Its cold winter here in Australia, fig cuttings time.  If any fig enthusiast would like to sell me cuttings of their figs especially the varieties I seek, you'd be most welcome to contact me.

As a fellow Aussie you'd know its impossible to get anything other than Brown Turkey and just the most common of all figs from nurseries.

thanks in advance Gen

(trying to expand from just having my Brown Turkey 1 year old potted tree)

Good luck gene..... Due to your country strict import policy..... It's almost impossible to send cuttings into your country... Or even get out of your country.... That's what I heard...
Hopefully I got it wrong



Ong

Indonesia

Will grow any fig tree that can grow in my country

Try searching around this au fruit site:
http://www.rarefruit-sa.org.au/

In the past I have found it interesting and you may find things you like.
I do have a brother down-under (Horsley Park, Sydney) area.
He does have some fig(s), but his little farm (now run by 2 sons),
is mostly in the 'cut-flower' business.

There are a couple members in Australia that were posting on regular basis but I have not seen them lately.
Maybe because it is winter there and just not interested at the moment? They seemed to have a nice collection. Try doing a little searching, you might come up with something.

Or if it comes down to it then a road trip to a nursery that does carry but does not ship might be your last and only option. It's how bad do you want them? I would call first.;)

Good luck

Thanks for the tips guys.

Thanks Enigma just looked at ebay now after you letting me know - that particular seller had gone to the SA Rare Fruit Fig grafting session that fortnight ago and obviously got a whole heap of varieties.

Word on the street is that you can buy bundles for only $2 - BUT - as you said you have to be physically there at the meeting held somewhere in SA and be a member of their rare SA fruit society AND its only held one or twice only a year!   

Should I EVER travel overseas again, I know what I'll be doing - I'll be taking cuttings of figs everywhere and buying all the stuff from nurseries of fig varieties and then posting them back home to myself (yes I will take the gamble!)   Really, that is what the early settlers and the mid centry migrants did when transferring to a new country.  They got away with it, and I will try!!  

Garden Web has Australian Forums.  The US fig forum is very active, so maybe you can find help in the Aussie version of Garden Web.

I actually got help from them for a different kind of tree.  A previous owner planted a Silky Oak native to Australia on our property and we are wishing it would die or go away!  LOL!  Messiest tree on earth, and it's over our big patio!  We are going to have to have it removed at a pretty big expense, but the Aussie's were helpful to me on that subject.

Good luck to you!

Suzi

There was an Australian member here a couple years ago that was illegally importing plant material and got busted. So severe to the point that the Australian government contacted one of the sources here in the US and threatened to contact the US government if he didn't cooperate with them.

I read that email and it didn't look good.
To my understand and I don't have proof, the "said" member was find heavily or did jail time.
And my understanding is the laws are very Very strict in Australia in regard to importing plant material.

The laws were much different in the days when the immigrants did as to apposed today.
Today with all the resources and technology it is almost impossibly to successfully (illegally) import plant material.
They have X-ray machines and dogs trained to sniff out such items amongst other things.

You have been given some good advice here. It is up to you to do what you want to do.
But to openly say in the open forum what your intents are is just asking for trouble. Your money, your freedom.

But if it were me, I would use the money to take a road trip down under and obtain my collection from various vendors and collectors. At least you get a piece of mind doing it this way and not worry about your door being knocked down in the middle of the night by law enforcement.

My 2 cents and good luck

Geez, Rafed. I wasnt aware that it is so strict in Australia. Is it the same for all countries? I thought perhaps one can get away with shipping a cutting or two.

So my question is, you have vendors (from Israel, turkey and China) selling fig cuttings. Is it OK and safe to purchase from these vendors? How does one go about acquiring fig cuttings from abroad? thanks!

Not ok to ship cuttings to the US without proper documents. And it is my understanding the privilege of importing Ficus Carica has been taken away at the moment. Scion or tree . Not 100% sure though, the restriction is from certain Countries.

Plenty of cultivars available right here in our own Country to try and jeopardise our collection by purchasing from abroad.

Thanks for the info Rafed.

Rarefruit socitey normally sells their cutting once a year. I was there on the last meeting and able to get some of those cuttings myself. Cuttings are 2$ for each of them. There was atleast 10 varities to choose from.

I picked up 3 cuttings of Red Conandria, Lemon Lennie and Schombergk ( A made up name by Tony Stevens). There were other varities like Green Ischia , Yellow Ischia.

The guy who is selling at ebay will have pay atleast 6$ for the cuttings and plus ebay fees and his time to be actually there to collect all thiese varities to share. I agree with Enigma, if somebody likes to improve their collection they have to pay, you can't rely on charity all the time.

I agree it is hard to get all these exciting varities here, but it is out there and you need to be patient to find them. I successfully acquire several of these varieties this session. I will post later about that.
So keep hunting and good luck.

Enigma - you have misread and misunderstood what I've typed and I don't appreciate your wrong assertions thankyou.

Yes Kausickck

I also bought fig cuttings from the very same Ebay seller a fortnight ago for the first time - and was very happy with the transaction - and I've just bought more from him last night after getting advised from this forum.  

It sounds like there is alot of varieties on offer at this once a year meeting, so as their sold at $2 a pop there, I think I will travel interstate this time next year and attend and just buy every variety thats on offer.  

Gen

Rabbits says it all!

To that add a nasty big toad...