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My trip to Opelousas, LA and meeting the Fig man Mr. James Robin

Hello everyone,


Last weekend I took a road trip to Opelousas, La to see the famous fig man, Mr. Robin. Saturday morning I left Birmingham around 7:30 am and arrived at Mr. Robin's house at 3:15 pm. I was lost for few miles, my car's GPS started taking me to the wrong direction when I had only 2 miles left to his house (one way trip was 490 miles). Had to call him and ask him where his house was? 
Finally arrived there and knocked on his door, he came out and greeted and then his dog (Bob) came outside and started playing with me. We all then went towards back to his greenhouse and orchard, his friend and I walked there while Mr. Robin took off with his riding lawn mower towards back driving 80 miles/hr. 
There he showed me his fig trees. He also has many other types of fruit trees like, Lemon, Orange, Mulberry, grape, Pecan and pomegranate trees.  we walked around his Orchard and he showed me all his trees, meanwhile Bob was catching Snakes, lizards and barking at the Wasp's nest. We walked up front where he propagates his cuttings and taught me few good points in propagation. By then Miss Betty had came outside and I said hello and introduced myself to her. Mr. Robin was being very sweet to her, you could tell he loves her so dearly. 
We talked about his older fig trees that he got in ground and ate some mulberries, picked fresh from the tree. Then I looked at my watch and it was getting late so I told him I had to get on the road, he insisted to stay for dinner, but I told him that I was going back to Birmingham tonight. I felt his house around 6:30 pm.

Mr. Robin is so hospitable that it makes you feel like you know him for years. He takes care of his sick wife with no hesitation and sell trees on the side, when he is 74 years old. I don't think I've ever met someone with this caliber before. 

I took many pictures that I can't download here, it says, the size is too large. Even when I want to download only one. Does anyone know how can I post the pics.?

Thank you for reading this.

Navid
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Navid,


You can try to crop your pictures to bring them down to under 1 meg.
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Hi Navid,

There is something so special about JR, isn't there?  He brings out the humor and playfulness in people.  What a character he is.

I hope you are able to resize your photo so we can see it.  Mike resizes our photos when he loads them into the computer, now.

noss
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Navid,

Instead of cropping the pictures, you can resize them. That way you will e able to post the entire picture. Also less hit-and-miss guessing as to how much to crop. After you resize, save the picture using "SAVE AS" instead of "SAVE" or it will over-write the original picture and you will not be able to get the same quality image when you zoom/enlarge a close-up. After saving, the program will ask if you want to save the changes. Select "NO". Don't forget where you saved the "SAVE AS" file. Good luck!
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Originally Posted by nkesh099
Hello everyone,

P.S. The tile should be, My trip to Opelousas, LA and meeting the 'Fig man' Mr. James Robin. I did typed the fig man originally but don't know what happened to it.


You can change the thread title for any thread you started.  Here's how:

Go to the bottom right-hand corner of your first post.  Click the "EDIT" button.  Then, click the "GO ADVANCED" button just underneath the text entry window.  Change the "Message Subject" field in the advanced posting area to whatever you wanted it to be originally.

This will change your post title to whatever you want.

Also, I noticed this morning there were three pictures attached - one of JR included.  Now, I only see one.  Where'd the other three pics go?
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Some pictures from my trip to LA.


Hope you all enjoy them. 

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Good pics Navid. Any chance James told you what is his favourite fig ? I may have to order Brandy from him if all my cutting dies - don't look too good on the last surviving rooted cutting, struggling with months of mold attacks every time a new tip appears. Strange that it is confined to this variety. Heard many sweet things about Brandy/Scott Yellow.

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Paully,


I did ask him that question and if I remember correctly he said, the LSU yellow (Brandy) was one of his favorites. I do have his 2011 inventory which I will post it sometimes on the fig forum, since I don't know if I am allowed to post it here. He does have the Brandy, Scott's yellow and black, Hollier, Blk Italian (plus many other varieties) in his greenhouse. 

Also, I did have the same problem this year with mold forming on tip of my cuttings each time I would place a 2 g ziplock bag over them to keep the humidity high. So I just removed the bags and set them about 4 feet from one of my windows and water them a little every two weeks, now they are growing crazy. Mold forms when there is too much moisture (high humidity) is present in the area. Eliminate the moisture then you have eliminated the mold.


Navid
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Paully,

There is not much information about the Scott's Yellow fig other than what I have posted on the Internet. I have never seen anything specific written about the "Brandy" fig by anyone. FYI....I have no confirmation that JR's "Brandy" fig is the same as the LSU Scott's Yellow that I grow and have reported about on the other fig forum. It could be the same cultivar (or another breeding program selection).....I just don't know that for certain. Do not automatically assume anything I have written about my LSU Scott's Yellow applies to the Brandy fig that JR is selling......

Also, I am CERTAIN that the honey fig that James Robin is selling is an Italian Honey fig as I gave him those cuttings (not an old lady) and I have full access to the mother tree.  And I am 1000% sure that IT IS NOT the same heirloom Cajun Honey/Louisiana Honey fig that I have written about on this forum (subsequently deleted that thread when I got pissed a year ago) and again wrote about it on the other fig forum. Data that I have already reported and data that I will report in the future on this heirloom fig will be a lot different than the Italian Honey fig (AKA Cajun Honey) that James Robin is selling. James Robin took the name from my heirloom fig tree and applied it to the trees he produced from the Italian Honey cuttings that I had given to him. Just so you know........


Dan
Semper Fi-cus
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Dan, thanks for the info. I hope in due time, you can start a thread listing all the LSU variants known to you. There is no doubt that you have the most experience with LSU varieties. I am trying to collect a nice collection of LSU varieties to saviour in similar climatic conditions like Louisiana when I hibernate in the tropics during winter here. Right now I have 31 variants there and I am certain I will add a few more superb ones to make it my fig paradise. In Canada, I am constraint by weather.
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Hi Navid,

What was that water spray that is at the back of JR's hoop house?

What did you think of his hoop house?  I'd love to have one of those.

He said he was going to cut his huge Celeste way back.  Did he do so?  I keep forgetting to ask him.

Great pictures, there.

I think of his riding mower as something that Tim, the Tool Man, Thomas would love--The Scooter on steroids.  Anh, anh, anh!

noss
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