Here is the bottom line: fig trees need sunlight. Lots of it. In fact, the more sunlight they receive, the more delicious figs you are likely to enjoy. It really is that simple.
Keep reading, because I have a perfect real-life example.
About three years ago, I gave a first-year Brown Turkey fig tree to some friends of ours who live in the upstate New York area. Let me describe these folks in a nutshell: they have green thumbs. Whatever they touch seems to grow like crazy, and that tiny Brown Turkey fig tree was no exception.
Their tree receives direct sunlight from sunrise until about noon, roughly six hours or more of good, uninterrupted sunshine. They water it regularly and fertilize it as well. And the results speak for themselves.
In both 2025 and 2026 seasons, that one little Brown Turkey produced more than 100 figs! From one tree. Yawza!
Now, let’s take a trip back home in Orange County, New York.
Here in my garden, I have the parent tree, the very tree from which the cutting for their fig tree was taken. You would think that, being the parent, it would have something to brag about. Instead, it produces a measly eight figs.
Eight!
Why?
I water it. I fertilize it. I fuss over it. I even sing to it! Okay, I sing to it Greek songs, and yet, despite all that tender loving care, it stubbornly refuses to produce much fruit.
The answer, as it turns out, is painfully simple: sunlight.
My Brown Turkey gets no more than three hours of direct sun each day. It is tucked away in a corner of our garden beneath a row of four-foot hemlocks. It may be a cozy location, but from a fig tree’s perspective, it’s practically a cave.
So there you have it. Same variety. Same family tree. Similar care. Completely different results.
The upstate tree gets six-plus hours of sunshine and rewards its owners with more than 100 figs. Mine gets about three hours and gives me eight. I can water it, fertilize it, encourage it, and serenade it all I want, but apparently I can’t sing loudly enough to make up for a lack of sunlight!
That lesson has not been lost on me.
Next year, I’m planning a major relocation. The Brown Turkey, a Violette de Bordeaux, and two Red Lebanese fig trees will all be moved to a much sunnier location.
I’m hoping that with more sunlight, they’ll repay me with something other than leaves and attitude.
Stay tuned, next year could be a very fruitful one!
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Stay tuned, keep on rootin’ and happy growing!
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