Hi! I am NEW to figs trees and live in BC Canada. I am really excited to learn more and grow figs! I am a beekeeper along with 5 of my 9 children in the North Okanagan Valley.

I been reading over this forum daily the last week after stumbling across a fig tree in a local chain store. I picked up the little beauty for $7.00 on the pity plant table.

I am HOOKED! After some research it looks like I bought the PC brand of a "Hardy Chicago" I also found a website here in BC where I have ordered another 3 fig varieties. Black Mission, Stella, Desert King. I should have them in a few days.

We are moving to Ranch up north and will be in a Zone 4a or 4b going from a 5b/6a Zone. The Zone change is going to be a bit of a challenge as I am used to sweet cherries and peaches growing like weeds here. I look forward to seeing how others are meeting the colder climate challenge with figs and hope to learn enough to keep mine alive :)

Welcome! With an attached garage and a little planning, you can do it.

Welcome to the forum!
Have you seen this website?
Email Dany who is the owner, he could root you some if they are not listed in stock.

http://brugmansia-quebec.com/Catalogue/Figuier%20Fonce_ang.html

Hi Bees_n_figs,
Welcome to the forum.
Zone4 is tough for figtrees, but you are surely planning to keep them in pots.
What pot size did you choose ? What potting mix ?

Do you have a shed ready for the figtrees during the winter ?
Growing (test) tomato plants will help you see how long your season is suitable for figtrees .

Good luck with your trees !

Welcome to the forum.

Paully22 is in BC as well and can advise you on the best varieties for your location .

John

Welcome:)

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on new fig finds.

Welcome to the forum.

Welcome.

I can confirm that Dany (Brugmansia) is an excellent source, but having talked with him he is sold out for the season. Richters Herbs is another nursery I have ordered from, and although the plants were quite small when I received them, they are growing like weeds.

Good luck.

Welcome to the forum from me too!  Can't offer much advice from Southern California, but I'm sure you'll do just fine!
Suzi

Welcome! My understanding is that trees outside in 5b/6a will need some fairly robust protection over winter- below that seems like too much work for most folks. You will probably want to keep plants in pots as discussed here - do some searchs - there is deep and excellent info on this site from many generous + experienced members. I suspect a greenhouse and or grow lights for an early start is at least what you will need to do to see ripe fruit. Concentrate on only early varieties to avoid disapointment. Good luck!

 

Always nice to see more Canadians on the forum! Welcome!

Tyler

Welcome to the Fig Forum.

Best,
Tam

Welcome to F4F. 

A friend in Kelwona is having a hard time getting to enjoy their figs. Like Ivan said ".... a greenhouse", grow lights &
stay with early varieties. Here in the Fraser Valley, I have to help many varieties to ripen main crop. Even then I will
be most happy to get half/a third of the main crop figs. The varieties I get a happy harvest for both brebas and main
crop are Osborne Prolific, Conadria, Longue d'Aout and Latarrula. For brebas it is Desert King and Granthams Royal.
Others - main crop only are Hardy Chicago, Dark Portuguese, Rosetta(?), Salem Dark, Nebo, RdB, O'Rourke etc. All
others need green house help. A promising one is Yugo Yellow. BTW, lots of people in Vancouver grow Gillette - large
crop, just sweet taste. Note - over 50% people in Vancouver have DK & Latarrula. There are lots of fig trees in Vancouver
and at this time of the year they are easy to spot.

Welcome!  I second the greenhouse.  If you heat it you can ripen any fig you want.

Welcome from neighbourhood, Seattle. I exchanged several emails with a lady who sold "portuguese small plants" from her large tree in the Vancouver area, she advertised them on Craigslist. You should look there also, that way you get 'local' figs, that for sure you know will grow and fruit for you.

There are other members of the forum in your area. you will have fun meeting them.  If you ever come to Seattle, give us a shout. We are a small pocket of 'fig members',  and we love exchanging varieties that grow well for us. I have a few I can share, but I don't ship over the border.

* check your private message.

Welcome to the forum and happy figging to you!!

Thank you all for the warm welcome!

Yes, I am absolutely going to be growing in containers! I have been contemplating a green house for when we move. Growing figs has now pushed that to a necessity lol
My daughter and son in law live in Abbotsford. We go to Vancouver every couple months. We will heading there in a couple weeks.

One person pointed out how easy it will be to see the Fig trees now that I know what I am looking at and I was wondering if it was a good time of the year to ask for some cutting from them?

As a beekeeper with a local raw honey/wax products business I notice the plants and trees in my environment especially when travelling! I like to see what bees in other zones are working. I have seen lots of fig trees in Vancouver and Victoria(Vancouver island) but because I never seen flowers/catkins I never bothered to research them to find out what they were. All these years I have bypassed probably the MOST fascinating plant I could grow!

Thanks for all the advice and info! I really appreciate all the suggestions on what figs would grow best in my climate! Saved me from learning the hard way, I am fantastic at learning from other people mistakes lol

Should I assume ALL fig trees have FMV? I am sure the one I just bought has it after looking it up. I will have tons of questions as I get started!

This FORUM has been a HUGE wealth of information! I thank the folks who contributed their knowledge for creating this fantastic source for everyone!

Irene

Irene, maybe I can trade trees for Honey. Though you will see lots of fig trees in Vancouver, the sad news is that there are commonly known as "black, green or yellow" -- frustrating.


@Grasa, do you have the Vancouver lady contact that sells Portuguese fig trees ? I would love to check out the varieties. Thanks. Recently I checked out a Vancouver tree where cuttings were sold -- it was a BT. Disappointing.

Welcome Irene!  This is the place to find out all about figs and so many nice members.

However in addition to the many nice F4F members from BC, there is a reputable nursery in Denman Island that ships figs and other plants within BC;

http://figsforlife.ca/catalogue/figs/

Hi Bees_n_figs,
Absolutely, But I would target root-suckers instead of cuttings.
Usually , on big trees, people just discard the root-suckers. So it is worth asking for ...
And don't take it too bad if you get a no ... Just take a beer :) . And ask someone else ...

Good luck !

Personally, I like lurking at nurseries ... And I just spotted two strains worth the try - Well, four strains but buying two will make my week ... So I'll make Christmas in August this year :) ... But I'm willing to wait for December to get the snow ... If possible -
Weather has been mild to cold lately here, that's not good for my main-crops ...

Bees_n_Figs,
Here is Penticton Canada. Hi Irene and Welcome to the forum.
 White Genoa might work for you and I have cuttings if you need it . Good luck with everything. The picture my B. Turkey

welcome to the F4F forum