Here I am back with more stupid questions, sorry in advance!

I have more cuttings this year than I had expected and am thinking about trying my hand at grafting. I would like to understand first how exactly this works. If I have a plant that constantly drops it's figs but is known to be a common fig, will the graft also drop it's figs? If I graft onto a smyrna type will the common graft still produce the same as it normally would? I know LSU Purple is very popular as rootstock but unfortunately I don't have an extra of that to use.

Any information on this will be greatly appreciated.

Besides the St Jean what other figs have "Gries" in their names?

Sorry I can't help with grafting questions as I'm too busy trying to find the answer to the last thread of yours I opened!!

Col de Dame Gris

Awww come on Michael multi task :)
of Provance and if you translate it to english you can add Marsielles, Tarascon, Midsummersday etc...etc...etc LOL

Tami, correct me if I'm wrong but I think you are asking about what will happen if you use the variety that drops its figs as rootstock i.e. whether the scion will drop it's figs too.  Certainly with other fruit trees characteristics of the rootstock can be transmitted to the scion but as far as I know the jury is still out on whether this works with figs.  Several of us here on the forum are trying to transmit cold hardiness, early ripening and differences in vigor (and probably other traits) from the rootstock to the scion.  Hopefully we will know more soon.  I did my first grafts in the past few weeks and am waiting to see if they take.  I've never heard of anyone addressing fruit drop via grafting so maybe you will be breaking new ground.

Thanks Steve,
I was hoping this was ground already broken though. Do you know about the Smyrna to common thing? I have a Smyrna type and no wasp so I was thinking about grafting some common figs onto it.

Hi javajunkie,
If you graft a cat to a dog, the cat will make cats - if a branch from the dog is left to grow, it will make dog - They won't mix .

As for dropping figs, this can be climate related. So if your weather is too cold, most of the cultivars will drop the figs.
I know of this, because a friend has my same cultivars in a little more cold area and 2 cultivars drop everything, and the ufti some years she will produce maincrop only - with cold spring brebas get dropped - and some years brebas only.
One of the droppers may well be brunswick - but I still have to confirm .
But if your tree is dropping because she is too softy, then grafting a better strain can work - and that strain could produce figs.
Personally, I would get rid of the bad cultivar - but it depends of the size of the tree and if for you, it is worth keeping - for me it is not, but you are the judge.

That makes me a little more comfortable thank you. The trees at my house don't have cold weather problems, they have too much heat problems in the summer. I am in SE Texas and our weather is semi tropical.

The tree that keeps dropping is a Black Mission that is in ground and one of my largest trees so far. It has more than enough branches to accept grafts and would be the ideal candidate. The other "dropper" is a big box store brown turkey that may or may not be a brown turkey. The one fig I got off the thing last year looked more like a Celeste. Then there is the Kadota that produced purple fig so not a Kadota :)

Big box store figs are absolutely my choice for grafting especially when I have no idea what they really are!

Tami, I read that inconsistant watering can cause fruit drop. too much water or not enough also. do you have the tree on the ground? Since it is hot there I would burry the pot in the ground, so the root can go find water elsewhere and give it a bit of a chance. Try mulching it. if it looses its fruits for the roots not getting enough water and nutrients, it is likely the new tree (grafted) onto it, also will have the pattern. Because that is what that root is doing to keep it alive, it drops the fruits.