Hello,

I am new to this forum, but I have spent last few weeks browsing and reading different posts.
I my say I am impress of the connections you have here between you and all because of this wonderful tree - fig.

I am 37 and I live in Brasov, Romania. You may ask why I have join a US forum, simple, because I could not find one in Romania; hardly anyone will try to grow figs here since it can get to -25C and even less in the winter (I would say zone 4 or 5 per USDA maps)

I started to be interested in fig last summer when I was in vacation, camping in Montenegro. Very beautiful country with lot of fresh figs in the markets. We eat every day and we could not get enough of it. Figs were growing even on the side of the roads there.

So coming back home, I started to search the internet and found out that one can grow figs in containers in order to provide shelter in the winter. Unfortunatlly I could find only one nursey that cold sell me a fig (they call it red mountain fig, hardy to -20C, 1,5 years old). I order one and it arrived arround 20 December 2012, I was disapoited to find in the package a stick in a pot, 20 inch long, no leaves, no sign of life in it. I let him on the window sill, and after couple of week he started to grow a stem, from the top bud, he get to almost 10 inches with 5-6 leaves in less then two weeks.
What a joyful time it was, but after that he just stopped growing and he sits still for the last one and a half week. Is that normal?

Since is so hard to find figs cutting in my country, I would like to ask if anyone will be kind enough to ship some cuttings from hardy species that I could try to grow here. I can pay for them no problems with pay pal or credit card.

Sorry for the long post and thank you for reading.
Laurentiu Vasilica

Welcome to the forum Laurentiu. Can you post some pictures of your little tree?

Hey LV welcome to the forum my fiance' is romanian and speaks it very well half of her family still lives there as far as shipping you cuttings I really dont think anyone is going to ship out of the country ?

Laurentiu Vasillica welcome to the forum.

Welcome, you also may want to talk to figfanhungary, they are growing some hardier figs in the north of their country and he seems to have some interesting varieties.  Also look and see what Ottawan is growing, he lives in a similar zone here in Canada and may have some good ideas for you.  There is also Pierre Baud in France who sells fig tress, he may be able to sell you some trees, 12-16 euro for a small tree is not bad in my opinion, he ships all over the world and could help you and would probably know if you need any paper work prior to importing.

Warm welcome to the forum .  ; )

Привет. Ларентию!

I have sent you a private message looking for your mailing address. i might have a few cuttings for you.

До Завтра

Welcome LV.

Welcome to the forum LV,

Look up Reads Nursery in the UK.
Or Bauds in France.

Good luck

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your fig growing efforts.  Please post a picture or two of that tree you have growing.  Thanks.

Welcome to the forum Laurentiu. I am from Bosnia and next time you go on vacation there  just bring your shears and cut yourself some green cuttings there. Also most of nurseries there sale fig trees.


Mario Laurentiu is Romanian not Russian.

Welcome. You can grow figs just about anywhere if you take microclimates into account. A south-facing wall will reflect heat and can extend your season. Greenhouses are good, too.

My best friend/sister is Romenian and she is going home for a week vacation in May. I will check with her for her willingness to bring you some of my cuttings. Once there, she can either mail to you or you two should meet.

Meanwhile you should check this guy from Hungary, he has marvelous figs there. Isn't the weather similar? 
check out his amazing figs!

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/exchange-cuttings-europe-(Ihave-50-varieties)-6083536highlight=hungary

if link does not work, search for member name figfan_hungary

  Welcome to the forum. I am from Brazil!

Hey Laurentiu,welcome to the forum.My name is Marius and i am  romanian too,from Hermannstadt.Send me a pm and find some acres of land for new varieties !!!!

Welcome

Welcome from Southern California!
Suzi

Welcome to the forum.  It is a wonderful place with a lot of wonderful people.  Have fun!

Thank you all for your posts and kind welcoming. 

I will try to post a picture of my tree later in my afternoon.

Grasa, Thank you for the intent, let me know if it possible. Yes, we have similar weather as in Hungary.

Eden13, I wish I could go there every year, but I do not see that happening in the near future.

Laurentiu

Here are some pictures of the tree that I have now

Laurentiu

if you pinch the top tip, you will have branches  - It has a very distinctive leave. You may be luck to have that as your first fig.  Marius has a fantastic collection! You will be happy talking with him.  I will keep you informed about my friend's visit to her home country.

Hi All and Laurentiu,

I already replied to the PM, I think we can make out some solutions. I'm glad some forum members mentioned my fig trees. I was not very active in these weeks due to an illness. I stayed in contact with some members and made some exchanges. However some of them were difficult, long time shipping killed the cuttings in some cases and there were some packs confiscated by customs (probably). I think my varieties are already in the US so they will be spreaded with some time. I think I can ship to transcontinental relations only in exceptional cases. I already have some partners from several countries. But inside Europe and especially between neighbour countries shipping is absolutely unproblematic. I only have to find some solution to the demands who ask cuttings for money. I've never thought about price yet. Also a new variety or species of plant is much more precious for me.

However I have to correct some informations: our fig orchard is not in the northern part of the country but the southwestern part, exactly at the Slovenian and Croatian border.
The other thing: I have to ruin some unrealistic illusions: I only know that most of my varieties are hardy to -14 C as that was the lowest measured temperature in the orchard in the last 20 years. In fact we have a zone 8. People make a great mistake when think that winter minimum temperatures were the same in whole regions or even in a whole country: our orchard on a hill 80 meters above the valley is in zone 8a, meanwhile the bottom of the valley where a small river flows is on the border of 7a/6b... We measured -8,1 C on the night of 19 december 2009, but a meteorological station only 5 kms away measured -21 C on the same clear, windless night with snow cover. I know well Brasov and the surrounding region because my grandfather was born in Tarnaveni and I still have many cousins from Sighisoara to Cluj and we visit them about once a year. Unfortunately Brasov is found between the mountains. The absolute elevation is very high and is surrounded by mountains so radiational inversion is very significant. But figs can be successfully grown in pots and I think there isn't any problem with the heat of the growing season either in Brasov.

Welcome to the forum!  It seems that you have more connections here than most of the rest of us!   :)

Thank you figfan.

It is nice to know that someone with good experience as yourself give me good hope that I can successfully grow figs in Brasov.

I hope my PM arrived, I think you should concentrate on not vigorous grower figs with highly fertile buds. I think my giant yellow and long dark would be possible solutions.

I just look at your picture of the giant yellow and I believe this is one of the figs I eat in Montengro. Very good with a refreshing taste.
I receive your PM and responded back