Good morning,

Ireceived two figs trees from Willis orchard (peter's honey and desert king) I live in the great state of Ohio.  The trees were barefoot and dormant.   Is this normal?  These trees are five foot tall.  Will I get figs from the desert king?  I live in Columbus.

I've never ordered from Willis, but some here are not very fond of them. Seems they get the names mixed up quite a bit. Also seems very strange that at this point in the season they are shipping dormant trees. That is very puzzling to me. If in fact what you got was a Desert King, you will get fruit in Ohio. DK is a breba only crop though. Good luck

I will argue with Barry about timing. I have recieved dormant bare root trees during this time of season and they worked out well.
But like Barry said Willis is known for getting the names mixed up.

One thing most won't argue about is the quality is great. I had four or five from them and each one of the trees was very healthy.

Keep us posted and include some pictures in the future so we can better help you.

Good luck

I've gotten bare root figs in February but it's almost July. Must be kept in cold storage the whole time for it to be dormant. 

DK sets a main crop here in CA, it's supposed to be lighter (and not as good tasting) as the breba. I've been pinching all mine off as it's new in ground this spring.

The trees were in great shape.  Root system looked really healthy, I potted them up in a 5:1:1 as my mixture with additives.  So 5 parts pine bark 1 part perlite, 1 part peat.   Additives:  1 cup of bone meal, half a cup of lime, one cup of azomite, 2 lbs of worm castings.  Thank you all for your comments.  I will post pics once the leaf out.   Hopefully I get a Breba crop this year from the Dk.   Columbus Ohio zone 6

Good luck and welcome to the forum!  DK requires a tiny wasp to ripen the later crop so you will never get that to happen.

Rafed, bare root usually is sent out in fall or through the winter. Don't know of any greenhouse or nursery that I have done business with that would have decent sized trees in cold storage in June, stunned. Well Shawndturner, glad they are healthy and I hope you do well with them  

Yeah i never heard of bareroot and dormant this time of year.

Shawn just so were all on same page they did not have any leaves on them what so ever ?

 Removing soil from roots for saving on shipping costs i understand but dormant  as well and its almost July .

According to the website

Our trees are shipped in a state called "semi-bareroot." We remove the soil around the root of the plant and replace it with a moisture retaining gel called Terrasorb. This keeps the roots moist during transit and lessens the weight of the tree for ease of planting when you receive it. Large orders may be shipped via freight carriers and the trees may be left in the containers. Container grown trees can be shipped in the pots if you request and are willing to pay for the additional freight charges. Freighted trees are sometimes (not always) shipped in pots.

Our evergreen plants ship year-round. Most of our trees and plants are deciduous, meaning that they can only be shipped in their dormant state, void of leaves. These trees are typically shipped later in the fall (starting around late October), through winter, and into spring, ending in April.

We encourage you to order well in advance of your expected delivery date. Many items will be sold out by spring. Therefore, if you want spring delivery, we strongly suggest that you place your order in the Fall.

I've bought apple trees from them before. Had a tree destroyed by deer and they still replaced it free. A stand-up organization

Barry,

This is a long time ago but I am 90% it was during later Spring  ( 2nd half ).
I could be wrong though.

Nonetheless,
I agree about the label issue but their product is great! I have since given all those figs away.

My wife bought my first 4 figs from Willis 3 years ago for a Christmas present.  Celestial, Black Jack, Italian and Texas Everbearing.  Honestly, I don't know if they are true to type yet.  They all tasted and looked the same last year, like Celeste.  Although, the more I read about them the more I think some of what I bought are too similar to one another to see a difference yet, if at all ever.  This year, I can tell that the Black jack is more compact just like I've read about, but the figs were not black last year.  I've read that with age, fruit quality improves.  We'll see.

Anyway, they came in as bare-root in Dec and I potted them up and they never broke dormancy.  They replaced them free of charge (even though I didn't know what I was doing, and I think I screwed them up by overwatering them) and the next group rooted out and grew fine in March.  Late June does seem late to ship bare-root, but their prices are reasonable.   They must have kept them dormant in their coolers.  Curious to see how you answer Martins question.  Just keep all your paperwork.  Can't remember if I had to ship the non-viable trees back. 

Let's assume the trees leaf out...will they have enough food/energy reserves stored in the roots at the onset of cool weather to live through the Winter storage?

The real question:  Will they live to re-sprout in the of Spring 2013?

Frank

Figs are more forgiving than other trees. I'm sure if they're dormant and kept from being dried up it should be fine. I would definitely prune the tree, Plant in a pot and kept away from direct sun. It should sprout back. I would treat it as if you're rooting cuttings. 

I took pictures this morning on my iPad! If someone can tell me how to upload pics to the forum I will do so

Deisel (martin). They did not have leaves on them!  The buds are breaking now on the tips of the old growth.

I just got off the phone  with Willis orchard.  They told me that they are not dormant they de leaf the tree before shipping.

Shawn....

Very interesting information in post # 16.... they strip the trees of leaves...

Please keep updating this thread...I want to know how all this turns out.

Frank

During many summers in Texas, my containerized trees would drop their leaves and go into a quasi-quiet state.  I think it is the trees way of conserving water and energy while it is too hot to grow.  Based on my experience, I don't think you should experience any negative effects of the bare-rooting or the defoliation.

~james

Shawndturner thanks as i was just curious if they had a huge walk in cooler for plant in dormancy or.
So it just sounds like they took all or most soil off plants roots maybe trimmed them some and cut off the leaves.
Good news is you see buds breaking open so plant should be just fine with simple proper care.

Bronxfig:

I will keep you guys updated.  I will try to figure out how to upload pictures.

Both figs are are leafing out quite nicely.  Hopefully they will garner some good growth before the fall comes.

Shawn...

Thanks for the updated information.  Glad to read that the trees are leafing out.  Good Luck.

Frank

I'm seeing definate differences in all 4 of my varieties.   I believe now that they are true-to-type.  Each one is slightly different.  Glad that everything is going well for you too.

I took pictures this morning on my iPad! If someone can tell me how to upload pics to the forum I will do so
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Probably you will not be able to load any picture from the Ipad to this forum. I tried from my Iphone and did not accept it. The reason is to load a picture it has to be one meg or less.The Iphone and Ipad cameras make hefty pictures. If you have a photo of one meg or less you can click on the tree icon in the message to upload it.
Willis is not my cup of tea I bought 6 trees from them 4 apricot and 2 figs. All the 4 apricots died one of the figs died and one survived . The one survived it suppose to be Brown Turkey but it has brown turkey leaves and other unknown leaves. Looks like it is two trees in one. I don't know what kind of figs I will get because we never had any yet.
My best fig trees are the one I air layered from my neighbor trees. I am not that self appointed fig expert but may be I just got lucky.

I do agree.  I was successful with my items from Willis. With all that being said.  For the serious fig collectors like us on this forum , there are better options (like each other) that should be explored first.