My new fig project.

10 years ago

Up until last fall I had two in ground fig trees which I liked very much. I decided to expand that collection and I may have went a bit insane:) As of today I have about 70 different varieties growing. I got a bunch of fig cuttings by trading pomegranate cuttings and some mulberry cuttings and some cuttings I purchased.

November 2012 the first batch of cuttings arrived and I rooted them and grew them over the winter. In the picture below you will see the progression.......the far right panel was the day they were planted which was March 1 2013....middle panel is June 10 2013 and left panel is today. They are now just at 5 feet tall and about half are already pushing figs. I have to say it is very rewarding to grow the figs as they grow so freaking fast. a rootless 6" hunk of a branch to large multi stemmed shrubs in just 9 months......

I hope to stop at 100 varieties:) 17 more varieties just went in the ground today.

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Comments (17)

mrsg47
10 years ago
Bamboo, as I recall, when we had a house in Florida, and one gigantic fig, it grew like a weed!!! Hope you like fig jam! Mrs. G Wow, I'm impressed.
fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
10 years ago
Looks very impressive! It will be interesting to see all the fruit this fall.
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bamboo_rabbit
Original Author
10 years ago
MrsG,

I do like fig jam, had some this morning. I know it is going to be a lot of figs but I will give them away and the ducks and chickens will eat their share. Over time I am sure I will thin it out to 50 varieties or so.

I doubt the fruit will be very good this year..I have been really pushing them and that I guess does hurt the fruit quality but seems a good deal to me.
chelsea_2016
10 years ago
That is awesome! Makes me want to plant some fig trees just to watch them grow so fast
blueboy1977
10 years ago
Bam, you are a BEAST!!!!! You have to be retired now right? The amount of labor it takes for all the fruit you have has to be a full time job, plus overtime I imagine. Can't wait to hear the top 5 best figs in your collection. When you figure it out and start making cuttings put me on your list. Do you have LSU Purple in there?
eboone_gw
10 years ago
"I hope to stop at 100 varieties:)"

Sounds like an addiction, maybe you won't be able to stop!
bamboo_rabbit
Original Author
10 years ago
Blueboy,

Yep retired (at 40) and still young enough to be able to do the labor. The setting up and irrigation lines are the hardest part. Every plant I have has it's own irrigation riser and spray head. Burying all that irrigation line is the hardest part. Once in they are really not that hard to keep up with and watering means just turning on a valve. Not only that I have the 300 gallon mix tank plumbed in so I can back feed not only to the blueberries for the acid water but any irrigation line on the property so it makes it easy to fertilize that way and make up special mixes tailored to specific plants.

Yep have LSU purple have quite a few of the LSU family, Scotts black, O'rourke, Late Black, Gold, Brandy and tiger. I have LSU red promised to me and hope to get LSU Thibedeaux. Fruitnut is first on my list for cuttings but I will of course share. Send me a email and will send you the current have list.

Couple more shots of some of the new ones.these around an old oak that has a high canopy. You can see some of the peach trees in the back ground.

{{gwi:120922}}

And here is a few of the new guys that went in yesterday. Yes they are small:) I got cuttings in the mail up until March I think and these are those going in.

{{gwi:120923}}
bamboo_rabbit
Original Author
10 years ago
Eboone,

I will stop.....I will run out of room:) Eventually I want to weed it down to the best 50 varieties.
rayrose
10 years ago
You should post this on the fig forum. I'm sure the people there would appreciate the information.
canadianplant
10 years ago
Bamboo, thats impressive! i cant wait to see pics when they take off! Can you give a short list of what kinds please?
mrsg47
10 years ago
Bamboo, just a quick comment about your surroundings. They are truly tropical and lush. Shangri-La. Your peach trees went in not long ago and they are huge. So lucky. We haven't played 'find the chickens' in a while! Mrs. G
bamboo_rabbit
Original Author
10 years ago
MrsG,

Well sub-tropical anyway:) If I was tropical I would have mangoes lol. Here is a front shot of the peaches and yes very happy with how they have grown. For 17 months they have really roared.

{{gwi:118544}}

The plums have not done as well..now I find out I guess I was supposed to prune them as well and I have not.
nandakumar
10 years ago
Congrats Bamboo, retired at 40 and doing full time gardening, man, your are living my dream life :-) literally.

Happy looking trees. Regarding your peach, are they regular or dwarf varieties?

Thanks
bamboo_rabbit
Original Author
10 years ago
Nandakumar,

1 Tropic Beauty peach
1 UF Gold peach
3 UF Beauty peach trees
1 Florida Prince Peach tree
1 UFO peach tree

They are standard trees I believe. In our climate you can only grow a handful of peaches as we don't have many chill hours (200-400).
nandakumar
10 years ago
Thanks Bamboo,

I planted Ranger and Loring peach trees this winter and they look taller than yours.
bamboo_rabbit
Original Author
10 years ago
I don't want tall I want the trees wide so I don't need a ladder to pick them. First thing I did after planting was chose the 3-4 side branches and took out the center leader. I had read it was the best way to grow them?
Dustin Griffin
8 years ago
Are you willing to send cutting to help start a new grower? I currently just have a mission and a variegated clown (only just planted)