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$7 fig trees for spring/summer delivery, around 150+ varieties

Greenfin, you keep growing and you will have to hire bodies @$15 an hour just to keep all the fig plants alive. :)
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If it is a good field next to you and you can afford it , I'd echo George's encouragement to get it.
As long as it won't overburden you.
Beautiful work you are doing.
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The main drawback of the field is that the developers who own it want $255k for it (so over $25k per acre).  I've talked to them about leasing it, and the lease price is something I could afford, but I'm reluctant to invest in building a lot of infrastructure and setting up orchards on leased land.  

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Originally Posted by gorgi
we did buy a 7 acre farm/property next-door to my son in more-South NJ.
In a year (or 2), we will be living there enjoying our 4 young  grandchildren, plus some other good stuff ... 

That sounds like a real home run, congratulations! 
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Very impressive work.  Tell them what price you want to pay for the land.  If they get tired of waiting they might let you have it.
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GreenFin, just curious as to what measures you are taking to verify the varieties you are acquiring are legitimate?
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Thanks Greenfin. I just placed an order for March 2017 delivery. I can't wait to get my order in July. Very excited you are doing this for everyone.
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Greenfin...unbelievable setup you have going there...just placed an order for 2017...I had not been on the site for some time...figs in my garage coming out of dormancy prompted me to take a look at the good 'ol F4F! I'm glad i did. Looking forward to receiving a fig tree I have coveted for a while next summer!
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Originally Posted by johnnyq627
GreenFin, just curious as to what measures you are taking to verify the varieties you are acquiring are legitimate?

Here's my general system for trying to ensure accuracy for people who buy through me:

1) Acquire stock from well-established, highly regarded sources who have already done substantial vetting.  (HarveyC, drivewayfarmer, Jon/pitangadiego, etc)

2) If acquiring stock from multiple sources, compare them as they grow.  (if they're clearly different, there's clearly a problem; that happened when I got Smith from 3 sources last year and one clearly stood out as a Smith Not)

3) Observe them as they grow to look for signs of inaccuracy.  (seeing finger leaves when one would expect broad 1-lobed leaves, etc, but making sure to take into account the unreliability of leaf shapes on young trees)

4) (Long-Term)  My long-term strategy for achieving and maintaining total accuracy involves not just my own observations and those of my trusted sources, but also getting as many additional folks as possible to help vet the varieties in an attempt to find and replace any inaccuracies.  To that end, I'll be creating a variety page for each cultivar, posting dozens of pictures of the trees, their leaves, and their fruit, and enlisting the help of thousands of eyeballs to help my own.  Feedback from growers will help, too: if a variety is inaccurate, some of the folks growing it will notice it and report back, and the problem can be quickly fixed.  The result should be an ever-tightening grip on accuracy.   (they may all be 100% accurate right now, but the point is that even if they aren't, this is a system for achieving it over time)
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From the pics I have seen, you seem to have ~100% rooting success.
 My congrats & quite amazing ...
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James, thank you! You always update us on your progress and post pictures. Wow, thats some hard work!! I can only imagine the labor of love that goes into growing these guys! And, that is a ton of requests!!

Also, quick question, I remember at one time you offered some of the "fish poop" for sale (I believe it was you). Do you still offer it?

Thx!
Meg
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Meg - The fish poop was me, but I put the idea on the backburner.  Right now I mostly feed it straight to my bananas, and they're showing their thanks with 15 bunches (and 5 more soon):  Dwarf Brazilian, Dwarf Cavendish (3), Dwarf Namwah, Dwarf Orinoco (4), Dwarf Red, Grand Nain, Pisang Ceylon, Pisang Mas, and SH-3640 (2).  It's awesome that plants can convert fish poo into such delicious treats!

Kerry & George - Thanks :)
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Just put my order in for the 2017 group. Thanks. I am glad the prices are soooo in my budget. May buy more as the year goes by.
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James,

I was wondering, how different is the air inside your structure compared to the outside?
Will we need to adjust the figs to the dry air and sun?
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Hi Folks,

I just stumbled onto this forum and immediately registered.  I've grown figs off and on for many years but the figcuttings site was a terrific find since i've always wanted to try more varieties.  

Can anyone tell me if there's a summary of the various offerings on figcuttings.com?  For example, if there are differences in taste, sweetness, etc.  I'm in 6a zone (plan on moving to 7a in next year or two) but plan to grow in containers.  

Can all of them be grown in containers (over wintered indoors) and still produce fruit in those zones?

Thanks for any information you can offer!  I appreciate it.

Frank
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Welcome to the group Frank.
Quick, order a Galicia Negra, Ponte Tresa and Black Madeira now....then worry about what else is what else!
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And a Martinenca Rimada...and a De La Reina....and the Col de Damas...and....
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Originally Posted by greenfig
James, I was wondering, how different is the air inside your structure compared to the outside? Will we need to adjust the figs to the dry air and sun?

It's really humid in my tunnels.  The summers outside are usually really muggy, but nothing compared to inside the tunnels.

I was planning on setting up dozens of 5' diameter hard plastic wading pools outside and setting sufficiently old/strong figs in them, so those trees would already be acclimated at shipping time.  But the youngest of the trees would still be in the greenhouses at that time.  I hadn't scheduled in any acclimation time for them, just the time it would take them to grow to size in their sheltered environment.  That was something I had overlooked, thanks for bringing it up.  Let me think on it a while.
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Originally Posted by Kirby
Can anyone tell me if there's a summary of the various offerings on figcuttings.com?  For example, if there are differences in taste, sweetness, etc.  I'm in 6a zone (plan on moving to 7a in next year or two) but plan to grow in containers.  

Can all of them be grown in containers (over wintered indoors) and still produce fruit in those zones?

Hi Kirby,

I don't have a catalog of variety summaries, but the archives of this forum are great for that.  Just use the "Search" feature, type in the variety name, and select the 'topics only' option, and you should find lots of quality results. 

Jon/pitangadiego, the owner of this forum, has a great database that he's put together here: http://figs4fun.com/Varieties.html (he also sells trees--you can email him to let him know what you're looking for and see what he has in stock)

Most varieties can be coaxed into fruiting well in your zone if grown in pots and given sufficient heat/light/water/nutrients, but the late-season ones will be more challenging if you don't have a good way of waking them up early.  There are tons of folks here that would know more about that than me (I get to cheat with greenhouses), and there are a lot of good conversations about it in the archives.
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James,
Will the figs that you'll ship next March be dormant or will they be actively growing.
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Originally Posted by GreenFin

It's really humid in my tunnels.  The summers outside are usually really muggy, but nothing compared to inside the tunnels.

I was planning on setting up dozens of 5' diameter hard plastic wading pools outside and setting sufficiently old/strong figs in them, so those trees would already be acclimated at shipping time.  But the youngest of the trees would still be in the greenhouses at that time.  I hadn't scheduled in any acclimation time for them, just the time it would take them to grow to size in their sheltered environment.  That was something I had overlooked, thanks for bringing it up.  Let me think on it a while.


Thank you for responding!
For the CA folks, when they get the dormant trees, I hope this won't be a problem.

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Originally Posted by GreenFin

It's really humid in my tunnels.  The summers outside are usually really muggy, but nothing compared to inside the tunnels.

I was planning on setting up dozens of 5' diameter hard plastic wading pools outside and setting sufficiently old/strong figs in them, so those trees would already be acclimated at shipping time.  But the youngest of the trees would still be in the greenhouses at that time.  I hadn't scheduled in any acclimation time for them


You need a train and maybe those vinyl strip doors on your tunnels for the summer.  You put the pots due to be shipped in a week on the train and it travels through a greenhouse, out into the sun and back in to another green house.  You've got switchable track so there's a path with only 2 min of sun every 3 hours but you can switch it to longer paths in the sun as needed plus adjust the speed of the train. Then you have auto acclimatization because you don't have time to move pots.  By 2023 you'll need to buy out BNSF.
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Thanks everyone for your comments and getting me started.  GreenFin, I'll definitely get started searching for a good variety and I appreciate the information you provided.

Frank
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Originally Posted by rcantor


You need a train and maybe those vinyl strip doors on your tunnels for the summer.  ... it travels through a greenhouse, out into the sun and back in to another green house.  You've got switchable track so there's a path with only 2 min of sun every 3 hours but you can switch it to longer paths in the sun as needed plus adjust the speed of the train.


  Somebody definitely has way too much time on their hands to sit and ponder such things...          LOL!!! 
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Unbelievable.  I wish I could get mine to grow as fast!  They're really beautiful, you are doing a great job.
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Both Costco and Walmart are loaning money to farmers. My brother-in-law is in the wholesale produce business and confirms it.

https://www.facebook.com/GMOFreeUSA/photos/a.468695639837571.108816.402058139834655/1193320077375120/?type=3&theater
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