Hi everyone.  I am a new member in the Georgia Piedmont region (Northeast Georgia) zone 7b.  I have no formal training or expertise related to figs (I am a former lawyer; current professor), just a relatively new (and extreme!)interest in growing figs.  I have been an organic gardner for over 20 years, and I am finding figs among the most fun and rewarding orchard crops.

I have greatly enjoyed reading your posts, and especially seeing your pictures, and I will be happy to share as well when I have something note worthy to post.

My great thanks to everyone responsible for setting up and maintaining this most informative website, and to everyone for your most interesting, helpful, and enjoyable posts.

Welcome to the Forum !

Welcome aboard.
Hope you will enjoy the ride.

Welcome! Which varieties are you currently growing?

Hi Ken.

I started with what was available locally a few years ago (Brown Turkey; Celeste; Italian Honey; Chicago Hardy) and I am now also growing:

Marseilles Black VS
Florea
White King
Danny's Delight
Raspberry Latte
Alma
Strawberry Verte
Violet De Bordeaux
Texas Blue Giant
Excel
Gold Celeste
And a few others I don't really know for sure quite honestly (but we will see soon)

I received some really excellent cutting from Herman2 and Encanto Farms, and collected other unusual varieties here and there.

Bottom line: We are having great fun, and should have some great figs soon.

Hope you are as well, and I look forward to reading about your progress.

Thank you friend.

Best wishes.

John

Welcome to the forum, John, there is getting to be quite a group of us from north Georgia.

Scott 

Sounds like a nice collection. I just have one Brown Turkey & a Black Mission in the ground (& a couple of other young plants in pots), but I'm also trying to root a bunch of UCD cuttings--hopefully I'll have something good to report one of these days. No sign of roots yet, but everything still looks healthy & most are showing some green.

The forum is great--lots of good information is shared, and it's always fun to read about people's experiences. You'll enjoy it!

Georgiafig.. I also live in zone 7b,on coast. You list some great cultivars. Are they potted or do you grow in the ground ?

Hi Scott.  Except for the last 10 years of drought (which seems to be over) and the unsteady Spring temperatures that can cause leafing out before the last hard freeze, North Georgia seems to be pretty good fig country, maybe similar to the Piedmont in Northern Italy.

And Ken I forgot to mention the LSU figs, an LSU Purple and an LSU Purple and Gold.  Brown Turkeys don't get much respect it seems, but at least to my taste they are quite good, easy to grow, and very productive.

And Fred I am growing everything in ground here in Zone 7b.  The first year or two they may freeze back, but so far everything always bounces back from the roots, and after a few years they seem to aclimate and get a more solid hard wood trunk as an annual growing base.

I am still learning a lot, and making some mistakes, but having great fun.

I learn alot from everyone's posts here and really enjoy the pictures.

Best wishes to all.

John
North Georgia
Zone 7b

John,

You say the brown Turkey doesn't much respect?
I've seen a picture of B/T slices placed on top in a bowl of ice cream, Looked like French Vanilla.
Now cover that with caramel topping and enjoy! Bring out all the B/T haters. LOL

Hi Rafed.  You are so right my friend!

I'm already making a list of figs I can't live without for next year!  ;-)

Best wishes to all.

John
North Georgia
Zone 7b

I love the taste of my BT (if that's truly what it is--after reading about all the nomenclatural mix-ups in the fig trade, it makes me wonder). At least, I love it early in the season, before the dried-fruit beetles turn all the figs sour. But, since the only fresh, ripe figs I've tasted are Brown Turkeys, Black Missions, and a couple of first-year fruits from my little potted unknown (probably Excel), my two cents as a fig connoisseur isn't even worth two cents. Still, I'm hoping those other varieties that everybody raves about will really turn out to be that much better! It's hard to believe they actually could be, but I'll be very happy to be convinced!

Considering the Brown Turkey's much-maligned reputation, I wonder if it's a matter of growing conditions--maybe they just like it hot and dry? Who knows? I'm just glad mine tastes so good to me and my family!

Hi Ken.  To quote Canjun Gourmet and Chef Justin Wilson: "The best kind of wine to drink is the kind you like."

I'm no expert either, but I would think this is good advice for figs too.

So enjoy those BT figs as much as you can, we certainly do, and if you find some you like even better then life just keeps getting better and better.

My neighbor and I both have "Brown Turkeys" and they aren't exactly the same.  Similar, but noticeably different.

But in my limited experience so far, there's no bad fig.

Thanks for the comments everyone.  What a great group of people here.

Best wishes for continued health and happiness to all.

John
North Georgia
Zone 7b

See John,
It's only getting better. Wine and figs! Lifes simple pleasures.

I agree with you too,
The price tag doesn't make it better. I have several B/Ts going on right now.

Along with another seventyfive or so variants.

Welcome aboard from a fellow resident.  ;) 

Thank you very much Jason.

Hope you are having a great season.  Everything looks good here, and very happy to see the long drought ended.

Do you grow all of your figs in ground?  Do you use any protection for overwintering?

We generally try to keep things as simple and low maintenance as possible, and grow everything in ground and open.  And although the first few years the figs tend to freeze back (we are a little colder than you are here) they always come back from the roots at worst, after that they seem to do fine, establishing a hardwood base to overwinter and spring back from after a few years.

Here are some of the varieties I'm growing (please forgive my spelling; I'm going from memory):

Well stablished:

Hardy Chicago
Italian Honey
LSU Purple and Gold
Brown Turkey


Newer but bearing fruit for the first year:

LSU Purple
Texas Blue Giant
Viollet de Bordeux
Celeste

New cuttings being rooted:

Adriana
Guillbeau
Golden Celeste
Marsailles VS Black
Vinny's Old Brooklyn
Florea
Raspberry Latte
Strawberry Verte
Herman's Celeste
Alma
Desert King

I started the cuttings all in ground.  With rooting, so far I have had 100% success with many of them, about 70% overall, and at least one of all seems to be rooting (the Florea didn't do well at first; they were great cuttings so who knows; but there is still one going and maybe another couple will bounce back). 

Happy growing my fellow Georgian.

Best wishes.

John
Georgia Piedmont
Zone 7b

p.s. Forgot the Excel and maybe one or two others, but you get the idea.  It's a start on a nice collection.

Best wishes.

John

Welcome here.  You are among good company.

I am growing everything in pots, with the exception of a BT on the north side of the house.  I have access to over a dozen trees within two blocks of my house that are in-ground, but I haven't talked to some of the families to find out if any are named, I have a couple I've sent around to Jon and others for safekeeping and distribution, search the forum for term voiture and you will probably find a thread with a few.

I've got about 35-40 varieties in pots right now, still need to tally up what I've got after losing a dozen or so during a 2-week trip overseas.

Hey John, after repotting some cuttings up to 1gal today, I went ahead and tallied them up.  Figured I'd share - the first group are all 1gal plants, and the 2nd group is 2-5gal plants - (#) shows quantity currently, ignore the [xx], i keep track of my sources for later exchanges, thanks, etc.:


1gals

(1) Beall [ucd]
(5) Italian Honey [bs]
(4) Negronne/VdB [ep]
(1) Negronne [pk]
(4) Marseilles Black [vs]
(2) Native D'Argentile [ucd]
(1) Bethlehem Black [toj]
(1) Unknown Voiture [jg]
(1) 143-36 [rf]
(2) Conadria [ep]
(1) Sudliche [rf]
(1) Carolina Dark [toj]
(1) JH Adriatic [rf]
(1) Unknown Hobart [jg]
(2) Unknown Schuyler [jg]
(1) Col De Dame [ucd-jd]
(1) Gino's Black [vs]
(1) Sal's (Gene) [ep]
(1) Fico Preto [jd]
(1) Fico Preto [cj]
(1) Black Madeira [ucd]
(2) Black Madeira [cj]
(1) Unknown Foxcroft [jd]
(2) Black Jack [rf]
(1) Unknown Haikel Lebanese [bs]
(1) Strawberry [rf]
(1) Beall [ucd]
(1) Deleon [rf]
(2) Vernino [ucd]
(2) Excel [ucd]
(1) Barnisotte [ucd-jd]

2-5 gals

(1) Kadota [jr]
(1) GM#1 Malta Purple Red [jv]
(1) Raspberry Latte [jv]
(1) Black Socorro [js]
(1) Gino's Black [vs]
(1) Hollier [jr]
(1) Scott's Black [jr]
(1) Unknown Voiture [jg]
(1) Flanders [jv]

Wow!  That is a very impressive collection!  Thanks for sharing Jason.

How is your Raspberry Latte doing in this climate?  Do you think it is hardy enough to over winter outside here in Georgia?  I grow all my figs in ground here in the orchard, but I'm wondering whether I need to grow the Raspberry Latte in a pot.

Hope you have a great growing season Jason.

Best wishes.

John
North Georgia Piedmont
Zone 7b

so far, so good.  it has the toughest leaves out of all of the figs i have.  it also had a very sweet smell when it shipped.  this is the first year i've had it, so i can't answer the winter question for you.

on a related note (figs taking a dive), i'm keeping my fingers crossed, but it looks like my Barnisotte is taking a dive for the worse after repotting this weekend.  it was already looking rough before repotting.  i don't think 2 weeks sitting a sealed bin while i was overseas did it a lot of good.  out of the 19 figs repotted, this is the only one looking rough.  my Ronde de Bordeaux is a goner also, never woke up from dormancy, think it may have taken a few hits in shipping.  so ... two less varieties for me!