I thought folks might want to see some pictures of some fig plants that I have started from seeds. These were sown about 30 days ago, and while one had sprouted after 7 days, there are still some that are just sprouting now. These seeds are from the clone Panachee with unknown wasp carried pollen parents. I am hoping that the striped stem may show up in some of the seedlings.

I know that I have a low probability of getting an edible common fig tree that is worth growing, but I am still having fun with this long-term project.

I recently found another old fig tree not far from where I work. It's owner said it made lots of purple figs every year. It is likely 70+ years old in the spot it is in. It must be cold hardy to have lived here in Salt Lake so long.

Anyway, one of the three seedling pictures is of a sprout that has 3 cotyledons, instead of the usual 2 like the other plants pictured the first picture is of the largest of the seedlings.

You never know you what can happen please keep us updated with pictures and how they are doing.
On another note anyone notice something different with forum layout i cant put my finger on it but it seems different this morning as i dont see who is on or new members list on bottom of forum.

difference:  the logo up top is centered?  i see "who is on" and new member, though.

Tom, seeing things like your post above make me wish i lived somewhere with fig wasps!

Jason,
We don't have the wasps here in SLC, Utah either. I ordered the seeds from UCDavis.

If anyone is interested in some seeds let me know. I got more than I can use up.

>>>  I ordered the seeds from UCDavis.
Very interesting...

I once sowed some fig seeds just for the sake of seeing
some "baby-figlings". I used seeds off (supermarket) dried figs
from (CA) Calimyrna, Mission and (Turkish) Smyrna.
(both)/myrna seeds grew like weeds!
The Mission (at least the brand I got) had dud seeds.

I do not have the space/time to do this kind of good stuff, so
I killed all.

Good luck with your experiment and let us know the results.

This is very interesting to me. I was under the impression that most figs didn't contain viable seeds. I wouldn't mind to try germinating some seeds. As vigorous as many fig cuttings seem to grow it would be of interest to see how well some little 'figlets' do. I don't know if that's a real word or not but I love the way it sounds :). Maybe cause piglets are so cute. Yeah I'm a man who's not afraid to use the word cute -got a problem with that??

Anyway, I'm a bit suprised that more folks don't try growing a few fig seeds. After all isn't this the way NEW fig varieties are "made"? Granted you may grow a thousand trees before you "find" a new variety but if you had a couple hundred people involved (say F4F members?) it would'nt be an insurmountable endeavor. Also wouldn't choosing a high quality parent increase ones odds of getting quality offspring? I have a little room to do so & I would plant some seeds if I could get my hands on some.

Jon-(or anyone else who'd know), please let me know if there's some reason I'm going down the wrong road on this line of thought..?   

I recently sowed a bunch of seeds that I bought from ebay. I had over 40 little seedlings in my tray one day I was cleaning my office and put them outside not realizing how cold it was they all died exept for one. So right now I have the hardiest one of the bunch. Still have about a 100 seeds though might try it again over the winter.

Interesting nelson20vt. Would fig seedlings produce fig trees with edible fruit or would it be some sort of capri fig or something?

I know a little about what happens when you plant the seed from some fruit trees. If you plant seeds from a cultivar of an apple, peach, orange, mango and others, your not necassarily going to get a tree that produces good fruit. But on rare occasion you end up with something that is even better than the parent tree. I knew of some guys in Florida who liked growing mangos from seed for this reason.

On the other hand some other fruit trees grow nearly true to seed such as paw paw and sugar apple (annona squanosa). Those two aren't related just two examples.

When I was in FL I started a number of fruit trees from seed. A few examples are Jackfruit, Star Fruit, Sugar Apple, Papaya (not really a tree), Mamey, Black Sapote, White Sapote, and Avacado. Unfortunately, I was only there long enough to see the sugar apple produce one edible size fruit.

It would be interesting to see what fig trees would do. Anyone know? Jon?

Saxonfig,
My understanding is that fig seeds can grow into any of three kinds. Caprifigs (which are the functionally male trees that produce pollen), Smyrna type females (which are the type of female flower only trees that require pollination to ripen figs) and Common type females (which are the type that we all have that produce figs without pollination).

And in regards to those that do grow as Common, the same variability applies as with apples etc. That is the trees might produce fruit that is inferior to the parent tree, or if one is lucky, they may produce fruit that is better than the parent tree.

So with figs, the chances of getting a better fruiting tree than the parent are small. I am hoping to be lucky and get not only some that produce good figs, but also have a resistance to the cold winters we have here in Utah. I expect my luck might be better when I try some seeds from crosses I plan to do using known cold hardy female trees such as Celeste or Hardy Chicago or even some of the 'unknown' types I have located doing well here in Utah.

For pollen, I plan to grow my own by growing a few caprifig trees. From those I will extract pollen, and not having fig wasps here I will then cut a small pencil size plug out of the fig that I want to have make seeds, and use a puff of air to blow the pollen thru a straw into the inside of that fig. I should get pollination that way, and viable seeds to try with.

You might want to check this page out:-
http://www.raysfiginfo.com/figsex.html

I am doing almost the same thing that you are doing bluesguy. I just hope that the percentages mentioned works out. I have about 50 seedlings and plan to plant them out next spring. Thanks for the info on how to `hand-pollinate`in a non-figwasp area.

If it is any consolation, chances are better than winning the lottery. Just remember it is more a marathon than a sprint. It would usually take more than 4 years before the seedlings bear fruit.

Jon`s Vista varieties are really an inspiration.

Juliana
Austria
Zone 6b/7a