I had a nice visit with Al Lerner today of "ItalianFigTrees.com". He is about 20 minutes from my home. A very nice older gentleman and very knowledgeable - he's been growing figs for about 30 years. We spent about an hour talking about various fig topics. He had a nice selection of very healthy trees but not all were for sale as some were his personal collection. He had Conadria, Verte, Alma, Magnolia, Melanzana, Brown Turkey, Hardy Chicago, Celeste, Marseilles White, an unknown he calls Greek White, and a Syrian variety that he did not know the name of and is fruiting the first time this year. He grows exclusively in pots and stores them inside over the winter. He has his small cuttings growing in the ground which he digs up and pots for the winter and then they remain in pots the following season. I was amazed at how many figs he has on his trees and how big they are already. I know his are more mature than mine but I was certainly envious. My wife expected me to come home with a carload of fig trees, but I restrained myself and didn't buy anything.

Steve,
 thanks for shareing the story or your visit.
I thought with the name of website that he might be italian until i saw the name .

I thought so also but then again, I don't have an Italian last name either. So who knows. A very nice fellow with some very nice figs, I hope to stop by again towards the end of the season and then I might buy some. He had some very reasonable prices but you have stop his place.

Steve, what variant impresses you the most at Al's nursery ?

Pauly,
His Conadria was really nice. It had some really large figs on it and I had not really considered this one for our area before. The Magnolia was also nice. The Melanzana, he says is named for it's eggplant shape, was such a beautiful tree and covered in figs. With the exception of a few of his older trees, he keeps them all pruned very well for both aesthetics and management in pots. I tend to let mine get taller and bigger - I might rethink this. I would say he prunes along the lines of Givan's advice in The Fig Booklet. We also talked quite a lot about FMV. He is very careful not to let any trees with it in his collection. He says he doesn't buy into the idea that all trees have it. I certainly didn't see any signs of discoloration or deformation of leaves on any of the trees he has. I know that most trees and sources carry FMV, my collection has it, and I think it's manageable for many varieties that are growing strong. Each to their own opinion I guess.

Steve,
one more question when you have the time please.
About how big were his containers and were his fig plants in tree form if so about how tall was main trunk. Im not familar with the book.

Thanks Steve. Thats great info. & with  Fignut's good advise plus generosities, I had my Conadria. Since I had Conadria, I did some checking, it is a productive variant as well as it delivers year after year like the Desert King. I am sure I am going to enjoy this one. I saw the picture Jon had on Conadria and I like the volume of figs on this tree.

Martin,

Most of the trees he had for sale were in 3 gallon containers and maybe 2 ft tall. His personal collection were mostly in 5 gallon containers and around 3-4 feet tall and I would say between 3 and 5 years old judging by the trunk thickness. A few older trees were in 25 gallon containers and 6 or so feet tall.

From a pruning perspective, Givan described a technique of limiting top growth for pot culture and reducing the need for root pruning. After the first year in a 1 gallon pot, the plant should be cut down to about 3 nodes above the soil. Second year using a 1-1/2 gallon pot, cut the side branches down to 2-3 nodes at the end of the season. Third year is a 3 gallon pot and again at the end of the season cut the new branches to 2-3 nodes. Fourth year, move up to a 5-gallon pot and cut back the new branches as before. In the 5th year and there after, remove any branches (in summer) that bore breba to stimulate new growth. During all years, remove any weak branches. This looks similar to what I saw with Al's trees in the 5-gallon pots.

Paully,

I think I'll have to add Conadria to my list ... sure wish I had more land!

Gee Steve that was a quick reply.
Im always curious about others growing in large pots and there size.
His are 25 gallons or so and 6 ft tall  or there abouts.
Thanks Steve for your time.

He claimed that the few that were 6ft tall he let grow more than the others and would have normally pruned them more.

I visited 'good' Al ~2 years ago.
A very nice guy indeed!
I bought one fig, the 'Melanzana'.
So far I did at have one fruit but not lookingke an eggplant,
forgot other details.
One thing is for sure, his Silician (formally known as S. Black)
is no longer availaible. I got mine from another source.
One question I asked: is it a Sal's? Anwer : No no no, never
heard of (him) Sal. Just that that he had other "better" figs...
Another thing, he had one of the most prostrate (drooping)
figs I ever seen. Called later for him to root one for me; was told
later it was just a possible sport off his regular BT, and the
plant was already sold (for MUCHO $$$s) to some person in CT.

Steve
the information is interesting .
I also grow in similar size containers in the end , my tallest is 6 ft (hardy chicago) others between 4 and 5 ft, now i will grow them no more than 4 ft.
I dont graduate the post size as much or the prunining as hard but starting to as it makes them that much easier to move on wheel truck without getting poked bad. Like i said its nice to learn from others experience and again thanks for shareing this.

Gorgi,
thanks for the story, especially about Sals, i always said for me there to sweet as i like more richer taste than sweet but sweet is a nice change for me and the sals also dries real nice as im starting to do that. Maybe you were meant not to cross that bridge on your trip home one never knows what lies ahead...

George,
I'm glad I'm not but 5'10" SHORT.....HAHA

But I agree with ya on the Stupid tall truck driver!

Gorgi,

I think I know the bridge you went over! They rebuilt a bunch of those little old bridges in this area. They did some nice stonework to keep the character. A lot of those little towns have become very popular with the wealthier folks and they have restored a lot of them. Al's a short trip for me ... funny you should mention Sal's ... I asked him if he had ever carried them and he said no but has heard of them and that they do very well in our area (which we know). When looking at his Marseilles that had a load of figs on them, I asked if it was a White Marseilles. He had never known that there was a Black one ... that led to a discussion about "what's in a name" and how do you know what you really have. Let me know how the Melanzana goes so I know if it is worth getting - it was a pretty tree for sure.

Martin,

I'm thinking I'll start to keep them a little smaller too. For example, the two Unknowns I rooted from you, shot-up to about 5ft already and have started to branch out on their own. I will cut them back by half this fall for sure. I already took off the main tips this weekend. One really nice looking fig is growing on one of them. Only one fig, but since they are only in the first year it's a blessing.

Let me see now, I'm no whiz at math, but that would be about a foot a month= a 5 ft Martins unknown.........WOW

They are very vigorous growers for sure.

Al is a nice guy I bought trees and I traded with him as well.
I got a Marseille from him and I gave him the Barada (the Syrian fig that he forgot what it is) and Brooklyn white (He calls it Marseille now). His Sicilian is suppose to be good. I don't know about you, but I have at least 4-5 dark sicilian figs that I got as unknowns already

Steve
If you already have some in a 25 gal pot and they are 2 or 3 years old can you down size them to a 5 gal pot without hurting them.
Vince
Zone 5 Central new york

Vince,

I don't have any in 25 gallon yet but a few in 50qt (12.5 gallon). I was thinking in a similar way as you mention. I have a whole bunch in 3-gallons and a few in 5-gallons. I may stop at 5 gallon and start pruning as described in my post. I'll have to make that decision in the fall. Thanks for the input.

Bass,

Thanks for clearing up the Syrian fig mystery! I'll have to come by your place one of these days. Funny about the Marseilles/Brooklyn White he also said a few times that Verte and Excel were the same and used the names synonymously.