That is an awesome creation!  I envy your grafting and espallier skills.

"skills" is a bit of and overstatement, though "experience" is starting to be somewhat accurate.



I do often see grafts that form stunted, mottled leaves that are consistent with what folks here have described as FMV.  Most are in the slowly-wither-and-die group, or died this past winter. 

Interestingly, of the 3 galban grafts from this spring, one is doing a spot on impression of a plant infected with FMV, while adjacent grafts from the same source are very healthy looking, so I'm not sure that the symptoms I see reflect FMV, bad graft, or some other malady.

Thanks everyone.  I hope you enjoy the pics and updates as much as I enjoy sharing and showing off!

I have enjoyed figs from so many varieties off of this tree this year, and anticipate much greater production within the next few seasons.  I had a request to post some pics, so here you go

 


  

 


 

 




      


Some figs.  I also started a thread where I intended to document the varieties, but I end up eating them before I can properly document.  Oh well. 

There is nothing like eating one fresh fig after another to appreciate the wide variety of flavors that exist.  Also, weather conditions and degree of ripeness can cause even a single variety to change flavors quite a bit


 

Our Welsh Terrier has also discovered the joy of figs.  She goes bonkers over them!

Wow! what a nice selection. Congratulations!

Amazing job! Just looked over the whole thread and am in wonder of your frankenfig! And very healthy looking.

Love it! Thanks for posting the pics!

Nice, you've inspired many including my self to try this next spring. I've got several duplicate varieties from cuttings I rooted this year that will go under the knife next spring. I have too many I believe to put in ground in my small yard so this is really the only way I can accommodate so many varieties. Strong work and please keep posting updates as this is very fascinating.

Great job!

Wow, what an amazing job. To say the grafting you did is impressive would be an understatement.

The rewards :)
Thanks for sharing your exciting project with all of us Andy.

Aaron, I have unripened figs on all three of the figs you sent me, and all grafts of them took well.  Thanks.  Can't wait to taste the figs!

thanks for the update, thanks;)

winter shot

  








I will be grafting the Champagne cuttings (I got today at LSU) and a small handful of others to complete the tree this spring. 

I will also be grafting some of the rootstock back onto the tops of the main branches where  the bark has died.  You can see that in my first year of grafting, I was sooooo clever.  I cut off every new branch of the rootstock as it grew, to promote growth of the newly grafted scions along the periphery.  Instead, it just left the branches unshaded near the center of the tree through an entire south LA summer, and burned it badly. 


My next big project is a pear espalier along our new SE facing wall.

Interesting to see it dormant.  If I was a kid, I'd make a fort under there!  Framework is in!

Good luck with your new grafts and with your pear tree.

Suzi

brackishfigger, I admire your dedication and patience. Amazing work.

First time seeing this post. I should be working on a project but am amazed at the work. Thank you so much for sharing. Can see your kids growing through the years too in the initial posts. What an awesome story.

I think I can safely call this tree a work of art.  From the grafting of the many varieties using so many different methods to the shaping of the tree it is one of a kind.  I appreciate your dedication to this project!  Nicely done.

Hi,
We're still waiting to see figs ripen on the tree :)
Should be fun to have yellow, dark,brown,green,big medium,small figs ripening on the same tree ...
Hope that this will happen !

I count 22 varieties in the upper level and 17 in the lower that took robustly and are breaking bud nicely.  Many varieties have more than one graft that took. 

Several have brebas including Bealle, Armenian, Galban, and Conadria.  But the Morrocan is loaded!! 

Added the Champagne and a local white this weekend, so if they take, 41 total varieties, and I could squeeze another few if I needed to. . .

Truly an amazing montage of photos showing the progression of this unique fig tree.  This whole thread, from start to present, has been a perfect way to show other growers just what can be done, by using some simple grafting techniques, to produce many varieties of figs in a small space.  It was a great idea to photograph this project, starting right from the very beginning.

Best of luck with this unique tree.  May it continue to bring you happiness and delicious figs.  I hope the small children shown in the opening photos, can one day bring their own grandchildren to harvest figs from your tree.


Frank

The morrocan  3/16/15.  Arrow is the graft, red circle is the "m" inked on it, and the yellow circles are brebas.



 



 



One year prior, 4/5/14.  Hard to conceive that that little green bud becomes that stout young branch next to the "m"!

The whole yard is waking up after one last gust of winter last week.  The lazy graft is looking good

 

Brilliant!!

A few shots of before and after of my attempt to speed the healing of the sunburned horizontal limbs from summer 2013.  I just brought over an adjacent smaller branch and, sometimes after scrapping the undersurface, nailed it to the injured limb.




Before

 





After

 




different area

 



same one

 





Another still.  I have the big vertical pulled down with wire and that blue twine.

 







As they grow, I will graft the leading branches of the donor wood into the viable bark that is down-branch from each wound. 

The first two that I showed won't need it, as I think that they will look pretty cool intact, but the third, in the last two pics, will eventually need to have the donor branch removed as it messes up the symmetry of the tree and was only kept for this use.  I made certain that there is cambium contact where the donor branch first makes contact with the injured limb.


Any consensus on merits of treating or coating the exposed wood? 

A couple of those pics showed the progress in healing that happened last summer, 2014.  THer is about a quarter to half inch of dark brown growth beginning to encase the wounds from the outside in, healing by secondary intent.  But it's got a loooong way to go, even if my grafts take and eventually fuse with the underlying branches as expected.

Add Unknown Bronx White to the list of breba producing grafts, with three baby figs.