I am new to fig growing and this is my first year trying rooting. I am really enjoying reading all the topics and discovering all the different types of figs out there. I am looking forward to adding a few more varieties of figs especially ones that do better in colder areas. I am just curious now that I see how many trees everyone has and how many cuttings everyone starts every year. Where do you keep all of your trees and what do you do with all the cuttings that you root every year? I figure in the winter if they are in pots they go in a shed, garage or basement. I am mostly curious in the summer with the trees growing out and leafing. I can't picture having 20 or 30+ trees in pots on an average sized lot. I know I have 20 cuttings growing well now and I am hoping most of them make it and even if they do I will only keep a few for myself and promised a few people i would them one. I am just curious when I see people starting 50 cuttings and maybe doing this each year. I don't want to offend anyone. The wheels in my head are already spinning trying to figure out what I am going to do with the trees I hope to have. My property is .15 of an acre. I live on a main road and I have a big detached garage taking up a nice chunk of property, not to mention how much space is taken up by the privet hedge surrounding the property to get some privacy.

I also have 1/6th of an acre.  Granted, we're looking for at least twice that in the new house.  I'm doing pot culture with a couple in-ground ... and I'll find a way from there....

I can tell you this:  A bread loaf caddy will hold eleven 1gal plants ;)  So I can fit all of my trees in 4 bread loaf caddies (loaf trays, whatever) with 3-5 gallon pots flanking all around....almost 60 trees in a 6'x6' footprint in the yard!

Hi 71GTO,
i answer your post and hope many more members chime in.
For me i have only 30-35 containers.
There all in containers as i also live in cold area.
Also they do not take up much space in full sun all next to each other.
I store in attached garage with 2 cars and space is very tight . I line them up on both sides of garage next to each other and then i put some on top of those pots doubleing them up. Have some on back wall as well and some behind one of the cars right being the overhead door, that car  does not get driven in the winter months so no problem.
As for the cutting i try to root i keep one and any extras of same they go.

Here picture of a few behind car.
Example of garage where figs get stored on sidewall and back wall between freezer and car.
They all fit but very tight.

Thanks guys, it is encouraging that it can be done with a small amount of land. I think I have storage space for them in the winter, my only issue is my garage is detached, large and has very high ceilings. It is mostly poured concrete and uninsulated wood. All that adds up to being very cold in the winter. The concrete keeps the cold in even when it warms up. I put a heater out there this winter and since the ceilings are so high all the heat went up so high I was still freezing. I think if I can get my GTO back together I will have plenty of room for pots.  I can find some space for them outside...
 Typing this out makes me wonder. I do plan to use the garage in the winter once I resolve the freezing cold issue. If I do have dormant potted trees stored in the garage and I go in there occasionally and heat up the garage to hopefully 50-60 deg mostly for a few hours, but no longer then a day. Would that bring them out of dormancy and then when it goes cold again hurt them?
I guess to as far as cuttings go practice makes perfect. I will see if I can do a few next year to and see if I can improve.

I doubt it would hurt them if only for a few hours. That ice cold soil temp wont change in a few hours time .

Just a thought about heating garage, perhaps make a walled off space for plants if its possible and just heat that area where plants reside.

An unheated unattached unisulated garage is like an outdoor shed and if your area is cold similar to mine its not a good idea without some sort of heat in a garage of that type.

By the way i had a 67 chevelle that was restored mostly and it stood in garage afterwards then finally i sold it.
The GTO is a beauty in my opinion also, they sure dont make em like that anymore so darn easy to work on compared to nowaday cars.

Thanks, i guess I have to many hobby's they are interfering with each other! I am making my wife nuts with all this stuff. I am going to look into insulating the garage better, so when the heat is on it stays in the garage. but since it is detached without leaving the heater on i won't bring up the temp. I don't think I can afford leaving that heater on all the time even to keep it heated to 40 deg. I do have a basement and the house is old enough that I have a coal room. I can keep the trees in there and out of the way, but am using it as a wine storage/wine making bunker. I think I can make room for both if need be. I told my wife to wait until start trying to make dried sausage and prosciutto in the basement too!

This is my garage. The pic is a little old I have a better side door, a new roof now and I insulated the garage door.

Chevelles are really nice cars. I would love to have one. This one has been sitting a long time. I am working on it slowly. I did all the labor intensive cheap stuff. The frame, undercaraige and suspension is all redone. Now I just need to find the money for parts to get everything else back together, but with a house, wife, and everything else it is a challange. I hope someday I can finish it and maybe if I am lucky have enough time to get another car....

This is so simple, if your yard isn't big enough for all of your fig plants, then you have the wrong yard. ;-))

Jon may be on to something! But you don't have to get more property. Just share your trees with friends. Offer to plant them in their yard (or grow in pots) & you do the care for them. Just be sure to "care" for them when the fruits are ripe and take a few with you when you go :-) .

You could have trees all over the neighborhood with other folks helping you to care for them. You could even make them feel as if you gave them a fig tree or two. Let them have a few fruits but be sure to stop by at the most strategic time (when the bulk of the fruit are ripe or when you need some cuttings).

Granted, this is mostly in jest but there may be a hidden idea in here somewhere :) .

By the way. A '69 GTO was one of the fastest cars I ever rode in when I was a kid. Had the 454 in it if I recall correctly. Scared the @*$&% out of me, but in a good way :-) . There may have been skid marks on the road but I think there were a few in my pants too!!  Woo Hoo!

GTO, In winter, all go into attic,,, I have alot of large potted figs trees but husband and I join forces and carry each pots into attic, it is cold there, but not too cold to kill them all. What hard work. Husband is building me a greenhouse to store this year outside as we get more winded each year carrying up all the steps, huge pots. I have a greenhouse room which is just for plants that are rooting for the next year, or too young to really get cold or go dormant. I have a nursery business and sell most of them the following spring and during summer the younger rooted figs off my mother trees. there is heat and grow lighting there, also the other tender foliage that really cannot be cold. I have one in the ground covered and a couple large potted trees, not valuable/sentimental to me so they I left outside along side of house to see if they will survive this winter, they have and that is a good sign, shielded from the terrible cold winds. My yard is not large, but thats okay, I use most room in yard for figs, plus my vegetable garden, prunes trees, and of course scatter throughout, all my different flowers and shrubberies. It is like a beautiful eden out there during the spring and summer, cramped yes, but I have patio area for us to sit outside, drink wine, eat and chat if that is what we want to do, the figs surround that area as well. I have many many figs trees, but wouldn't have it any other way. I will always make room if I choose to collect anymore, they are a part of the big cramped family here. Ciao!

Thanks guys, Saxon, I could probably keep a few pots at the in-laws. I don't think I could count on just coming back and getting figs in the summer though. They are watching me to see how I make out with my fig trees so they don't have to do the work, LOL! I'm sure they would be fine with me taking them back and storing them for the winter.
Italian girl, the attic is an idea to. We do have space up there and it is colder. My house is 90 years old. This attic stairway is about as narrow as I have ever scene, it would be interesting to try to get a large pot through the house and up there, but is an option now. =-)!

71GTO
that is a very high ceiling garage !

Bill
454 was in Chevy- most famous one was the 454 LS6 not many LS6 serial # were made
Around 71 was the 455 HO for pontiac if not mistaken HO- High Output 300 Hp Net.

It was said the car companys were underating the Hp back then.

I only have one suggestion to help with heat retention in garage.

I have 2x6 studs with r-19 insulation and drywall on top.  My garage has not gotten lower than 32 degrees this winter at any point WITHOUT any form of a heat source.

If you have 2x4 studs put 1" furring strips on top to build it out and than use 3/4" drywall.

I have a second floor on top so that probably helps retain heat with r-19 insulation as well in a 24x24 sized garage.
___________
Dominick
zone6a-MA

Right 454 was a chevy motor. Most pontiacs were 400s in 69 all GTOs were 400s with different hp depending on what package you picked. The fastest and most rare was the ram air 4. My 71 has a 400, but since all the blocks are the same I can change it to 455. Which I plan to do. The ceiling is high people can't believe it when they see it. I think its about 20 feet at the top the design of the garage it is beautiful, but it needed work. If I can get the funds and conquer my fear of going up that high. I will add insulation up there and maybe a fan to push the hot air down when the heat is on.

I just got rid of my '68 pickup with a 2002 LS1 (fuel injected) and 6spd tranny that I was working on building up.  Made lots of room for the figs.

Chevelles are my favorite vehicle ever.  I love the 67-70 models, but the 71-72 are nice as well.

Right Martin. I was always getting the 454 & 455 ci mixed up between chevy & pontiac. Pretty sure the car I remember had the high output 455 in it. Not sure if this was one of the engines that came in the '69 GTO "The Judge" or not but that's what was in this car though.

The car was yellow with the big "The Judge" sticker on the front fender. Had the rear spoiler on it. Pretty sure it also had the 455  metal numbers somewhere on the body too. I'm just not sure if that was factory or not. I remember the friend of ours who owned it saying that the car was stock and came with factory headers. He could get that car to pull the front wheels off the ground. If it was un-modified, that was some pretty serious stuff to be street legal :-) !

The car I'm talking about looked alot like this one only it was about the color of a school bus:

 

Sorry about getting so far off topic from figs but I like fast cars too! Unfortunatly with two kids I'm in more need of a new mini-van at the moment :-} !

 Saxon,,,,,,Beautiful Car! I love a pretty and fast car. Ciao

It was probably a 70 judge. The 69s were only that color red and maybe black. 70 had that yellow color called orbit orange and the 455 ho.

Thank you for that clarification 71GTO. You're likey right. I could just be recalling the exact year wrong.

Either way, I remember the mean 2nd gear and the smell of burning rubber very well ;-) .

Maggie, I love a sharp fast car as well. Just not a luxury I can fit into my life at this time. Maybe when I grow old and rich - yeah right!

I remember back in the days when my buddys used to have GTOs.
Those were the good old days.

I also remember when we used to ride our mini-bikes up and down the streets in my old Detroit neighborhood and get chased by the cops.
I think the cops in those days were more into the thrill of chasing us rather than catching us. I'm talking the late 70s.

This is a 70 Judge. My car has a similar body style. I can say one thing at least I bought it a long time ago before prices really got crazy, so I have it, as long as it takes to to finish at least I have it. To bad I didn't grab an earlier one it would be more desirable now... I am attached to my car though. I have really gone out of my way to keep it and I can't picture selling it.

Here was my truck .... http://satellitehead.com/gallery/

I have about an acre for plants, but some of it's garden and a lot of it is apples, pears, pecans, cherries, berries, etc.

So I am putting in fig hedges around the orchard to efficiently use space (see my prior thread on this topic).

And I'm also being "Johnny FigTree" getting family, friends, neighbors, and total strangers started growing these fantasticly healthy and delicious fruits. 

The World will be a better place for us all when everyone has a fig tree!  ;-)

And as far as cars, I'm driving a 98 Honda Civic.  Now THAT'S one sweet ride guys (if all you care about is gas milleage and reliability that is; not great for picking up the chicks; but since I've been married for 25 years that's yet another plus). . .  ;-)

Best wishes to all

John

Sweet goat,, I had a 67 and a 68 firebird ,, the 68 I wish I would have kept,, ,, my brother had a judge , N I C E ...... I remember when I was a kid my father telling me GTO stood for Gas, Tires and Oil........... now that gas is so high I had to get a 4 banger for a project car ,I'm driving it often to fight the gas prices,,$3.35 a gal today,, its all about the gas right now... (its warm here so I'm about to brake out one of my mororcycles,, a small one. My car gets better gas milage than my old VMAX 1200 V4,, 0-60 in under 3 sec but its hell on second gear),,I'm about to start on it in about a month, it will be nothing like those high horse power V8s but it should be a little fun car to drive,, more along the lines of a big go cart..

Man, I would also kill for a 70-73 Camaro....  I mean, don't get me wrong, the 67-69 is classic .... but there's just something about the GenII FB & Camaros that I find totally striking.

Grant, you should go for something like what I did in the truck.  The late model (GenIII - GenV) fuel injected SBC is an easy swap, and you can easily get 20+ MPG in one of these classic with one ....