Hi, I'm Robert and this is my first post on this forum. I've been stalking y'all for awhile now and finally decided to chime in.

I live in South Houston about 1 mile from Galveston Bay. Right where zone 9a & 9b meet. Ive been growing fruit now for 5 years and now I'm expanding into figs. My experience has been mostly with Blueberries, Citrus and Blackberries. I've recently add a Peach Tree, Muscadine Grapes and a LSU Purple fig to my collection. The more I read on this forum the more excited I get about figs! When I received my LSU Purple it was a 3 ft long whip bare rooted so I planted it and cut it back to about 12 inches. Managed to root 3 cuttings from it, gave 2 away and kept one for my self and its now in a pot. Ordered a Smith fig online and several varieties from UC Davis but not sure how that's going to work out after reading a recent post about ordering from them. Plus the whole FMV thing has kinda got me second guessing that order.

What tempted me to post is today on my daily walk through my yard I spotted my first fig ever on my potted LSU Purp!!! It's just a little squirt and I'm sure it doesn't have time to ripen but it's my first and I couldn't be happier;) So here are my pics.

Momma Plant


Potted Plant


First Baby Fig!!!!!


Would like to meet a couple fig nuts in my local area to trade with if possible. Don't have figs to trade but I do have some big healthy blueberry plants that will be loaded down this next spring to trade.

Thanks for reading,
Peace!

Welcome Robert and congrats on your first fig !!!

Hi Robert!  Welcome and thank you for sharing your pictures. 

Your blueberries look beautiful.  I should have left mine in pots rather than plant them in the ground.  Soil ph is too high here and I've been working hard to make it go down. 

Welcome to the forum.

Are you in Seabrook/Clear Lake area?  A lot of figs were grown in your area, especially in Pearland and Friendswood, mostly Magnolia/Brunswick but there were a lot of Italian figs brought through Port of Galveston.

There are several good figgers down in the Houston area.

Welcome Robert from a Newbie to a Newbie! :-)

Hello Robert,
welcome to the forum !
What fertilizer do you use for your plants Robert?They look very healty...

Hi Robert,
Welcome to the forum. I'm in Lake Jackson so we're pretty much neighbors.

Pearland is where the Banana fig was found.  You can pick up those at local nurseries still.  There are some folks up in Conroe that have LSU Purple, Celeste and Banana as the three varieties they have on their farm.  I know they sell figs and potted plants when available. 

Thanks everyone! Ph will make or break the blues. For ground planting a raised bed at least 10 inches high is a must on sweet soils. Yes I'm actually in Seabrook. That's good to know about figgers in my area. I've seen a bunch of fig trees in people's yards around here. Would it be to much to knock on there door and ask about them? I would be pleased if some one wanted to come and see blueberry plants.

Knock away, you're in Texas!

Very nice, Texas is in the HOUSE!!!!!

Yes we are but we're outnumbered by people in New England.

Welcome Blueboy:)  (BR here)

Welcome, Robert.  I wish I had gotten into fig growing sooner.  I used to come thru Seabrook every month to go see my daughter.  She has moved back here now so no more trips to Galveston planned in the foreseeable future.  I do know that there are several members in the general area of Houston though.  

There is a pretty good number of Texas folk on here.  Tami is right though, we are out numbered.  I think Texas is up and coming for fig growing.

Yes, go knock on their door.  Most people are happy to talk about their prized tree's. 

Since you are in the area a few good nurseries that sell fig varieties are:

http://buchanansplants.com/fruit/

http://www.rcwnurseries.com/rcw/

Both have great plants at reasonable prices.  Nothing like the Black Madeira or Ronde de Bordeaux.  But you can get some nice local varieties.  Texas Blue Giant does real well down here. 

Wow, what a great forum with fast response! I can't type fast enough to keep up with you guys!!! Thanks again!!!

Tami, since your in Lake Jackson I'm sure you have gone by Mr. Panzarella place right? If so have you got BA-1 fig and how do you like it?

Bam, what's up ;) I finally made it!

Thanks Mehgan, I've never made the trip to those nurserys but I do know of them. I will have to check them out.

Tell me more about Mr. Panzarella....don't know him but would love to go knock on the door :) BA-1 wasn't on my radar but I could try to get us each one.

Yes, I want to hear more about Mr. Panzarella too!  Tami, let me know if you go. 

No kidding, we can all go and you can distract him whilst I chop half a tree to take home and divide LMAO
Where exactly are you Meghan?

Spring, TX  Up on the north side of Houston

Here is his web site. He sales lots of fruits from his yard and he is located in Lake Jackson.

https://sites.google.com/site/johnpanza/

I just spent all this time on his page, how interesting. He is out of BA-1 at the moment but has lots of nice citrus and pomegranate for VERY reasonable prices. I'm going to have to have a visit with him this week sometime.
He also has grafting classes which I think I probably need.
Thank you so much for letting me know about him. Apparently he's a well kept secret here in town :(

Maybe we'll get lucky and he is just not keeping his webpage inventory up to date.  What a great find!  Thank you Robert

No problem. I actually spoke with him last month some time about BA-1. Said he will have some available late winter to mid spring. I would love to take some of his grafting classes as well. I've got 8 trifoliate seedlings that are ready to graft citrus too but not exactly sure how to do it. At the top of his page under "Refinments in Grafting" he has a really good article on cleft grafting citrus to trifoliate. Looks easy enough! Come winter time which ever one of us show up there first and he has BA-1 will have to get at least 3 plants. 1 for each of us. I believe they go really fast once he has them. Another fruit worth buying is the Genoa Loquat. If you've never had one they are delicious and the Genoa strain he carries are twice the size of local loquats. I believe the grafted ones would be what you want. I believe seedlings, which he offers aswell, may not always come true to type.