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I have several fig trees. Some of them seem to be contracting some sort of illness - leaves dry and fall off completely.
This does not seem to weather or water related. Watering them does not help and others that had no water at all are doing great.
Two trees that had the problem when I moved here last summer have since recovered but now two previously healthy trees have it.
Is this an illness? Should I be worried? Is there anything I can do except wait?
It may be just a matter of physical conditions with varying amounts of rainfall. Permit me to draw a parallel with my apple trees on sandy soil. If my trees are allowed to go their own way growing as much canopy as they want they do well in consistently moist years. However, such years are rare. If the following year is dry, even though the roots are healthy and run deeply in the sand, there is not enough ground water to satisfy the canopy's demand and the trees look really stressed, with small leaves and weak twigs.
The solution might just be a regular pruning programme to keep the canopy open and balanced, planning on a moderately dry year every year.
figs, ficus carica, are prone to a ground worm like critter that eats it's way into the root systems. They are prevalent here and I use a sistemic pestacide to control them.
