I kind of went from a fig hobbyist to a figaholic last fall and went from about 15 varieties to around 100 with no real plans on what I was going to do with all of my new trees.  I eventually decided to disc up a portion of my alfalfa field and set out stakes for 138 trees on a 12' spacing within the rows and 16' between rows, making up 6/10 of an acre.  I have allocated 115 of my potted trees for this orchard made up of about 85 varieties with extras to be sold or traded or donated to some causes.  Of the 115, 76 are now planted with the rest waiting to size up a bit more before being planted (hopefully, in 6-8 weeks for most).  The empty spaces are being reserved for more trees of some of the varieties I already have or for a few more acquisitions.

Here are some photos my farmhand took with his phone while finishing up planting while my son and I were in Idaho helping out my in-laws put up their winter supply of firewood.





I have planted the trees on berms and this area can become pretty wet in the winter.  I will have a high tension wire attached to each T-post about 12" above the ground to suspend a drip line.  I am also considering installing some cross-arms next spring with two strands of wire for each row to trellis the trees somewhat similar to the photos Ken Love has shown at http://www.hawaiifruit.net/cf/images/fig5.jpg.  This area of my farm is exposed to quite a bit of wind so the support can be helpful to reduce limb breakage and I would also like to be able to train trees to harvest efficiently.

HOLY COW~~~
NICE~!

Very, very nice

Going to enjoy your photo's in near future !

Nice!

It will be a nice orchard in just a few years. Now I wish, I had that much "flat" land, in a fig- friendly climate such as yours. Excellent work Harvey.

Navid.

looks outstanding harvey,,,,, glad the wood cutting went well too.

Thanks, everyone!

No begging here: one variety I still need to acquire (buy/trade/etc.) is Col de Dame Gris.

Harvey,
Impressive and inspiring. Thanks for sharing. I have a couple of questions: How long are the rows? What are those posts made of and what are you using to create the tension?

Opportunity to have an annual fig harvest party/fig shop -- just like visiting fig germplasm. Great undertaking Harvey.

Great work!  You should have a terrific harvest soon.

Dude, Harvey that's awesome!! I think you might find this article interesting.

http://www.donbarioni.com/images/Page%20A8%20%28Dons%20Article%29.pdf

This guy basically did the same thing. He got fig, and olive fever. He devoted some of his families farm to develop an orchard.

Harvey,

Looking good. Wished I had a property and climate like yours.
Please keep us posted.

Right on, Harvey, that's awesome!  Sometimes you just gotta go large :)

Awesome !! Best of luck !

Hi Harvey,
Lovely to see your new project taking shape...........
Will be amazing soon once they all grow up.
Good luck for the future.

Harvey,

Nice orchard... good luck!

I know, you shall be using and taking max advantage of local environmental conditions  to make a model figfarm . Congratulations

Francisco

Future figtopia

Color me pea-green with envy! Do I see a Pick-UR-Own in your future? They have tons of those places here. Have people pay you to harvest your orchard for 8-10 bucks per gallon depending on what the fruit is.

Very very impressive. Great job and good luck.

Looks Great Harvey! I know it'll grow great in that climate

HarveyC,
Thanks for posting the pictures and commentary...
I've used fence posts in a similar application, but nowhere near this scale.
Please keep us updated.
Good Luck.

Hi Harvey. This is a great looking orchard! I also enjoyed watching your chestnut orchard on You-tube. Maybe you can post a you-tube video of your fig orchard also, as it progresses!

Holy Cow! Harvey, that is gonna be amazing!
"If you build it..."

Wowie!