Fig Tree in November with Yellow and Scorched Leaves

Q. Can you tell me what is causing the leaf scorching on
my black mission fig tree?  Is this
normal for the fall?  I haven’t seen any
pests or other obviously signs of disease. As you can see, it is producing its
third crop of figs so I think it is receiving sufficient water. The first two
crops of figs were good and juicy.  It is
currently receiving 8 gallons of water of each time it is watered; just watered
once a week now (as of November 1st). 
Previously, it was receiving 16 gallons of water per week (i.e., watered
twice at 8 gallons each).   Two days
after it was watered, I checked the soil at about a foot below the surface and
the soil seemed moist (not soggy).

I read in your blog that fig trees rarely produce a third
crop of figs in Las Vegas so should I remove all of the figs and allow the tree
to store its energy until the spring?

A. The leaf scorching that you’re seeing is soil related.
This usually means either the plant is not getting enough water or there are
salt problems. Because you are producing nice
juicy figs I am guessing it’s a salt problem. I would do two things to your fig
tree.

First I would move the drip
emitters further from the trunk, usually about 18 inches. As this tree gets
larger it will need more emitters. This tree should have four emitters 18
inches from the trunk and spaced like a square with the trunk in the center of
the square.

Secondly, I would cover the area
under the tree with more wood mulch to a depth of about 4 inches and covering
an area at least 6 feet in diameter with the trunk being at the center of that
diameter or circle.

The fact that you are getting
nice juicy figs tells me the plant is getting enough water. What I sense is
that the roots are now growing beyond the planted area and are encountering
salty soils.

I would take a hose and flood
that area with water to begin to push the salts away from the roots. You don’t want
to push the salts back toward the tree but you want to push them away from the
tree or you want to push them deeper into the soil below the roots. This
requires water and enough water to wet the soil down to a depth of about 18
inches.

If you can temporarily construct
a berm or donut around the tree about 6 feet in diameter that will hold water
you can fill this donut two or three times with water from a hose and that will
help to flush the salts away from the roots.

The other thing you can do is
take one of those small stationary sprinklers that attach to a hose and turn up
the water pressure so that it sprays water on top of the soil in an area about
6 feet in diameter and flood that soil to leach the salts.

This might require that you turn
the sprinkler on for 10 or 15 minutes several times with about an hour between.
Otherwise you might get flooding. Once the water begins to flood or puddle you
won’t get very good leaching.

You want and even application
applied to the surface of the soil with little to no puddling, entering the
soil and pushing the salts in the wave to a depth below the roots which is
typically about 18 inches deep. Don’t forget to fertilize your fig tree this
next January.