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Tissue Culture figs...

So I bought these before knowing that they were TC pants and now after reading a few negative posts about them I'm kinda bummed out. Has anyone had good luck with these, any fruit? Have had them for two months, put them in 1 gallon pots right away and had them in shade mostly. Just moved them to this spot where they'll get a bit more sun through out the day. My main problem is I don't have space for ground planting. 
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I bought several last year and they are huge now and I did get a few fruit. They are really bushy, I don't mind the extra limbs.

I recently posted this picture on Wills thread on finger leafs. This Violette de Bordeaux from Wellspring looked like yours just a year ago. It has grown beautifully and even produced 2 figs (didn't eat them) This was my first try with a TC plant and as of now, I am very impressed. We'll see
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Yeah tc's make beautiful plants, really bushy and vigorous, they're just woefully unproductive, especially early on.  I researched the subject quite a bit last year when my enormous tc's were still not making fruit, and I came across occasional tales of moderate fruiting success with tc's, but they were few and far between.  Most folks had poor results like I did with just a trickle of fruit or none at all. 

Harvey interviewed a professional fig breeder a while back (6 months ago?) who said that he found he needed to let a tc trunk grow out about 5' before it would fruit.  Here's a link to Harvey's thread, along with a relevant excerpt:  http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/visit-with-fig-breeder-6690941

Quote:
He said he can often get a seedling to fruit in 8 months.  Speeding up the fruiting is best done by trying to grow the tree with a central leader to 4'-5' in height at which point it will usually start to produce fruit. From there on up it will fruit.  Side branches can be moved as they will remain juvenile unless they are allowed to grow 4'-5' as well.  If he has a seedling started late in the year he may graft it in the following spring to get it to grow faster so he can evaluate it sooner.  He had one tree with many grafts on it for this purpose while he also had many trees in pots.

He worked with Bill Storey of UC Riverside some and briefly spoke of how Storey was very discouraged towards the end when blocks were being ripped out and that he then suffered blindness in one eye when a large avocado fell from a tree at struck him and he then died a couple of years later.  Sounds like his life came apart in a sad way.

I mentioned the lack of fruiting of my Sierra tree which he helped develop.  He asked of my source and he pointed out that fig trees propagated by tissue culture as mine was often return to juvenility and that they must be allowed to grow up for at least 4'-5' to start fruiting again.  If I understood him correctly, I should root a new tip cuttings if I want a tree with branches that fruit at a low height.  That is something folks should keep in mind when considering tissue culture trees.


I was just going to ask if cuttings would cure that so thanks James.  I have several TC plants that have pretty much stayed very small since I got them, compared to the rest but it has only been a few months. Maybe next year they will take off or I may have them in the bright room this winter. 

Good stuff everyone, thanks.  I hope they do good even if I have to wait. Got a couple good ones in there, if they were labeled right, haha.
Coop: I've got a VDB from Wellsprings too... Anyone ever buy from Saladbeard farm on Ebay???

i have to disagree with james, about productivity. i got a 2'' tall hardy chicago. 18 months later inground for 4 months, i got 6 figs. not great but ok.

James,

       

Quote:
Harvey interviewed a professional fig breeder a while back (6 months ago?) who said that he found he needed to let a tc trunk grow out about 5' before it would fruit.


I have four Wellspring Gardens "Black Mission" TC fig trees in the ground that I bought in 2010.Two are in an area with protection against the wind and they are ~8'-10' tall . The other two are in my field and they are killed to the ground each year.None have ever produced a fig. I have tried to encourage them to produce.I even tried shocking this one with my electric fence wire for a couple months  last summer. :)

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Haha, electro-shock therapy huh... Barry, when I read about trees like yours it makes me wanna just almost junk them but I've gotta be patient and wait.
Maybe I'll get lucky with the SoCal weather, time will tell right...

Simon,

With that weather and the wasp, you can grow any fancy fig that requires pollination that the guys behind the Arctic circle only can dream of!
I wouldn’t waste any time on this bs, just my 2 cents. 
Check the Francisco’s posts (lampo), you can enjoy the same figs in the SoCal easily!

Hopefully I can get the same variety in cuttings soon, they're very basic varieties. If so I can always put these in the ground at my parents house, plenty of room.

What varieties are those?

VDB which I have now
Lattarula
Desert King
Olympian
Green Ischia
LSU Purple, probably the 2nd fanciest of the bunch...

My experience was like this:

TC Blue Ischia [Hirt's Garden]- is about two feet tall after two years
TC Hardy Chicago [Hirt's Garden] - 18 inches tall after two years
TC Green Ischia - Larrys Orchids - Died
TC Magnolia - Larry's Orchids - Died
TC LSU Purple - Larry's Orchids - Died


@Gr8figs,
Here in my zone 7 :
From the look of your tree, it lacks sun - no sun no fig .
If the tree dies to the ground each year, the punishment is the same: no fig .

@Elfarach: Sorry to say but: Those trees are damn small - so yes, be patient .
Here in my Zone 7, it takes 3 to 4 years for a tree to start producing something.
For instance, I bought last year -September- a small (20 cm of max height - 4 stems) bush of "Madeleine des deux saisons". She is now a bush of 8 stems of 1 meter of height.
I didn't even see one figlet this year.
It is more than likely that next year I'll see late maincrop figlets - no  brebas and nothing edible. And the year after, I'll see the brebas and might have some edibles... But that's ok with me; I'm planning to hang around many many ... many years, so I can wait to see that tree mature. It is more easy now as some other strains are mature and do fill my belly while I wait on my new trees.
It is just a shame that I don't have more space as with every small bush that I buy, I can make at least 5 trees ...
For instance, I made 5 trees out of the similar small bush of "Goutte d''or" that I bought in September 2011 and I had 5 brebas and some 10 main crop figs this year.
Your trees are a bit smaller, and might take a year more than mine did or will do.
Good luck !

Hey Henry, sorry about your figs. Have seen some of your videos, good to meet you.
JDSFrance: Thanks for the info...

I have had a mixed experience with tissue culture figs. I bought two trees from wellspring gardens this spring, one was a VDB and the other was an Olympian. The Olympian grew to about 4 feet tall and gave me several figs of which I ate two or three- the rest either dropped or were removed. The VDB grew to about 3 feet tall with zero figs. The Olympian gave me a side shoot which I am rooting now and is about a foot and a half tall. I would buy again for the price.

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