I am looking for suggestions for vigorous fig trees that do well in the Southwest.

Situation:

I am running out of space in my yard. I have a bunch of other fruit trees besides figs. Yet my love of figs (now bordering on obsession) continues to grow. I have lots of varieties that I want to experiment with but I simply don't have the space to grow new trees from cuttings and allow them all to come to maturity.

So my solution is to graft on many varieties onto a few trees to increase my varieties without taking up the space of a whole fig orchard. I have already made my own multi-grafted citrus trees and mango trees and stone fruits with the same intention. And I have seen the posts here of the Frankenfig, so I know it is quite possible to accomplish what I intend.

Question for the community:

What is a good fig that will grow vigorously for the following conditions:
- High heat (must grow well in 115 F AZ summers)
- High pH soil and water (typical in Southwest - AZ, NV, CA and TX)
- Cold tolerance is not a concern (I live in zone 9b)
- Fig production / flavor is not a concern (I am growing this as a rootstock)

Please weigh in an let me know what trees you think will fit this bill. Thanks!

Great idea & good question! I'll stand by to read comments.

Watching....

2 varieties I have that have grown like crazy are Bourjasotte Noire and Gulbun. After 3 growing seasons (which are short here in Canada) since the cuttings were rooted they both have a trunk that is 2.5" at the base. Very vigorous growers. I can only imagine how much growth they would put on in the south with 2-3 more months in the growing season.

Tyler

i recently purchased a small battaglia verde from a seller who lives in Henderson NV, which has a similar climate to ours in the Valley. The seller says the battaglia verde is his most aggressive grower in this climate as well as cdd gris, cdd noir, genovese nero, mavra sika, black greek and RDB. I believe he grows mostly in containers/SIPs, as do I. Can't verify these claims yet with my own experience, but looking forward togood  growth from my BV in the spring.

Sam, Thanks for the feedback! I am assuming you are talking about justfigs (who is a phenomenal seller, I bought some CdDG and RdB cuttings from him in Sept). Looks like I need to pick up a Battaglia Verde!

yes, that would be him! Seems to be a vast wealth of knowledge and very eager and willing to share!

Are your VDB and Panache putting out figs now? Mine started to fruit as soon as the temps fell back below 100 in early october. This is my first year growing figs and I dont know whether these figs will ripen before going dormant.

Yep, Panache and VdB are putting out another crop. I have a couple of VdB figs that *might* ripen (this is the 3rd crop this season, first two were awesome!) before it gets too cold, but most in this 3rd crop won't. But the Panache's won't ripen again. Panache seems to put out one good summer crop, then (for me at least) takes a long break and tries to put another crop again in October which never ripens in time.

My third year Black Mission grew over 8 feet this year!  I will obviously have some cuttings available soon.  PM me if interested.

padsfan, Whoa! Now that is impressive! I actually have some Black Mission cuttings coming from a friend, but thanks for the offer!