I have an LSU Purple, Two LSU Golds and a BROWN TURKEY . The LSU varieties are in a 5 gallon Home Depot bucket with the bottom cut out and are planted in the groung theu are now two years in the ground and hane grown to about 5 feet and hsve no fruit but look healthy. Also there is an old Celeste on the ptoperty the I pruned back last winter and it is full of smsll figs but they sre not getting larger, it is in the groung and is about 5 feet wide and 4 feet tall. The only star is a brown yurkey that is in about a 25 gallon ceramic pot that is fruit well and have sime large fruit. All tre were mulched the the low cost red mulch when Lowes had the dollar a bag sale in the spring. For some reason that is anout the same time the in ground figs shut down growing. I regolarly fertilise and I water them and dump corree frounds om them weekly, forst one hen the next week the other and so on. The leaves are showing signs of rosr on the brown turkey.
In Lee county they remove the yard debris weekly and also they take Hendry counties and process
it. I have heard they add human waste to it but haven't confirmed it. They drop this mulch off twice
a week for the residents. It is wonderful stuff with or without the human waste. Unfortunately allot of
people throw away plastic bags and they chop it up so you have to pick out the plastic pieces. I have
added manure and let this stuff sit for 6 months and it turns into the best black compost you could want.
2 or 3 times a year I add this mulch to my trees, If you add organics you build up good nemotodes that eat
the root eating nematodes. This is the only way you can put figs in sandy soil in Florida. I agree the mulch
you used is not the best. If you can get the tree trimmers fresh mulch and let sit for a while you will end up
with compost that is ideal for your figs. I am not sure why the LSU gold and purple didn't produce figs, Don't
worry if the figs are small on the Celeste. They will size up and fairly quickly. The figs form on the new growth,
does the LSU gold or LSU purple have new growth? I would consider cutting a few inches off the gold and purple
but if your trees are locked up nutrient wise bacause of the mulch they may not grow? That mulch will break down
and it will quickly in the rainy season. Keep adding good organics, I prefer to fertilze the figs with manures.
As far as the rust it is inevitable in Florida. I have seen pictures of bright green figs as big as oaks in California
but here in Florida the biggest fig I have seen is 15' celeste and it had rust all over it leaves in the summer.