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Ben_in_SoFla

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Posted Reply with quote  #1 
Sometimes dreams do come true... I have been planning and working on this project for about 5 years.
Finally, ,I live in area that can support such an orchard (North Central Florida) with enough chilling hours to accomodate my plant's needs, with enough sunny, unobstructed pasture land that I can spread my plants out and see how things go. It is a ton of work and a one man operation. Soil is a sandy clay that drains fairly well and I have close to 3 acres to work with.
So far I have planted many persimmons, loquat fig_rows.jpg 
, peaches, nectarines, plums, apples, pears, asian pears, mulberry, chestnuts, olives, pomegranate, and to date 51 fig trees (70 more waiting to go in the ground).

I will probably be done sometime in early spring with irrigation to supplement rain if needed. More to come as I get better pictures. I have been quiet on this forum as I did not have much to contribute... this is about to change. SOme of my plants are duplicates and a few had the tags removed by wildlife, but I will retag them when they produce and I recognize the fruits... it will be an exciting spring once I am done. Will provide details and more pictures as time allows
fig_plant.jpg

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Ben, North Central Florida Zone 8B - 9
Smungung

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Posted Reply with quote  #2 
LUCKY!
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Matthew Mei Age:15 Zone 6A Secaucus, New Jersey

Aquarist any questions pertaining to fish shoot me a message always willing to help! :)
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kingoceanos

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Posted Reply with quote  #3 
I do have to admit, I'm jealous. Best of luck to you and a quick question. Is this for the love of growing or will you be selling at a farmers market?
Thanks
P.S. looks great.
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Wish List so far.Figo Preto, Italian 258, Godfather
 
vito12831

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Posted Reply with quote  #4 
Hi Ben.
Congratulations and good luck with your own piece of heaven.
That has always been my retirement dream, but for some reason always got side tracked.
Now I'm too old and lazy.
Thank you for the Ficazzana cuttings, they turned out to be some great trees, they sure produce some monster figs.
Vito
DaveL

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Posted Reply with quote  #5 
Very impressive.
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Dave
Waterford, Ct. Zone 6B
Jamie0507

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Posted Reply with quote  #6 
Just.. WOW! Sooo happy to hear you were able to make your dream come true! I know it must be a lot of hard work but when you are working your dream so to speak it must leave you feeling so satisfied at the end of the day :) I dream of having something like this too one day down the line.. What an inspiration to see that sometimes.. When you dream long enough & work hard enough.. your dreams can come true!
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Jamie Zone 6A My List of Fig Varieties:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13MXbhU3b-5Y4bkNSWHVikw6m-vovlHZcBjcsxMwQ7iY

Wish list: Col. Littmans, Figoin, Black Tuscan.. And now for my "Hey..A girl has got to have dreams!" wishlist: Sangue Dolce, Montenegro, Rigato del Salento
cis4elk

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Posted Reply with quote  #7 
Looks like a lot of fun. Congratulations!
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Calvin Littleton,CO z5/6
Wants List: For everyone to clean-up after themselves and co-exist peacefully. Let's think more about the future of our planet and less about ourselves.  :)
jdsfrance

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Posted Reply with quote  #8 
Hi ben_in_sofla,
Congrats !
Where are the citrus trees, orange trees, and mandarine trees? You need that to call your place a Mediterranean orchard ! And bitter almonds too ! and some aloe vera !
Having citrus, orange and mandarine trees in my own garden, is my own dream ... Perhaps, one day !
But, I'm more seeing that in a greenhouse, than in the wild ...
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Climate from -25°C to + 35°C
Only cold hardy figtrees can make it here
sarahkt

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Posted Reply with quote  #9 
Hi Ben, 

Congratulations, it does look like a dream come true! :)

Regarding the missing labels on trees, what about making a simple tree map of your property to keep at home in case labels get lost/stolen? Then you wouldn't have to rely on waiting for the tree to fruit and identifying the variety among the many I'm sure you will have. 
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Sarah from Bay Area, CA (zone: 9B)
Wishlist: Sangue Dolce, Black Ischia (UCD), Peloponnisiaka Aspra Sika
Ben_in_SoFla

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Posted Reply with quote  #10 
Thank you all... some answers...
the top picture shows the 3 rows of figs, only, 17 trees per row. To the left of the pictures are 6 rows fully planted (minus 2 empty spots)of all other types of fruits listed on my original post.
All rows are 15 feet apart, first 6 rows I spaced fruit trees at 15 feet also. Figs get 12 feet spacing and rows 15 feet apart. I believe that would be plenty of space. Only 70 figs left to plant....

Also have several more asian pear trees and chestnut trees to put in the ground. Trees are clustered if they need cross pollination such as apples, pears, plums, asian pears, olives, chestnuts, blueberries... otherwise they go in on straight rows (peaches, persimmons, loquat, pomegranate, mulberry, etc)

As far as citrus, I have a few waiting to go in the ground as well, however due to citrus greening disease prevalent in the state, I do not hold a high hope. Someday the University of Florida (just a few minutes away from my place) will come up with a solution, meanwhile the florida citrus industry is definitely dying a slow death. I left out a few pineapple plants and and many different varieties of blueberries, southern high bush and rabbit eye varieties I also did not mention that I have a whole fence line of seedling loquat trees and prickly pear cactus. The loquat planted in the row are 14 grafted varieties of large and sweet fruit varieties. The seedling trees are a third generation of a really sweet fruited tree from my Wife's grandpa's tree.

My handle should change to Ben_in_NorthCentral_FL but I don't believe it can be changed. I will have to create a new one and the climate zone here is 8B-9 depending on which site you refer to. 

Most of the trees are listed on a spreadsheet and on a pad as backup. They have been in pots for a couple of years and will all get new tags as I record and inventory all. 

At some point I will contact UF to see if there is any interest in doing a test plot for different varieties of figs that are resistant to rust, nematodes, humidity, etc...

I fully plan on sharing fruits with some wildlife. Deer have already been picking at some fruit tree foliage. Hopefully the first cold front will knock foliage down. I have removed some foliage on some trees to remove the deer temptation. All these fruit will be for personal, friends, neighbors, relatives consumption and no business interest. No farmers market interest at this time. Would much rather be fishng on Saturday morning....
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Ben, North Central Florida Zone 8B - 9
Ben_in_SoFla

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Posted Reply with quote  #11 
To JDSFrance, I did have a great citrus tree orchard in South Florida, all mature trees that produced heavily every year. The state of Florida decided that it was more important to remove all citrus in backyards to protect commercial growers from citrus canker. That was a very sore time in my life. My family used to pick citrus (Dancy tangerines, minneola tangelo, valencia orange navel orange, persian limes, murcott tangerines....) with a wheel barrow and I would send my son with his red wagon full of fruits to the neighbors to distribute the fruits.

Until University of Florida and or the citrus industry in this state figure out what to do about citrus greening, I will not commit much land and resources in my orchard to citrus...
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Ben, North Central Florida Zone 8B - 9
nkesh099

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Posted Reply with quote  #12 
Hi Ben,

Nice to see you back. It's been a long time.
Very nice orchard you have created.

Navid.
Ben_in_SoFla

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Posted Reply with quote  #13 
Vito,  glad the ficazzana figs are growing and doing well for you. So far they are the biggest figs I have ripened outside of Sicily.
Ficazzana should do really well in a very hot dry climate as in SouthWest or Calfornia.
The plant originated from Palermo Sicily

Next year will shed light on all the varieties that I planted and should be an interesting comparison. 
My plan is to fertilize all my trees regularly and push growth on the first year. Second year cut back on feeding and push for fruit production.
I look forward to a diminished work load on the orchard and just walking through it and picking and eating ripe fruits with my Grandson.
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Ben, North Central Florida Zone 8B - 9
nycfig

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Posted Reply with quote  #14 
Wow!  You are definitely living the dream.  Good for you.  God bless and good luck with your new orchard.
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Danny NYC Z7a

It's all about the figs!

Facebook: NYCfigs

Buying Fig Trees and Cuttings From the Internet
fignutty

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Posted Reply with quote  #15 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdsfrance
Hi ben_in_sofla,
Congrats !
 You need that to call your place a Mediterranean orchard !



Wonderful looking place!! But it's only Mediterranean if the climate is winter rain, dry summer. California qualifies not FL. I know picky, picky.

Hope your plans all work out great!
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Steve in Alpine TX 7b/8a
Wish list:  Sangue Dolce, Siblawi, Victoria, Emalyn's Purple, Colonel Littman's Black Cross
ChrisK

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Posted Reply with quote  #16 
Congrats Ben. Your orchard looks great. Best of luck on all your growing efforts and I'm pretty sure one day we'll be talking about Bens awesome fig fest!
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ChrisK
Atl GA
Zone 7b-8a
Ben_in_SoFla

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Posted Reply with quote  #17 
Thanks fignutty and  Chris, however the problem is we do not have enough people to
connect a chain from florida to california to pass buckets of water so the plants can survive.

No water drought here.... 60 inches a year on average....

and the orchard is mediterranean in scope and plants, humidity not withstanding...
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Ben, North Central Florida Zone 8B - 9
Figinfever

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Posted Reply with quote  #18 
HI Ben. How is you orchard doing today?
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Dan, West Central FL 9a

Wishlist- Great tasting dark or light figs with deep red interiors: White Madeira, Craven's Craving, Portugal Black Madeira, Sultani, Violeta, USDA Black Ischia, Dall'Osso, CdDB or CdDB-N
rcantor

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Posted Reply with quote  #19 
Congratulations, I missed this until now.  I hope you're getting an amazing amount of fruit.
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Zone 6, MO

Wish list:
Galicia Negra, De La Reina - Pons, Genovese Nero - Rafed's, Sbayi, Souadi, Acciano, Any Rimada, Sodus Sicilian, any Bass, Pons or Axier fig, any great tasting fig.
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