Fig Preston Prolific Ficus carica

Plant one Preston Prolific in the hottest corner of the yard and you have a household fig crop: like the other common figs grown in Australia, it needs no second tree to fruit. Figs bear young, often in their first or second summer, so a larger tree buys a fuller canopy and a heavier early crop, not an end to waiting. Preston Prolific is grown for the size of crop its name promises.

From late autumn to spring Preston Prolific is a frame of bare grey branches, and its big lobed leaves all drop within a couple of weeks. Treat it as a productive tree that shades in summer and lets winter sun through, not as year round cover for a boundary.

Which districts give a clean crop

The heaviest, cleanest crops come from districts with long, dry summers. Full sun is essential: in part shade it grows leaf and little fruit. Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, inland New South Wales and Sydney's western suburbs all suit it, and winter cold is not the limit, though a frost after budburst can blacken the first leaves. Summer rain is the real limit, which makes humid coastal Queensland hard going: fig rust strips the leaves early in a wet summer, and ripe fruit splits or sours after rain. Where summers are short, plant it in front of a brick or rendered wall that holds the afternoon heat and helps the fruit ripen; trained flat against that wall as an espalier, the tree also stays compact.

Sand, loam and alkaline ground all suit it, provided it drains. Once established it survives dry spells, yet the fruit only swells properly with regular deep water through summer, and uneven watering is a common cause of split fruit and early drop. Larger trees need a properly prepared hole and steady water through their first summer; our guide to planting an advanced tree covers the steps.

Roots, sap and creek lines

Fig roots are vigorous and travel well past the canopy. They work into cracked sewer and stormwater pipes and lift light paving, so plant several metres clear of services, the house and the pool, or keep it in a big glazed or concrete pot, which caps both the root run and the height of the tree. Fig sap is a real hazard to skin: the milky latex in stems, leaves and green fruit inflames it, and skin wet with sap that then sits in sunshine can blister like a burn. Prune with gloves on and sleeves down, and wash afterwards. The leaves and sap upset dogs and cats as well, causing drooling, vomiting and skin irritation if they chew the prunings, so bag cuttings as you go. Birds carry the seed, and Ficus carica is now an environmental weed in South Australia and Western Australia and has gone wild along watercourses in Victoria. If your block runs down to a creek or bushland, collect dropped fruit and pull any seedlings.

Preston Prolific beside Black Genoa

Black Genoa Fig Tree is the other named fig to weigh up. Both are grown, pruned and netted the same way, so the choice comes down to the fruit: Black Genoa if a dark skinned, red fleshed fig is what you are after. Figs are mainly a late summer and autumn crop, so for picking in other months look through Fruit Trees.

Do the structural pruning in June or July, when the bare framework is easy to read. Any early figs come from buds on last year's shoots, so thin and shorten rather than cutting every stem back, taking out crossing and inward growth first. Hold the tree to a height you can throw a net over from the ground, because birds and flying foxes strip ripe figs and fruit fly lays into them: the Queensland species along the east coast and medfly in Western Australia. Feed in early spring with a fruit tree fertiliser that is not high in nitrogen, or the tree answers with leaf rather than figs. In New South Wales and Queensland, check the trunk and main limbs for fig longicorn borer, which leaves sawdust-like frass at small holes in the bark.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 6 sizes, from 300mm up to 150L, priced from $139.00 to $1799.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to fast growing screening plants.