Hello everyone. I just got interested in figs this week, and after reading up on them, I landed here and registered promptly.  I had no idea figs had such a huge cult following...one it seems I will be joining the ranks of soon!

I plan on planting figs at the appropriate time, and I wanted to study up prior to that day. So, I searched the interwebs and have found one or two bits of conflicting information that maybe someone here could clear up for me.  

I live in SE Texas and will be looking to plant Celeste, Strawberry Verte, Kadota, and Stella.  My research indicates these will have minimal issues in my area.  Is that correct?

For maximizing fruit production, is in ground or container planting better?  From what I've read, in-ground trees get bigger, but don't produce as much.  

Thank you in advance for any information!  I'm sure I'll have more questions later, but for now I'm just diving in to all the posts here and other sites....it's a bit overwhelming.

Welcome to the forum!
Here are some answers to your questions

Q: I live in SE Texas and will be looking to plant Celeste, Strawberry Verte, Kadota, and Stella.  My research indicates these will have minimal issues in my area.  Is that correct?
A: Your living in fig heaven you shouldn't have to worry.

Q:For maximizing fruit production, is in ground or container planting better?  From what I've read, in-ground trees get bigger, but don't produce as much.  
A: Trees grown in pots tend to produce fruit earlier and are less at risk of nematodes, when grown in ground there tend to produce larger crops and but take longer to get established.

Hope this has been helpful

Welcome.

If it were me I would start in pots then do air-layers or cuttings of what you like and put it in the ground.  The pots are your back up system.

Good luck.  You should have no issues finding many good tasting varieties for your area.

Good advice. Pots do make a good back up. Congrats on your new addiction Visceral. If it's not an addiction as of now it will be soon. Just a bit of a warning, and there are plenty of good hearted people that will help enable you. There are huge flavor profiles for figs and it requires a small collection to cover them. Feel free to ask any questions you may have, even if it has already been asked before people here are more than willing to help.

Welcome and congratulations on your new addiction. There are many of us around indeed.Many helpful and awesome people in this place. See you around, and happy growing!

Hi Visceral,
Welcome to the forum.
If like me, you like to have fast results, I would advise you to go lurk at the local nurseries. You will have a better idea of the prices of the fig trees in your area, and snipe a tree when the price is at an interesting level.
I wouldn't advise to buy a big tree nor a small tree. Buy a medium sized tree - I like them under 2'' / 50 cm of height with 2 to 4 stems in a pot (not bare-rooted).
This time of the year you could even spot some trees with their main crop already set, and already taste some figs by end of September - so definitely a good way to go, IMO.
Later, you could then try to root some more rare strains .
Last Saturday I spotted a strain that I haven't seen offered until now ... There was only one tree ... Ho well, if someone gets her before I do, I'll take the next opportunity ... The garden is already full and one tree has to come off for the new one to get a place...

Thanks to you all for the warm welcome!

@Figglet - That is super useful information.  I've read nematodes can cause issues, but don't know yet if they are problematic in my area.  

@Schaplin - That sounds ideal, I plan on doing exactly that.  I've looked at the air layering, and it seems easier than cuttings...at least to me.

@Whiterk - Yes I've found a post that sorts out flavor profiles, so I'll try to sample from each of them.  

@Philos - Thanks!  I'm looking forward to learning from all you pros.  

@JdsFrance - More great advice...There are several nurseries close to me, so I will use your techniques to look for my plants.

I don't honestly think I'd be looking at figs had it not been for a business trip I took months ago to the middle east.  The hotel breakfast had a variety of non-western items that looked really good.  I had hummus, honey, local yogurt, dates, and of course figs.  I had never had a real, unprocessed fig before.  I want to be able to get that great taste again without all the travel  :)

How did each of you come to be "into" figs?  Maybe that is somewhere on the forums...

Welcome,
my thoughts for what they are worth:
1) go in-ground in an area that has good drainage, figs don't like wet roots. they generally do MUCH better in ground.
2) keep pots for back up (airlyaers)

I grew up with a fig tree at my grandparents house and loved them but only thought there was one or two varieties. I also found figs in the middle east and they were huge. I did a search on varieties and found there was a whole following of collectors and and wide variety of flavors. I was hooked.

I have visited many fig trees in the Houston area.  I cannot remember one in the ground that did not have a nematode issue.  I grew mine in containers to prevent nematode infestation and was successful for almost two years.  The problem is the nematodes are everywhere.  At some point someone you're going to get them in your containers (I can probably come up with a hundred scenarios in my head without too much thinking). Heck, you might even find the buggers in the containers at the nursery or already shacking up in the components of your growing mix.  In the container, RKN is much more of a death sentence in containers than in the ground.  So go ahead and plant them in the ground.

I would recommend looking into some of the LSU varieties instead of the ones you listed.  They were bred to be acclimated to the environment where you are growing.  Get larger more established plants.  You will want trees with enough roots to fully occupy a 3-5 gallon container.  Plant in October/November in an area that gets (mostly) full sun. Bare-root the trees and leave as much of the root system as possible.  Dig a hole big enough for the roots to stretch out (about three feet in diameter and 18" deep.  Mound some dirt in the middle and lay the roots down the mound (at this point trim any roots that bend at the edge of the hole), then back fill with the native dirt.  Do not ammend the dirt and do not plant the tree any deeper than it was originally planted.  There is enough humidity in the air where you do not need to tent the tree, but water the new tree regularly for 6 months.