A friend made contact with a retired USDA breeder who worked with figs and other fruits commonly grown in California.  He's been retired for some time but reportedly is still doing some work with figs privately.  My friend set up a meeting for later this week and I'll ride along and visit.  I'm uncertain what sort of useful information I may come away with.  I don't know if he's working with figs for fresh market or any details, really.  I thought I'd maybe show him photos of some of the figs I'm growing and bring along Pons' book so he had an idea of the sort of things us hobby/small growers drool over.

If you have any suggestions on some questions I might approach him with, please post them here or send me a PM. Thanks.

I don't promise to post anything publicly, it will depend on what he says and how private he wants to keep things, etc.

Ask him if he knows how widespread the fig wasp is in California, especially coastal SoCal. 

Thanks.

Ask him how we can trick Martin into eating a light fig?

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I asked Adriano long ago about how he felt about FMV and his response was it didn't bother him.
I respected that opinion and from that day on I was confident around FMV figs.

Ask him what his thoughts are about figs with FMV?

What a great opportunity to learn. Please update us

Great questions. Keep us posted. Maybe ask him for his experiences with smyrnas--especially for any practical tricks for East coast?

ask him best way to artificially pollinate a common fig in east coast :) 

No particular questions Harvey , but it sounds like fun.
Hope you enjoy the visit !

Any historical data on things that are available.

Sounds like a blast.  You may consider recording your trip to keep all of the info straight.

I second what Pete asked. 

Members here are always asking about cold hardy common figs. Ask him about cold hardy caprifigs that could be used to try to breed better cold tolerance.

Harvey I'm incredibly jealous! 
Let's see, narrowing it down to the first 100 or so questions...

What is your advice to an amature who is just getting started breeding figs?

What is the best/fastest way to grow a seedling to bearing age?

And I second Ed's question: Do you know of any cold tolerant persistent caprifigs? 

Have a great time.

Is "C1" Caprifig still at Riverside?

I would echo the questions in post #'s 6, 8 10, 11, and 12  And then I would add - Who is working on breeding cold hardiness and humidity resistance into new fig varieties. If the answer is no one, then, why? What else would you ask a fig breeder?

In my mind it should only be a matter of time before the general (east coast) public is growing fig trees as hardy and varied as apple trees. Am I asking for too much? It's been done with peaches hasn't it?   

I'm going to guess on a few points here -

The breeder was a USDA employee in the Central Valley of California where the vast majority of the USA's commercial fig production is located.  He bred other things besides figs (I chatted with him over 10 years ago regarding a chestnut pollinator he thought held some promise) and I don't believe he'd have any experience with the lives of fig wasps nor have any knowledge of anybody working on breeding cold hardiness of figs.  In an industry that competes with cheaper labor sources in other countries I can't imagine anybody in the Central Valley being concerned with cold-hardiness.  Who would be willing to pay for such work?  As far as the ability of figs to withstand humidity, that is the sort of work done at LSU where such conditions exist.

Still, I'll keep these in mind as we visit and my friend will probably dictate how much time I can talk since it was his contact to begin with.

Myth or fact...
-Is Lime really good for fig trees?

Health aspect of it...
- What are the benefits for making the fig part of one's regular diet?

Personal ...
-Is he Latex tolerant yet? LOL (kidding)

*Thank him for us for being a veteran in figging ;)
 
*Thank you Harvey for sharing this rare opportunity with all of us.

1) Ask about fertilization schedules; i.e. how does that change over the life of a tree

2) ask about watering; is there an optimal watering regime for fruit quality

Harvey, Yes, those point you made did cross my mind. I guess I'm just trying to grasp why more effort hasn't been put into breeding programs geared toward the mid-west & the NE. Probably because Cali already has the fig market covered..... 

How much fertilizer and amount specific such as 10-10-10 etc?

How to make the trees produce the most fruit?

Pruning methods? Root and limb.

Best container size?

Which varieties produce in the least amount of direct sun?

How did the breeders of all those UCRs and released figs like Excel, Tena, Galbun, etc, how did they feel about their work at the end of it all?  How did the people in the California fig industry appreciate the work of the breeders?  Or would they have appreciated more of an effort to import superior varieties like a more vigorous and productive Col de Dame, etc?  How does the breeding community feel about focusing on quality fresh figs today instead of being quite so maniacally fig paste based?  What quality is being sought after most of all in terms of fresh figs are breeders focused on?  It seems like it's pretty hard to materially outdo established older varieties.  On the other hand, mango people in Florida have done a rather tremendous job of both bringing in quality Old World varieties and breeding new varieties that people would decisively want, like Sweet-Tart.  There also seems to be more of an aggressive effort at breeding quality Annonas than figs, not only for atemoyas in Cali, Florida, and Australia, but still better Cherimoyas, and a long term, consistent effort to make Pawpaws a viable market fruit.  How does the breeder feel about the competition for attention for breeding other fruits?

FYI - I just learned that due to a bad cold or flu (with fever), the meeting scheduled for tomorrow as been postponed for a bit.

If possible ask if any col de dama hybrids were made and if so what are they called/numbered?

Hopefully you get it done soon Harvey.
Must be a bummer to hear this.

Harvey, one thing I have wondered about for a while with figs is this issue of adaptability and the possibility of adaptability being transfered from one generation to the next.  For example, let's say two cuttings are taken from a fig tree in Italy.  One cutting is grown in New York and the other in South Florida to generate two new trees.  After 20 years of growth cuttings are taken from each tree and used to start two new trees in the same location in Ohio.  Would you expect the two new trees in Ohio to exhibit different characteristics (e.g. for cold hardiness), or not?  It's not enough evolutionary time for there to be significant changes in the DNA sequence but could there be epigenetic changes (i.e. genetic changes other than changes in sequence) that are heritable with figs?  I have heard forum members refer to anecdotal cases of such adaptability but has this really been shown to be true?  Maybe your friend will have an answer.

What is the most productive?