I have recently taken an interest in trying new fig varieties. I am fortunate to have a friend who let me dig some suckers from his many trees. I am also very fortunate to this site for information on rooting cuttings and variety information. I was able to collect: Black Jack, Kadota, Alma, Chicago Hardy, Strawberry Verte, and Conant. A few have not responded well to the transplanting, I am still hopeful that they will come along. The heat has been tough on them though. I also ordered cuttings of White Marseilles, and Battaglia Green from ebay.

My question is what varieties should I try next? I am located in North Mississippi. Does anyone in the area have suggestions for varieties well suited for this climate?

Also, Is anyone growing figs to make preserves to sell? What has been your experience?

Welcome to the forum, Taylor! What USDA zone are you in?

Thank you go4broek, I am in zone 7b.

Welcome to the forum.  Be careful on eBay.  There are significantly more scammers mislabelling cuttings on there than there are legitimate sellers, unfortunately. 

Thanks Jason, I think I bought from reputable sellers. I guess I will see if they turn out to be the variety I ordered. I have noticed that many forum members obtain cuttings from UC Davis. Is now the time to submit orders to them?

You need to have your orders in prior to December something... hold on, I'll search the forums for everything you need to know.

There is a list of reputable eBay sellers around here you'll find with search feature, along with some less savory folks to avoid.

Read this for UC Davis orders:  http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/USDA-UC-Davis-Orders-4957008?highlight=davis+fedex

I still don't think they've perfected the method Jon recommends in post #1, so I'd recommend using the method in post #2.

Meanwhile, please be aware that all fig scion you'll get from UC Davis is probably infected with FMV (Fig Mosaic Virus) which may or may not be important to you.  I don't personally care because most - if not all - of my plants are infected with this virus, and possibly others.  If it's important to you to keep a 'clean' collection, you may want to avoid going to UC Davis. 

Likewise, be careful buying potted or bareroot trees from anyone, regardless how reputable they are, because RKN (Root Knot Nematode) is highly infectious and half of the fig trees I've bought from sellers outside of GA have been infected with it, sadly.  RKN cripples tomatoes and peppers, I've been growing heirloom tomatoes and peppers in my beds for years, I've had to stop for two seasons now because RKN has spread to my main beds thanks to a couple of sources sending me infected plant material.  Gotta dig out every last bit of soil in my raised main beds, re-line them, then re-soil everything again.

Thanks Jason,
I will try to get my order in early. There is probably a good chance that the new varieties I collected have FMV since some came from cuttings from UC Davis.

Hi Taylor, I have shared several varieties with my wife's family in Oxford, MS. They have been very successful with Marseilles Black VS, Atreano, Celeste, and a few others. You should be able to grow just about any fig there in the ground as long as you protect them well for the first couple years. The figs there in Oxford, froze to the ground for the first two years, but came back from the roots with only mediocre protection and did not freeze back this last warm winter season as it was warmer than usual.(they used chicken wire around them, stuffed with leaves, but failed to put on a tarp with a bucket on top to protect from the rain & wind) Where in North MS are you? The Marseilles VS Black and Celeste make exceptional preserves as does Violette de Bourdeaux just to name a few. Hope this helps.

Hi Tim,  thank you for the suggestions.I was planning on trying Marseilles VS Black based on the Best figs at your location thread, it seems to be a popular fig. I am actually only 20 minutes to the west of Oxford in Batesville.