Good morning everyone,

I see some pictures from forum members who have shelves full of growing cuttings and others who talk about having 10, 20, 50 as high as 300.

Where do all of these go?

What do you do with all of them?

I plan on growing them, eventually eating fruit from all of them, then only keeping the ones that I like. 

I will give away the ones I don't care for.

Whatch you gonna do?   

To quote someone else,  "Why eat them of course!!"

I usually grow 2-3 cuttings of each and it does get a little crazy.  I managed to give away about 40 small pots to people around me.   I asked them to take photos and keep me updated.



Cheers

You've spent a winter fighting for these cuttings, watching, scrubbing, up potting, watering, feeding...
Not to mention the money that was spent on potting material, electricity, the cuttings themselves...

What could be better than sharing the fruits of your labour (pun intended) with loved ones?
If they know you have fig fever, then they'll know you're sharing something that you've put LOVE into.
These days of electronics and techie this, commercial that, who wouldn't enjoy receiving a fruit tree as a gift???

Think of the bottles of wine you won't have to buy!

I either sell my spares or give them away. I plan on keeping 3 varieties in the ground and about 15 in pots. Just need to sort out the best varieties for my climate and taste.

I am still looking for that elusive fig that can grow in Zone 6 unprotected for the winter and produces bountiful delicious figs.

Until I find that elusive fig I try to grow half a dozen or so plants of each cultivar as insurance in case the mother plant dies and to spread the love with friends and fig traders.

I always make sure I have enough fig plants producing enough fresh figs for my family and friends to eat and plenty to dry and fill my freezer to keep us through the long winter with fig smoothies and other fig treats.  That amounts to a lot of fig trees for me.

That was then, now I have discovered this forum and like many here I have a serious case of fig fever.  I want to discover new fig cultivars so I can savour the multitude of tastes.  This should be a great endeavor.  I just need to convince my wife before she throws me and my figs out. 

I sell them to finance my hobby, keeps "She who must be obeyed" off my case.  Going price of common fig trees is $10.00 per gallon.  One gallon is most commonly sold.

I have 3 figs in the ground right now, I have room for 8-10 medium sized fig trees without feeling like I live in a fig forest (although that does not sound bad). So my goal is to have 8-10 varieties in my yard, give a few away, and sell some each fall in the farmer's market.

Or alternately, my wife would say that what I really want is to be able to roam around the yard and eat stuff off trees and bushes like an old bear. I've only got 12 different kinds of fruiting bushes and trees on a 1/2 acre yard, I don't know what she is talking about ;-)

I prefer to give extras away locally - so if necessary, I can get cuttings from them. Sort of like retaining the mineral rights, lol. I love giving them away. People have been amazed at how good figs can really taste.

There are a few varieties that I think either don't have enough flavor or don't do well  here - those few I've simply destroyed. Norman's Yellow comes to mind. No need giving away or growing inferior figs when there are so many good ones available. Why would I give a bad fig to a friend - or even a stranger? There are enough blah brown turkey types out there.

I don't know how many I'll end up with, but at this point, most probably will be grown in 15 gallon pots and kept pruned. The list of 'keepers' is very long. :) While there are some light ones on the list, most will be dark.

I share them with other fig friends. Now I don't keep spares. Too much work to keep many of the same kind. The
bonus is that I have a green house making it possible to focus on late but excellent varieties. On top of that I have
2 reliable work horse tree like Desert King, back up by less tasty trees like Latarrula, Osborne Prolific etc. Hence if
my other in-ground trees gave me 40 figs/tree and my potted figs provide me 20 figs/tree, I end up with over a
thousand nice figs to enjoy.

Last few summer, many strangers have dropped by my place in summer and we share fig goodness with them. In fact
last evening we gave a new friend a bag of frozen ripe Desert King figs.

i keep 1 or two of the ones that i like. rest usually give to friends or trash can. i used to ship them to members, but it's costing too much. i know members are willing to pay for the shipping, but i don't like dealing with money and making boxes is getting to be bothersome. i would trade still, but i noticed i'm getting lazy on that also. if anyone ones them, i would chop them and ship them as cuttings. rest will go into trash can and the containers reused. 

i don't get large crop since i keep my trees in 10 gal max. still 80-100 fig per tree is good enough for me and my wife during the summer and fall. 

I like to have one in the ground, and one potted back-up, just in case (gophers or wind-borne random sprays) kill the main tree.  I have gifted several.  Shipping a living plant is tough as Pete says.  If I ever get crazy rooting again with multiple varieties, and they live through fungus gnat attacks, I may just put them on the forum or Craigslist for local pick-up.  Zoos, Schools, and other public places are another option.  I have a buddy who planted 100 grape cuttings around the Elephant enclosure at his zoo.  Elephants love them!!

Our new town is seriously lacking fig trees, so I could maybe just go door to door offering little trees.  We are in drought conditions now, so probably not a good idea.

Suzi

I use the spares I end up with to trade for varieties I still want.  

At least they aren't cats!

How close are your trees? How large to you let them get?

Share and eat!!

I propagate cutting to add to my colllection. Once I have trees large enough to get a good amount of cuttings from I propagate them and sell em on ebay and use the money to donate to charities via missionfish thru ebay.

I haven't gotten to the point of having enough to sell, but I'm considering taking them to a local produce/plant auction if I grow enough and friends don't want them.

Give them away or trade. It's always fun to knock one off of someone's wishlist.

Well let's see ..   I guess its time to start thinking about that. With continued success I'll have many extras.  If I dont have the right varieties to pay back my wonderful, generous fig suppliers, I'll pay forward. There's always newbies. Or I could search through members wish lists and maybe make some wishes come true.    Wheeeeeeee The Fig Fairy.

  

   It would be a hoot to have a fig orchard figs with  family names. My oldest son is named Guido so I'm looking for it I've got Gino and Vincenzo covered.

Just having 20 or so in cups and pots is about all I can handle. Don't know how some of you do it...Hats off to you! My goal for the week is to get the last few in 3-quarts...then I can really take it easy for a while. Like Gene, my goal was to find 5-7 diverse, productive in-ground trees. About 1/2 of those in my pic are LSU-Ps and will need homes. Had no idea they'd all survive! Some earmarked for friends and family. Still looking for a creative way to donate the rest locally.

I'm going to plant them on a hillside and feed the locals, Los Angeles is a great place to grow figs, so every variety will be part of my collection, even the rejects of our friends from forum;) as long as you know the Variety , don't discard it, i'll gladly adopt them and give them the home they are meant to have. It's a sad scenario to see some people put so much effort to grow them just to find out some aren't the right variety for their climate ;/
One of my goals in future, with fig trees, will be to provide shipped packages of just perfectly ripe figs to let our friends here find out what the taste of certain fig should really be like.

I definitely grow more than I need, just to be safe and have a backup. Then I give the backups away to friends that appreciate figs!