This is probably the nicest fig orchard I've ever seen.

One word
Beautiful !

Amazing how nicely they're spaced out. I feel so humbled looking at these photos...

That's beautiful,Bass, where is it located?

Very neat. I wonder how they keep the birds away.

As nice as it looks, I wonder why they were pruned to be so high off of the ground. If the spacing on the ladder rungs are 1 foot that means it's at least 6 feet to the lower branches. It would be quite a chore to harvest the figs. Maybe the land has a secondary use, like grazing sheep or cattle. I must add like the others here, that is one pretty orchard.

This is the collection of Monserrat Pons in Mallorca, Spain.
He wrote a book on growing figs in his island and all the varieties. Its coming in the mail for me from Spain.
I hope I can understand it. It is written in Catalan.

My guess is that they were pruned high to permit machinery to work under them.  Figs in the W. US are permitted to drop to the ground, are raked up and sent through a packing house for cleaning and prep for sale. 

These figs apparently grow in an arid environment and may be collected for drying in the same manner as the figs in California.  I see no evidence that any animals are permitted to pasture under the trees.
Ox

Aye, that make sense. The ground looks highly manicured which would make it perfect for collecting fig off of. I hadn't thought of dried figs since I've never eaten any.

Not to get off topic but i noticed Genes post about never has eaten a dried fig.

Ladies on forum please excuse expression here i type.

Gene its MAN LAW if you grow figs you must try dried figs at least once.
I have dried them in a good weather season and they are to me better than store bought which is a hit or miss on a good one - least for me anyways.
I cannot dry them every year because of or goofy weather such as the abrupt halt and cool season as last year in my area.

Gene remember its Man Law !
PS. I wont tell anyone on forum.   ; )
Best Health
Martin

I'm with Martin, that is one beauuuuuuuutiful sight. Wish all my trees were that big.

Fabulous photos!    Here is a link that I got from a photo that someone posted a while back (the fifth picture over on the top row).    These are photos that were taken, from what I can tell, at a visit to Montserrat Pons' orchard.  This is a different source from Bass' picture above.  

Martin, thank you for setting me straight, man I had no idea. I guess us southern type have such long seasons that there is little need for dried types of fruit. In fact I've never seen any for sale. I've seen dates but not figs. I'll have to look harder. Now that the world knows how sheltered a life I lead I just as soon jump in with both feet so to speak. My questions are, do you dry your own? How do you dry them? Are some varieties better than others and what are some of those varieties? What makes a fig a good drying fig? Please don't let me hang here the 'incomplete man". LOL, "gene"

Thanks for posting these links. I have seen most of them. There are a lot more on this guy. He's got the largest collection in Europe. over 350 varieties. He collected all varieties in the Balearic islands and observed them. Liqueur from his figs are being made, about about 2000 bottles a month.
His orchard produces 130,000 kilos of fresh figs on 15 acres.
His book is called Les figueres a les Illes Balears

All I can say WOW! I could only wish for such beautiful trees. I've always thought a fig TREE would look good in my landscape here but the standard here is the bush form, though I also like the look of some of these 20'x20' "bushes" around here as well.
Seriously though, how does one go about getting that form? I assume train them to one main stem removing all suckers and limbs up to the point where you want branching. Here's what I am thinking for these cuttings I have in cups when they are ready to go in ground. One main trunk to about 24" and then allow branching. I'm thinking combine the two forms so that I can keep the ground underneath clean and mulched but not so high that I have to do the ladder thing. 

All I can say WOW! I could only wish for such beautiful trees. I've always thought a fig TREE would look good in my landscape here but the standard here is the bush form, though I also like the look of some of these 20'x20' "bushes" around here as well.
Seriously though, how does one go about getting that form? I assume train them to one main stem removing all suckers and limbs up to the point where you want branching. Here's what I am thinking for these cuttings I have in cups when they are ready to go in ground. One main trunk to about 24" and then allow branching. I'm thinking combine the two forms so that I can keep the ground underneath clean and mulched but not so high that I have to do the ladder thing. 

BTW, someone instruct us on how to dry figs. Do they have to dry on the tree or can it be done on a dehydrator. Or is it like raisins done in the sun in the vineyard.
My only experience with drying fruit is apples which were peeled and sliced and laid out in the sun between a couple window screens. Drying veggies was pole beans threaded onto string to make what we call leather britches.

Beautiful Pics, A fig winery that would be interesting to see such large scale production and of course taste some.

I know a few of the variants in his fig collection have made it all the way into Canada.

This is how my fig orchard will look one day.
When I move to San Diego,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,next door to Jon.

Great Pics Bass.

A nice fig-orchard indeed!
I like the planed-layout, uniform, open-pruned healthy fig trees.
I wish that I had a similar big-space (acreage) and warm-climate...
[E: A very good job done by Monserrat, my congrats.]

The only thing I can say about dried figs is they dont compare to fresh off the tree figs.  The last time I ate one I lost a filling and had to go right to the dentist.  I wont be drying any soon.

Ed
Most of the time we eat dried figs when there are no fresh figs to compare with.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I think dried figs are nasty tasting. I've never dried any myself, but am speaking of the store bought ones.YYYUUUUKKK!!!!

ha ha Ed  -- are you kidding!
Dried figs are inferior to fresh ones. I told my wife not to
buy anymore dried figs but buy avocado's. I can go without
them.