Okay, thanks to this forum, my collecting, rooting and growing skills have improved:

 

Enough already!  Some varieties have to go or I'll be living in that shed!  Most of them will be given away.  Some will go to Bass' for the NE get-together.  A few will go on eBay.  Please don't PM yet.  There are over 100 plants and probably more than 50 varieties.  I've completed most of the eliminations and this is the last round of eliminations that I need a little help with.  After this, a 'give-away' list can be compiled.  

If someone should notice one of their varieties that was from a give-away on the forum, that plant will re-gifted and the person that gets it will know who it came from.  I am extremely grateful to everyone on this forum and I assure you that there will be no hurt feelings.  It's just time to downsize.  

Time to start giving back.

I haven't tasted any of these and they are all small.  They were collected for various reasons which seemed very important at the time but not so important now.  So, for whatever reasons you may have (you don't have to post the reasons) which 3 varieties would you keep from this list?:

Ficus Afghanistanica (Ornamental only.)
Ma Si Yi
Jin Ao Fen (Not) (Wanted to compare with Orphan. Probably a Brunswick)
Orphan
Bournabat
Keddie
Petit Negri
Sicilian Dark (GM#11) (Already have a Gino's)
Emerald Strawberry
Danny's Delight
Desert King
Italian AS (Unk) (Closely resembles Noire de Caromb. Already have a mature Kathleen's Black)
Excel
Cucumber
Melanzana

I'll gladly buy Bournabat if you decide to go that route. It's one Texas A&M reccommends for my area. I'll pay a reasonable price plus shipping & handling.

Thanks

Nice packed yard.  All figs? or do you have some other goodies?  Can't comment much on your question, though....I've got mostly baby fig trees right now myself.

The petite negra and danny's delight  are reported as must haves. I'm growing both, don't expect fruit till next year however.  Can't say anything about a third from the list, I'm not familiar with them.  Good luck figuring it out. 

A few citrus trees in there too.

Thanks for your input, Scott.

Hi nycfig,
Did they fruit for you already ?
If so, keep the best and/or most productive, or some original / different from what you already have .

But, if in a rush, then because you're in Zone 7, keep DK , then Melanzana, then Excel - But you're personal experience at your own location should be your guide .
Beg for 2 years more testing...

I would drop "Ficus Afghanistanica" for sure because of scarce fruit.

I haven't heard of most of those, so I can't help. I just wanted to say I know exactly what you're going through.  About two years ago, I had just about the same amount as you do.  Today, I have under 20 varieties and 30-some trees.

jds - None of them have given me fruit.  They are small, but I have room for 3 more after the downsize.  Thanks for the input.

If it does help...I can at least make some speculations from what I've read about.

I keep toying with the idea of getting a Desert king for the sole purpose of extending a growing season.  Supposed to be one of the first brebas of the year.  Downside?  I've read that it doesn't produce in the first couple years.  If you've got a couple early ripeners among your keepers that can compete with desert king, I might skip it.  Then again I might not. (helpful, right?)

Excel is one I have growing that I'm really excited about.  A few members rave about it...see here http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/excel-figs-ripening-5924963?highlight=excel&pid=1274249600#post1274249600 .  My little figlets are growing like weeds...they're among my best rooters/growers so far.

Emerald Strawberry (143-36) is apparently hit/miss for folks.  I've got a little one growing, and its supposed to have a really unique (even spicy) flavor that some love and some don't care for.  Many also report it may not produce for several years.  Might not be worth waiting several years only to find you don't care for it.

That's about all I've got.  Dunno how much it helps.  Obviously having not tasted any of these 3 in person, take it all with a grain of salt.

If you type each name in the seach bar along with ripe in front of each name you will see ripe fruit from each variety and a nice description of the growth. This way you know what you want to keep the most. This is how i decide what to seach for or what to give or trade. Hope this helps

I had bournabat and it seems pretty certain that that fig needs the wasp. My tree always dropped the figs and they looked like capricious inside. I got rid of it.

I would keep Petit Negri, DK and Excel. Best of luck with whatever you deside boss.

Thanks, Brett. It does help a little.

Chris, thanks for your input.

Danny for your zone I would go with the Excel, Danny Delight, and the Desert King. If you don't go with the first two, PM me.

Danny, it's hard to answer your question without knowing what varieties you have decided to definitely keep.  For example, I would say Petite Negri is expendable if you are keeping Violette de Bordeaux because they are supposed to be nearly identical.  I might be misremembering but is Danny's Delight a Mt. Etna type?  If so, it could be expendable if you already are keeping a couple of those. Melanzana is related to Longue d'Aout/Nordland/Niagra Black types if memory serves.  So if you have that group covered already then it could be expendable.

OK.  I will only speak to those varieties with which I have personal experience.  It may or may not be useful to you, so do with it as you will.:

Bournabat - I had it for a couple years, it never bore fruit, got rid of it. 

Petit Negri - had for a few years.  Last couple years it fruited for me.  Delicious.  However, most of the top growth died back this past winter.  Don't know why.  It was in the garage just like all my others, none of which had any amount of die back.  I am in a similar situation as you, where I have too many trees and am going to get rid of some.  So, I chucked it out back in the woods, even though it was starting to sprout from the bottom part of the stem.  It would have been one of my keepers if it had been healthy.  I figured it was an opportunity to thin the herd, and I know it is readily available from retail sources (bought mine from Edible Landscaping) if I want to buy it later. 

Danny's Delight - had it for 4 years.  Hasn't fruited yet, but there are a bunch of brebas on it, so we'll see what happens this year.

Desert King - I have a White King, which maybe is the same thing?  It does produce a nice breba crop, which is good for having some good figs in June or July.

Excel - I have had it for 4 years.  Fruited last year, was good.  Don't know if I'd call it a must have.  But for now it's a keeper. 


My plan is to see how all my trees do this summer and get rid of at least 20% of them.  Probably will want to actually ship them in the fall though, since that is a good time to bare-root.  So you folks keep your eye out.  Might even be some sought after varieties that for whatever reason didn't do much for me.

Steve, Understand what you're saying and I tried to cover the bases.  Have a large VdB and a few good Mt. Etna types as well as LdA.  Just have room for 3 more and wanted to get some opinions.  I could blindly pick but wanted to get some opinions.  Thanks for the input.

Dave, thanks.  DK is starting to look like a stand-out.

I'm going to say similar to what Steve just said. Petit Negra is a great fig, but there are several varieties which are very close and by the numbers you mentioned..I'm sure you likely have one of them.

DK, maybe, it just depend if you have other heavy breba figs. Excel, like already mentioned, has gotten pretty heavy praise over the last year.

Those are the 3 that jumped out to me.

Calvin, I have a mature English Brown Turkey that produces early but it looks like DK will be the first keeper from this batch.  Thanks for your input.  2 more to go.

Rob - Missed your post.  Decided on the DK already.  I see Petit Negri and Excel popping up a little more than the others.  Excel might be the second choice.  Thanks for your input.

I'd keep the Danny's Delight and Desert King.  They are two on my list to try to grow.  Still looking for the Danny's Delight.

Please give the Bournabat to someone in California.  It definitely needs the wasp.  I'm in with DK - tastes good, very early.  I haven't tried the rest.  Good luck!

OK.  Bournabat is off the list.  Going to someone in Cali.  Thanks Bob.

I'm interested in any trees.  I am in Cali.

Keep the DK! Just wait it out, I have a good feeling about it.