Hi everyone, I'm fairly new here and since many of us live in wet/humid climates, I thought this might be an appropriate thread to start now,as many of us are looking at adding new plants to our collections through dormant cuttings this fall/winter. I have searched both forums and just find hit & miss information on closed eye varieties. Is there a list somewhere that lists varieties by eye size, such as closed, small, med., lg., etc. Appreciate any feedback on this.

Great question Tim, I'm in the same situation as you. In fact if this weather keeps up I might have to change from figs to growing rice. My yard is a rice paddy now.

"gene"

One thing Yawl could consider!

If ya do happen to have a fig with an open eye you could give it the Martin touch,(not to be confused with the Midas touch) he plugs the eyes of his figs with pretty buds from some deadly plants!

Gene, sorry to hear about your "rice paddy"--not too favorable for figs! Thank the" fig Gods " it's raining some here. We were in a real drought for about 6 months. Even with some heavy rains lately we have no standing water.

Cecil, you crack me up! I think I'll use something besides oleander.

Good thinking Tim

I think this rain has really taken it's toll in the SE this year even though it is rainy season in July and August here it seems more than normal Fred seems to have lingered for 3 wks now and even though my blk unknown does not split or sour the flavor has definitely bee compromised. My older Brunswick is done with figs but a small cutting is just starting to ripen some figs if its dry they are good but rain while ripening and they are worthless.

Tim we also had an extended dry season this year, but then the rains came, and they continue.

Sal, nice looking brunswick. I dug up my 3 year old tree last year because I could not get a fig off of it that wasn't sour.

"gene"

Sal, that is a nice looking Brunswick. Hope the weather holds for you. I got one off mine this year so far,birds got the rest, but was soured. Bought mine unknown because it was a different leaf shape, so I  guess it's wait & see on this one.

Gene, we're in for more rain tonight & tomorrow. Am praying for no "gulley washers".

Tim you mean like Atlanta. I feel for those guys. I've been flooded 2 times in 3 years, and it ain't no fun.

It rained on and off all day today and more is in store for tomorrow.

"gene"

Tim, if it isn't good weather for figs, it isn't apparently any better for roller coasters, from the pix I saw.

As for chart/list by eyes, etc: I don't know of one. I have used my pix to tell as much of that story as possible. Maybe someone will come along and volunteer to do the legwork of puttng a list together. If and when, I will be happy to post and link it at Figs 4 Fun.

Thank you Jon, that's going to be one big undertaking. I figured as much, since I couldn't find anything. I love your site and this forum-they've both helped me tremendously. Look forward to buying some cuttings next spring from you, I just procrastinated too long this year. I do appreciate all you do. 

Gene, it sounds like you need a fig like my dad had. He lived in LaMarque, Tx by Galveston. The fig never was sour, never split and was closed eye. They got as much rain as you do.  I have no idea what the name was but it was a green fig that ripen green. It was sweet, he called it a sugar fig but he call all figs sugar figs. When it ripened it was hard to tell because it never changed color. It had a red meat.
J.A.

JA, our member "fatandsassytexan" lives a little south of there I believe. Is there any chance you'd have an address so that he could go on a fig hunting trip. I don't know if he's up to that but if I would be closer I'd sure try to find it.

I asked Jon at Encanto Farms to recommend five good closed-eye alternatives to my souring-prone Brown Turkey, and he suggested Celeste, Black Mission, Vista, Panache, and Black Madiera, and as backups added White Adriatic, St Jerome, GM1, Strawberry Verte, Adriatic, Portland 4, 135-15s, Black Weeping, Galbun, LSU Gold, and LSU Purple.
 
I also emailed "Just Fruits and Exotics Nursery"  http://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/Figs.htm and asked which of their figs were closed-eye varieties, and they emailed the following (I'll skip duplicates from Jon's list):
Alma--moderately closed, small eye--honeydew closes eye
Giant Celeste (Tiger) partially closed
Golden Celeste (Champagne) partially closed
LSU Improved Celeste (O'Rourke) partially closed
Conadria--small, tight eye
Excel--medium, tight eye
Green Ischia--closed
Hunt--closed
Tena--medium, tight eye
Texas Everbearing--moderately closed, small eye
 
I've had no other dealings with Just Fruits beyond this email exchange and can't vouch for the accuracy of their information, but they seemed friendly and responsive.

Gene, if y'all want that fig I can send you all the cutting you want. We planted one at my niece's house and it is huge. Just let me know.

JA that would be great. Definitely please get me a few cuttings when it goes dormant. I will hold them over until spring and try to get them started.  Thanks for the offer.

J- if you have extra cuttings, I'd like some too. Glad to pay whatever. 

Gene--thanks for trying to set up that Galveston fig hunting trip---great idea. Come on over & go with me. Only an hour away. Galveston is kind of a scary place(seedy) & don't want to go alone. No offense to J, I'm referring to the older neighborhoods. I'm "skeered". Ha!

Ken, thank you for listing these closed eye varieties, that helps me a bunch. I'll have to make room.

Tim, I love to take a trip down you way. In fact I could make a Texas only trip to meet all my Texas fig friends. It just can't happen now. 

I know what you mean about seedy.. This past week I spotted a tree in a yard that caught my interest. It still had some figs on it. Most trees around here are celeste and they are all finished with figs. In fact most have lost most of there leaves. Anyway, the street passes behind the house with a fenced yard and the tree is too far from the fence to examine. I drove around the front side hoping to see someone outside and then noticed keep out signs all around the place. I don't think I'll be knocking on the door to that house.

I just picked (in the rain) an atreano and a dark portuguese and both of the eyes were virtually closed 

Hi Ed, Thanks for the info. I have have Atreano from Rolling River, so  I  guess I'll put Dark portugese on my list. 

This time of year with many humid foogy nights going into morning my EL.Sals, Hc and Unknown are splitting , my Violette De Bordeaux i estimate 3 seasons old my first season with it is still producing figs that are decent and no splitting at all, its young at 3 but so far so good.

Thanks Martin, that's good to know. I have a Vdb.  that's been in the ground a year now, but haven't tasted any yet. The first group all fell off from Heat/water stress earlier this season, but now is full of figs again, if I'm real lucky, maybe I'll get to taste it this year. I'm glad yours is still ripening figs in spite of your weather. Mine should act more normal next year, I hope. Mine came from Willis, but is definitely Vdb.I've added pictures please disregard the first one, I don't know how to remove it.

Hunt and Hardy Chicago are the two best figs I have seen for wet weather.  I went to one of the LSU growing sites during a very rainy week.  In fact it had rained the whole day that I went.  Hunt and Hardy Chicago where the only two that held up.  What really impressed me about the two is that they both had great flavor.  Nothing else there even came close.
Jeff LeCompte

Jeff, I'll have to add them to my ever growing list. Thanks for the info. By the way, how are things with ya. My offer still stands.

Where are the LSU sites? How many do they have?