Afghan Fig Seedling Tree
The Afghan fig is an interesting and cold hardy fig species from mountainous areas of the Middle East that we’ve long been curious about but have up until now have only grown the clone ‘Silver Lyre’, which has stunning foliage but produces inedible caprifigs. So we are quite excited to trial out a large batch of seedlings in hopes of finding one that produces edible figs in our part of the world, as they are rumored to be quite delicious. We’ve grown out far more than we can plant and so we’re selling some of the extra seedlings. There is no guarantee that these will make an edible fruit, and it will be many years until we find out which ones do, but the diversity in foliage form and growth patterns along with the rarity of this species makes them a fun Ficus oddity to experiment with. And if you do indeed find one that produces parthenocarpic figs, please share them far and wide, and with us too if you wouldn’t mind.
Click here to read our Fig Growing Guide.
Latin Name: Ficus afghanistanica
Site and Soil: Figs do well in a variety of soils, but require at least 8 hours of sunlight during the growing season.
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Hardiness: Hardy to at least 10° F.
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Size at Maturity: 8-12 ft in height, smaller with pruning.
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Pests & Diseases: Figs are not bothered by pests in our region. Cover plants with netting if birds are a problem.
Fig Mosaic Virus is a benign virus that exists in all cultivated fig trees. Yellow spotting of the leaves is a cosmetic symptom that shows more in container culture, but is quickly outgrown once trees are planted in the ground. The presence of FMV in all cultivated figs has become widely accepted, as even the national germplasm repository for figs maintained by the USDA has Fig Mosaic Virus. If the presence of FMV is a concern, then purchasing fig trees may not be the best option for you.
USDA Zone: 8 at least