? Do you favor single-stalked fiddle leafs grown singly, in clusters, or as a single-trunked tree?
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