It's good advice for poker, but could apply to life!  Figs... Some are a loss and some are winners!

I'm holding some and selling some.

I'm holding some in hopes, growing some, and kicking some to the curb!  Good song, though.  Applies many ways!
Suzi

Here's a gambler's song that's slightly less mainstream.

I'll say a prayer when I kick them to the curb, as we all do.  Some must be kicked!  It's an addiction, this fig collecting thing, but sometimes...YOU JUST CAN'T LEAVE! 

I say a prayer when I kick them to the curb.  Is that OK?  Sometimes other countries invade... and you have no choice.  All the peaches and apricots got brown rot.  This does not seem to effect figs.

Suzi

I pulled a "dead" fig out of the ground a couple weeks ago to make room for the new LSU gold I bought. But I just could not throw the little "dead" stump away. So I dug a shallow hole outside the fence and dropped it in. Today I saw 4 new leaves coming out of the dead stump! It is an unknown variety I got from a neighbor, I think I may call it my "Lazrus" tree.

Dead man Walking

I keep some. I get rid of some. The funny thing is some that do well for me might not do well for others. And some that don't do well for me might do well for others. Go figure.

"Knowing when to hold them" is the hard part.

You keep a tree for a few years thinking "It'll get better, only disappoint you. Then you start thinking maybe one more year will do the trick, only to be fooled again.

From now on I'll only keep a New tree a maximum of 3 years before it gets the boot.
If there's no improvement by then I really doubt that the clouds will part, a ray of light will shine down on the tree and the figs will be the best you ever tasted.
Strike One!
Strike Two!
Sttrrrrriiiiike Three!! Yurrr Out!!

Hi Tonycm,
For me I count up to five .
Strike one ...two, three, four and strike five and then the decision is made.
That is what happened to two wild figtree cuttings I brought from a town near the Spanish border at the french Mediterranean coast.
They were growing like weeds with crazy inter-nodal distance and not setting that much fruit, and most of them would yellow and disappear. I only could taste once one fruit from that strain.
So those trees were not kept.
Since then, I buy known strains - but to my great despair even those are not well documented ... But at least they are good start ... In southern France.
Now the question is: How do they perform in eastern France ?
"Dalmatie" tree1 is starting strike four .
"Goutte d'or" are starting strike three .
Man ... I'm aging :( .