I received my 6 trees from Mr James Robin and my mom, 1200 miles away in Pennsylvania, received her two trees also.  I ordered 3 LSU gold and 3 Alma.  4 are presents, one of each to my sister and dad, the other two are my own.  My mom got LSU gold and LSU tiger.  I am kicking my self since I did not take pictures of them like I planed.  The roots on all of them are very large, wirey, meshy, balls of roots.  4 of the plants are about one foot and one of each are about two feet.  These are the two that I have already planted in the ground at my house.  Perhaps Ill snap some photos of them already planted.

Like every one has stated, and I cannot explain it enough that Mr James is such a nice person to deal with and talk with.  I wish I could talk to him more but he has his wife and business to deal with.  Ill accept the fact that Ill just be a customer to him. 

Hello Bill,

My experience with Mr. Robin was even better than your experience as I drove out to see him in July 09.

The figs that I got from him had root balls as you describe - plentiful and dense.  I uppotted to 5 gallon containers and found the roots circled the original 2 gallon pots.  Relative to the dense rootball, it was difficult to get water into the middle.
Recently, I read one of Herman's old posts where he advised that for ease in watering rootbound container plants to insert a large nail/spike into the center of the rootball, withdraw the spike and fill the hole with sand so that water will channel into the ball.

It makes sense to me and wanted to pass it on.

Young

You can also use a tree root feeder i think made by nelson, mine is old.
Anyhoot is has a 3 ft aluminum stem with 4 holes at the tip, the other end has a hose fitting , a container for fertilizer if you so chosse and on off switch.
Works very well for me in the heat of summer.

For anyone who has not read the story of Mr. James Robin, I thought you might find this interesting:

http://www.ldaf.state.la.us/portal/Portals/0/News/MarketBulletins/mb2007-06-21.pdf

Jason

I bought 10  trees from Mr. Robin in July and uppotted them all from Mr. Robin's 2 gallon pots.  I found rootballs with plentiful, dense roots and no sign of RKN.  I mentioned it to him and he advised that he had solved that issue. 

Young

I got 3 plants from him a few weeks ago.  They were bare root.  I checked the roots  before potting them and they seemed clear.



Lisa

do you have the contact info for Mr Robbins
   Thanks
       Paul

Just talked to James Robin. Ordered LSU Gold,LSU O'Rourke,LSU Hollier,LSU Scott's Black and White Marseilles. He's a pleasure to talk to. I was going to drive over and see him, but never could seem to find the time. Sure was easy this way. He was out of Smith until next year. He even temporarily identified a white unknown I have from my parents house as a Conandria. Makes sense as that house was built in 1956 and my mother, I'm sure , brought it from Los Angeles. It's at least an Adriatic type. Med./Large yellow/green Dark strawberry pulp. 

Yesterday, while searching around, I found a photobucket (or similar) website belonging to a forum member, and they had a scanned copy of a letter from James Robin listing the varieties he has available.  I'll look on my laptop at home and dig it up later, then post here.

I guess I should order quick, I didn't expect that posting here would send everyone buying him out ;)

Hi Jason, I think he sells out every year. He has only a limited amount of certain figs left. He had a handfull of green varieties and a handfull dark varieties left. I knew better than to wait this late, but I'm a procrastinator. I'll order more next season.

all my jr figs ( i think i got about 17 varieties from him.. all are going strong. plus he's just a great guy with a great sense of humor. highly recommended.

I called and left him a message yesterday (4pm LA time).  He never called back.  I guess I will call again tomorrow.

I never managed to get him on the phone.  I ended up coreesponding through the mail and ordering the same way.

Lisa

Well, see now, I said that, and no more than 3 hours after I said it, the man was calling me on the phone.  I had an absolute blast talking to him!

His supply was limited, though.  Unfortunately, he didn't have any of the Sicilian Black left, said his last 6 cuttings didn't root and he hasn't been able to get his hands on more (dangit!) .... so I guess I'll just hafta add that to my list of things to keep an eye out for. 

Glad that JR is doing very good with his litle fig business...

I never understood the Marseilles/latarulla/lemon/ st anthony or whatever you want to throw in there being the same fig.  Is Robbins saying Marseilles is the same as latarulla?  I dont see any similarity.

I only mention it because of this:  http://figs4fun.com/Var_L_info.html#LATTARULA

JR simply called it Marseilles.

I think JR  is quoting what is generally published in most literature including Ray Givans "New Fig Booklet", where they are listed as synonyms.  He told me the other day that he sells a Lemon fig that some people call Lemon, but is different than White Marseilles. Who knows what we're really growing. All we really know is the name we were given and it's source. It's all confusing to me. I'm not questioning what anyone is growing, only that it's confusing.

Ok, got four figs from Mr. Robin today.  One of them is huge, BUT it has no label, and on the zip-top bag covering the roots BROWN TURKEY is written. 
This was supposed to be a Hollier, so I may need to call him and figure out what the heck is going on!  Last thing I want is another BT.


For the record, one of these four figs DOES have knots on the roots http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=4019521 and will promptly shipped back.  Fortunately, I was aware ahead of time this could happen, so I inspected all roots through the baggie before opening, and kept this one isolated.

HI Jason, I'm sure he'll fix it if there is a mistake. I received mine yesterday(5) all with no signs of RKN. Also had a blue Lousiana Dept of Agriculture inspection certificate enclosed. He's a great guy to deal with.  Tim

He definitely is a great guy to deal with, I'm sure he'll clear this up.  He called me the other day to tell me the figs shipped, then called again three times in a row trying to find someone else, after the third call, I just kinda chuckled.  I think he was a little embarassed! 

Always a pleasure talking to one of my LA folks.  That accent is priceless, reminds me of my grandpa.

EDIT:  Ok, I just got him on the phone.  He just forgot to label this one and the other four.  Normally he tosses labels on the base.  It's a 2nd-year tree, and it shows.  Thinking this one will probably be kicking out figs this coming year with how big it is.

I asked him what time of year was best to contact for info on what he has available.  He said every year, he tops off his taller trees to fit them in the box, and uses those cuttings for next year's batches.  His cuttings usually start showing progress in march/april, and he tries to get the word out about what his availability is come summertime.  Mentioned a fellow in Virginia that helps him get the word out, but not sure what that means =)

So ... I was happy, he's a really positive guy.  Figs are his income.  His wife has Alzheimers disease, so the guy really has a lot on his hands day to day.  Amazing that he can be so darn cheery.  Really puts life in perspective!