I took these yesterday of my growing trees from starters to in ground trees.

Starters still in cups and hardening off with cover off of tote. They are also in a shed with fluctuating temp of day and night. The only light is from a south facing window but not directly on the plants.




When they leave the shed in a week the will go into my shade house, which is a high sided box of sorts with fence boards across to regulate the amount of sunlight which hits the plants. The side shown has 2 to 3 inches of spacing between the boards for plants that have been outside for a few weeks. On the right barely visible in the upper right hand corner is the boards covering the plants that are new to the outside. The spacing is 1/2 inch to begin with. Only morning sun hits the shad box, at 1 PM it is shaded by a large tree in my neighbors yard.



Here are my 1 and 2 year old trees bunched together to help them shade the pot and also keep them from blowing over in the strong not stop winds we've been having for weeks now. Many of them have figs already.



Here is my pride and joy, my Black Ischia







Three trees next to my onion bed. Far end is a Conadria, middle one is a Hollier and near one is a LSU Tiger.

Looking great Gene.

You keep it simple yet it is a Master Piece!

I have a couple of more surprises for you yet.

Hi Gene
just wonderful looking , also i like your bottomless cups.
Many thanks for sharing your pictures, i enjoy them and hope to see more !
That Ischia Black well you know how i feel,  keep it growing it looks terrific   ; )

Martin, one day maybe, just maybe, if it continues doing well, I'll be able to get a clone from it. Do you have a clue as to who would want it. Ha. Take heart my friend. If I'm blessed so will you be.
"gene"

Lookin GOOD/GREAT Gene,

Rafed my friend, you make me blush. I owe all of this to you, you started me. I also owe a lot to the rest of you that have sold, traded of given me cuttings and trees. You are one heck of a great bunch and I wish all a Happy Easter.

Cecil, how did you end up with your trees now that it's warmed up. Did you lose many to the winter weather. Poor JA had all of his freeze to the ground, He tells me some are coming back from the roots.
"gene"

Gene,

I got a chance to see your Black Ischia up close and personal when we visited last fall. That is the nicest one I have ever seen. There was no sign of FMV on the vigourous branch that came off your rooted start.......looks like it is very happy growing in Bayou country.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

@Gene,

Very nice looking, great job with the Black Ischia

Figluvah -- Email me if you need HC cuttings.

Gene -- My BI is giving me some brebas. Got it this year as a tiny plant, courtesy of W near LA.

Cecil, I feel your pain with HC.  Two years in a row and no luck rooting, but maybe will get lucky this year.

After coming back from 7 days out of town, I still am not 100% sure what my losses are.  I think I lost 2 out of the dozen trees I transplanted before leaving.  I need to look at my HC cuttings to see if they're toast - I had two still looking promising, and one that was going downhill when I headed out. Definitely lost a cutting or two while away. 

Cecil sorry for your losses but it wasn't a total bust. At least you have some back ups and thank God you saved some of the best.

Paully, didn't really look to see if the figs on my BI are breba are main crop. I'll have to check tomorrow. I'm just excited that it's doing so well and has figs on it.

Sal I don't know if I had anything to do with it, all I did was to give it care.

Dan if you thought it look good last year you should see it now.
"gene"

Ps - looking good Gene!

Thanks Paully,

I have miserable luck with Col de Dame Noir -- 2 seasons in a roll and now down to one last stick to root. Will wait for warmer days to root directly into dirt.

Gene - my BI tree is not as tall as yours. Just under 12 inches.

Wow Gene!  I have the green thumb for figs!  I started my UCD cuttings 3 weeks ago and I am amazed how well they are doing this year.  My Black Ischia cutting and CDD Noir look healthy....at least no mold this year compared to last year where I had to monitor them by the hour.

I am hoping I have great success like you.  I will try to post some pics later.  I thought about using the upside down cups but this year I am switching to peat pots and see if I'll have better success.  We already have temps in the 80s and my little cuttings are loving the extra heat inside my garage this year.  cheers, 

Paully my BI is at least twice as tall as yours and is really growing fast. I'm fertilizing it and all other potted one with a dose of soluble Miracle Gro every week end.

Dennis I think you will have good results with the peat pots as I have had with the inverted cup. There is no disturbance of the roots period. That is why after trying the small bags like Jon uses I went back to rooting in paper towels and then to inverted cups. I found that I disturbed the roots too much to my liking. I also dampen the mix I use when potting up from the cup to a gallon pot before putting it in the pot. That prevents the mix from drawing all the moisture from the rooting medium or drowning the roots trying to get the potting mix damp. Good luck on the CDDN and BI.
"gene"