Finally...Figs!

soozer~

Sorry for butting in, but for figs try Brown Turkey or Celeste.

Check with Sybil @ ParadiseNursery.com. She is great to deal with. She also has a Violette Black thats beautiful -- and delicious. She is careful to ship only when you are ready to plant.

Soozer
I don't know about varieties of loquats.I got mine from www.forestfarm.com They have just about everything.If you order the sleeves then the shipping isn't that expensive.

I am still wanting to buy the pom.Our best fall planting time is Oct.So I will wait a few weeks.

I certainly have heard of POM company.Glad they are doing so well.I see there products everywhere.The juice is not only good for you but it tasts great.

down~

It's deciduous -- so it'll look ratty until it finally leafs out in the spring. But the blossoms are gorgeous.

flyboyFL -- Hey, thanks for the feedback on the figs. Never thought twice about figs until a neighbor treated me to figs with a really great (Greek?) cheese. What a great combo. Just pop them in your mouth and enjoy. :)

DownscaleBabe -- Thanks for the link to ForestFarm. It's like window shopping.

soozer~

Amen ! We have a Greek neighbor who not only treats us with"real" feta cheese (it comes in a plastic bucket) but he also gave me a couple of his "real" Greek fig tree cuttings (which should be bearing next year.) YUM !!!.

Oh you lucky lucky flyboy!

soozer~

Hang in there. If they are flourishing I'll send you a couple of the "Greek" cuttings when I return to the key next month. One's "white" one's "brown." That's the names he gave them when he brought them over in his suitcase.

I'll make myself a note -- but you, please, remind me.

flyboyFL --

Oh, yes. I can do that. Will write a post-it and wait for a looooonng month to pass.

Thanks for the sweet offer. :)

Reread the thread and copied useful info for fig-growing. One more Q? What about pollination and a single fig tree?

Nothing better than a plate of hot homemade buscits and home made Fig Preserves.
Yum

Lavinaf

Nothing better than a plate of hot homemade buscits and home made Fig Preserves.
Yum

Lavina

Hey LavinaMae~

You can say that again :)

LOLOL ;oD
Someone gave me a french recipe for fig conserve - I 'll have to try it!

soozer~

They are self-pollinating, so far as I know.

philomel~

How does your pomegranate tree look? Size?

Thanks, flyboy for the reassurance...only need one :)

LavinaMae - Fig preserves?

philomel - fig conserve?

Sounds good. Will have some help with my beautyberry jelly-making this fall. It's the only canning/preserving I'm doing this year. Maybe you would share your favorite fig recipes?

I'm counting my figs before they are even planted! lol Just planning ahead... :)

Beautyberry Jelly? I fight with the florist in the area who want my limbs from the bush in their arrangements. So you can make jelly with the purple berries?
I'm at work on lunch but tomorrow night will do fig recipes.
I did make fig wine one year. The whole neighbor hood got crocked. LOL
D-mail me so I want forget.

Lavina,

Unbelievealbe -- fig wine! Can't imagine what it tastes like *)*

Beautyberry limbs in the florist's flower arrangements...uh huh. They're makin' jelly!! lol You have dmail.

My pomegranate is more of a shrub at the moment with many leaders and still in the pot, about 3' tall. I plan to plant it in a sunny spot - west facing?

Sorry soozer, I've mislaid that fig recipe and I'm new to doing things with them, but will let you know if I find any others that are interesting :)

phil~

Sun is good. Plant it -- feed it -- and step back.

Good luck

Don't worry about it, philomel. It is interesting to learn what you and others are doing with figs, so I'll keep reading here.

I just ordered 6 blue berry bushes from Raintree.I plan to plant them as a hedge instead of some other hedges who aren't looking so good.

They also have a pomegranate but it costs $32 and with shipping that will be alot.Sould I do It?I also want another fig tree for a pot.The list goes on and on.

HI to all ,my name is cindi lynn and i am new to the forum and garden , i have been looking for a fig tree to grow for sometime now,when i was young my grandfather brought a fig tree over from italy and it grew for many years,and gave the best fruit i ever tasted, that was in new york, now i'm all grown up and living in pennsylvania and guess what i now miss that tree very much wish i had it now i really use help in locating a dealer that sells fig trees any ideas would be welcome.
thanks cindilynn

A hearty WELCOME TO DG!, cindilynn! You've just joined the greatest website on the Internet. You'll love it here! (Can't ya tell I'm partial to this place!?) :>)

As for figs, I grow quite a few different varieties and could also help you with some vendors. However, is there a particular kind you are looking for? That would help in choosing a vendor for you.

Again, WELCOME...hope to see you around the site!

Shoe.

This message was edited Mar 28, 2006 12:38 PM

hello shoe: how are you i do not remember the name but i do remember the way they look, they were small dark purple and oh so sweet,the leaves if i remember correctly were quiet large and they felt kinda fuzzy i'm remembering 25 years ago,i hope this was helpful but really any kind would be fine as long as i could eat them again.
thanks cindilynn

Hi cindilynn: I started this thread last Sept., haven't been around for a while, and can't believe it's still going. I originally had 4 trees on my property, all planted from cuttings by my late father-in-law in 1955 when he built the house. All were obtained from Italian friends and 2 of the trees were exactly as you describe along with one "white" fig tree (all green when ripe) and the one tree I currently have left from the original 4, the rest have died thru the years. The variety that's readily available commercially that most resembles them is Celeste. Most all fig trees have "fuzzy" leaves that cause tremendous itching (at least for me) when brushed up against bare skin. Whenever I pick them I spend the next 10 minutes scratching my arms. Do a Google search for Fig Trees and you should find a bunch of vendors.

Horseshoe: I am attaching the pic from the top of this thread. It's figs from the one tree I have left and try as I may I've never been able to ID it. Have you ever seen figs that look like this? Thanks

Rich

Howdy Rich. Is there any chance it would be a Kadota? The leaf form looks similar to Kadota, however, in your pic you show both green figs and dark-colored. I'm not entirely up-to-knowledge on green figs; do they turn darker as they get more mature?

The troublesome part to me is...your bush and fruit look very similar to one that I'm trying to ID at this time also! The land where I have a second garden has a fig bush very much like yours. The fruit of those is much more rounder and greener than my main fig bush here on the farm (most likely a Brown Turkey). Although I also have Kadota, LSU Purple, and Hardy Chicago, none of those 3 have fruited yet (it's been over 3-5 years since I planted them and they do not gain in size so I can only assume they are in a terrible area for figs on this farm!).

The "green" fig at our other garden is definitely sweeter than our B. Turkey's grown here.

Here is a great site to check out. Will this help you to determine what you (and perhaps I) have?

http://home.planters.net/~thegivans/id-light.html

cindylynn, you might wanna check out that site also. Perhaps you will see something that jogs your memory?

Shoe.

Thanks for the link Horseshoe. I talked to Ray Givans and sent him pics of the fruit & leaves 4 years ago and he couldn't ID it. That was the last year before total dieback when the tree was 18' tall and produced so many figs that I was begging people to come and pick what they wanted rather than have them drop to the ground. I was personally picking at least 50 per day for at least 6 weeks and still couldn't keep up. I'm ashamed to admit that he asked me to send him cuttings which I never got around to before the tree died completely to the ground that winter. The pic may be a bit deceiving as all the fruit has a red blush (not brownish or purple), some more than others depending on how much direct sun the fruit has gotten and if the ones that look green on the plate were turned around they would all be much redder in color. The all green or "white" as my father-in-law would call it was indeed the sweetest of the ones he grew plus the largest but that one has been gone for 20 years. This one is also very sweet. Just FYI in case you didn't read the whole thread this one went from 3' tall last spring to 12' and loaded with fruit by last August. I treated it every 3 weeks with Messenger and although I can't tell for sure I am personally convinced that it benefitted greatly from the treatments.

Rich

Wow....you make me wish I had one of your cuttings! Sounds like a delicious fig with great growth habit!

I'll keep trying to research a bit more. I can't stand it when we don't know the variety of certain plants/trees.

The info about the fig color helps. (Sometimes I think it is my monitor that doesn't correctly display the colors.) Thanks.

I should send you a great fig recipe, "Pickled figs". An elderly friend of mine passed it on to me and I fell in love with it! So delish and am waiting for fig season this year; am hoping to do many jars of it. (and no, not "pickled" as in dill pickles/etc, but more of a sweet dessert treat or side dish.)

Shoe.

Love to have the recipe as this past fall I only trimmed the tree down to about 8' and was very consciencious about wrapping it. If it performs like last year it will be back to 15' and loaded with much more than I can eat or give away. You can only eat so many figs unless you want to spend half the day you know where! A fig tree in every yard would put all the laxative & fiber makers out of business (lol).

Rich

Hah! Hilarious! And yes, boy-howdy can I tell ya a story about figs/fiber and being lost in a swamp (eventually scared to death and wondering about my innards!).

Will find the recipe and Dmail ya!

Shoe.

Hi shoe, sorry i did not get back to you sooner.Thanks for the link i did check it out found the fig tree i grew up with ,it was Celeste going to order it also i am going to try Chicago hardy too ,I never took care of a fig tree before,that was my granddads tree i just ate those sweet figs,so i'm probably going to have lots of questions,hope you don't mind.Thanks again will be keeping in touch.
cindilynn

Figs are almost carefree in my neck of the woods. I have an old tree in my yard that must be over 30yrs old. Portions of it died back to the ground a couple of years ago, but it is filling back in nicely now. The only problems I have are the birds nipping at the fruit. Once they do that, then the ants start invading. I remember my grandfather used to hang tin pie pans in it to scare away the birds. I don't think it worked very well though.

Hey guys? I have two half size wine barrels by the gate to my home. The barrels were purchased at Lowes. It was a full size wine barrel and then cut in half to be used as a planter. I would like to plant a dwarf fig in each one. Any suggestions?

Tplant: Many people here up north grow fig trees in half wine barrels quite successfully and bring them indoors to a cool spot after they go dormant. My wife's father & mother spent the fall & winter for many years at their place in Miami Beach and he took cuttings down there of two trees that flourished for many years. Park's sells a dwarf purple variety and if you do a google search you will find many mail order sources. Even a non dwarf tree can be grown in the wine barrels with aggressive pruning. Fig trees have no problem being pruned drastically. I have no insect or disease problems up here (except for the birds & ants when the figs are ripe) but I have no idea what may attack them in South Florida.

Rich

I would imagine the same. Thanks ritchh. I seem to like the Italian Honey Fig. What do you think? I know nothing about them but do enjoy the flavor!

Park's catalog says slow growing which would be a plus in barrels and from my experience the "white" (green skin when ripe) figs always seem to be the sweetest so that sounds like a good choice to me.

Rich

Well I took a look today and the fig tree is starting to bud and barely sprout some leaves on every branch plus a few tiny figs so I guess I'll have 2 crops this year although the June crop has always been much smaller than the main crop in August. How's the rest of you fig growers making out?

Rich

My celest fig tree also has some fruit but as you said alot less than in August.

I also bought 2 new trees.Brown Turkey and LSU.

Can I ask how everyone in the iffy zones for figs prepare theirs for winter?
I have two Celestes in pots, a Brown Turkey and a Hardy Chicago in the ground.

Lynne

I wait till the leaves drop and the tree goes dormant, then trim the branches to a manageable height (6'-8') and tie them all into a vertical bundle. I then wrap the entire tree first with old bedspreads and the like and then with waterproof reinforced plastic tarps that I buy at the hardware store. Start at the bottom so that the overlaps are facing down and will not let water reach the tree and freeze. It also won't hurt to pile some soil around the base to keep the bottom of the wrap in place and for extra protection for the roots. My tree is over 50 years old and has died to the ground more than once only to come back with new shoots from the roots.

Rich

My little I think Brown Turkey fig is still stored away in my now unheated bonsai storage space. It is still too cold to move it outside, altho I see it is sending out buds. Maybe by the end of the week it will be warm enough on my deck to move it outside.

DonnaS