I kind of went from a fig hobbyist to a figaholic last fall and went from about 15 varieties to around 100 with no real plans on what I was going to do with all of my new trees.  I eventually decided to disc up a portion of my alfalfa field and set out stakes for 138 trees on a 12' spacing within the rows and 16' between rows, making up 6/10 of an acre.  I have allocated 115 of my potted trees for this orchard made up of about 85 varieties with extras to be sold or traded or donated to some causes.  Of the 115, 76 are now planted with the rest waiting to size up a bit more before being planted (hopefully, in 6-8 weeks for most).  The empty spaces are being reserved for more trees of some of the varieties I already have or for a few more acquisitions.

Here are some photos my farmhand took with his phone while finishing up planting while my son and I were in Idaho helping out my in-laws put up their winter supply of firewood.





I have planted the trees on berms and this area can become pretty wet in the winter.  I will have a high tension wire attached to each T-post about 12" above the ground to suspend a drip line.  I am also considering installing some cross-arms next spring with two strands of wire for each row to trellis the trees somewhat similar to the photos Ken Love has shown at http://www.hawaiifruit.net/cf/images/fig5.jpg.  This area of my farm is exposed to quite a bit of wind so the support can be helpful to reduce limb breakage and I would also like to be able to train trees to harvest efficiently.

HOLY COW~~~
NICE~!

Very, very nice

Going to enjoy your photo's in near future !

Nice!

It will be a nice orchard in just a few years. Now I wish, I had that much "flat" land, in a fig- friendly climate such as yours. Excellent work Harvey.

Navid.

looks outstanding harvey,,,,, glad the wood cutting went well too.

Thanks, everyone!

No begging here: one variety I still need to acquire (buy/trade/etc.) is Col de Dame Gris.

Harvey,
Impressive and inspiring. Thanks for sharing. I have a couple of questions: How long are the rows? What are those posts made of and what are you using to create the tension?

Opportunity to have an annual fig harvest party/fig shop -- just like visiting fig germplasm. Great undertaking Harvey.

Great work!  You should have a terrific harvest soon.

Dude, Harvey that's awesome!! I think you might find this article interesting.

http://www.donbarioni.com/images/Page%20A8%20%28Dons%20Article%29.pdf

This guy basically did the same thing. He got fig, and olive fever. He devoted some of his families farm to develop an orchard.

Harvey,

Looking good. Wished I had a property and climate like yours.
Please keep us posted.

Right on, Harvey, that's awesome!  Sometimes you just gotta go large :)

Awesome !! Best of luck !

Hi Harvey,
Lovely to see your new project taking shape...........
Will be amazing soon once they all grow up.
Good luck for the future.

Harvey,

Nice orchard... good luck!

I know, you shall be using and taking max advantage of local environmental conditions  to make a model figfarm . Congratulations

Francisco

Future figtopia

Color me pea-green with envy! Do I see a Pick-UR-Own in your future? They have tons of those places here. Have people pay you to harvest your orchard for 8-10 bucks per gallon depending on what the fruit is.

Very very impressive. Great job and good luck.

Looks Great Harvey! I know it'll grow great in that climate

HarveyC,
Thanks for posting the pictures and commentary...
I've used fence posts in a similar application, but nowhere near this scale.
Please keep us updated.
Good Luck.

Hi Harvey. This is a great looking orchard! I also enjoyed watching your chestnut orchard on You-tube. Maybe you can post a you-tube video of your fig orchard also, as it progresses!

Holy Cow! Harvey, that is gonna be amazing! "If you build it..."

Wowie!

Very nice! Why do you keep the drip a foot above ground? Do animals chew it?

Definitely a FIVE STAR operation!

I can't wait to see it grow up.

You are living the dream for all of us.

Congratulations!

That orchard will be a great resource.  I imagine there are very few orchards in California that have such a diversity of varieties growing in the same location.  What are you planning to use as ground cover?

Very nice fig orchard Harvey! I'd love to see it when it grows, especially at harvest time ; )

Looks great Harvey! Congrats on a beautiful orchard!

JD, the three rows are each 540' long, 46 trees in each row (plus room to turn on ends with tractor).  The T-posts are made of steel and are what are typically used for cattle fencing and vineyard trellises (the ones I bought were unpainted and exactly what are used in hundreds of thousands of grape vineyards in the state).  I painted the T-posts to reduce the temperature of the posts on hot days (just needed for a couple of years and they'll be shaded by then).  The wire is also what is typically used in wine grape vineyards and wrapped around the end posts which are supported by braces to prevent leaning in, using special couplers that make the process easy (see http://www.gripple.com/products/catalogue/agricultural/products/gripplepluswirejoinerstensioners.html).

Paully & Sophie, I don't know if I'll ever open up the orchard to the public but will just have to wait to see how it goes with other efforts to market fresh figs.  Maybe I'd do something like offer tours for $20 with all the figs a guest could eat (plus sell more to take home).  There comes increased insurance needs with U-pick plus increased damage to trees and potential off-hours visitors and theft.  That's down the road.  I also grow pomegranates and chestnuts so a tour could get pretty involved.  It's just me and a farmhand but my wife might retire from her off-farm job before long.  I may do some mail order fresh figs (will experiment with some small shipments) and also maybe the farmers' market scene and maybe market to restaurants.

Henry, thanks, but I'm afraid of clicking on that link....don't want to get olive fever also! lol

Kevin, the reason for suspending the irrigation line is for a few reasons.  It won't stay on the ridge very well without some constant support.  I have had rodent damage to microsprinklers but not on drip which I'll use for this orchard.  I've also had coyote damage but this won't stop them.  With drip suspended it is easier to hoe weeds and weedeat, etc.  One other possible benefit I see is that suspending will give a slightly larger distribution of the water.  Sometimes I have drippers on the ground and the water seems to go straight down a crack.  Being suspend and in a windy area, the water will probably drip over a 6" or larger area.  The one drawback is increased difficulty in stepping over the line but I'll probably mostly be harvesting one side of a tree (and the adjacent tree row) at a time.  The expected training method of the trees will make it difficult to cross over anyways.

Pete, I've seen some photos of your fig training and it helped convince my that I'm not completely crazy for giving this method a shot! :)

Rewton, I'm not planning on any groundcover for now.  I use a mixed grass groundcover in my chestnut orchard but want to keep temperatures elevated in my fig orchard and a groundcover reduces temperatures.  If I put a groundcover in it will most likely be to remove excess moisture.  This orchard is planted at about 5' below sea level with drainage ditches needed to collect river seepage which is then pumped back into the rivers which are held back by levees.  There is a strong possibility that this orchard will not be irrigated once it is established except maybe to apply water soluble fertilizer.

Thanks, Vince!

Regarding the planned training of the trees on wires.  I wrote Ken Love to ask about the purposes and benefits of the methods used in Japan.  He indicated that these methods were originally used to help limit damage from strong winds during typhoons but that growers also saw stabilized good yields as a result of using a disciplined pruning method.  I also suspect that horizontal branches may fruit a little earlier in the season (they do in some other tree crops).

Harvey, if you are looking for another son I am up for adoption ; ) 

Thanks for sharing.

Brent, I'll let my 15 year old know he better get to work as he's got someone competing for his job! lol

SO SOOOOOOOOOOOooooo AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am way excited for you!

Jennifer

I always wanted a little brother ; )

very nice. very happy for you. keep up the nice work. and yes pictures later.

Look very good. 

In couple of years, your farm will be destination to Fig Lovers, after Visiting UCD Fig Farm, they will come to you.
I like that you have a Lot varieties to choose from, and good luck in finding the ones you do not have.
I like your Business Venture, and good Luck, Pleas keep us posted...
Mark

Harvey,

What a project!  I put in a fig hedge around my orchard with around 80 or so trees.  It's quite a bit of work as I'm sure you can attest but will be worth it.  Regarding your variety selection, will you be culling varieties if they don't do well or perform well in your climate?  If you plan to cull some varieties, how long do you expect you'll wait for a variety to prove itself before it gets the heave-ho?  I am thinking of getting rid of a few in-ground Brown Turkeys this year.  Not sure why I bought them in the first place and I'd rather have other varieties in their place!

Also, how are you labeling your varieties?  I'm utilizing impress-o-tags currently and hope they hold up well.

Again, very impressive.  I can't wait to see shots of this in a few years as growth really starts to take off.

Tim

Harvey,

Impressive.... 

Ann
Zone 6
Pepper Pike ,Ohio

Really wonderful and appreciated photos. thx

Harvey,

Great job, its going to look amazing in the future. Congrats on a job well done, best of luck with your future fig crops.

Tim, I won't cull out fig varieties unless I'm convinced they aren't worth growing and don't expect that to occur before 2016 or 2017.

I presently have trees tagged with tags purchased from gardenware.com, a tyvek type material printed on with my laser printer.  They last at least a couple of years and I'm able to print a lot of them quickly and easily and they are very legible because of being black on white (more so than the impress-o-tags) and I can include a lot of information.  Over time, I don't know if I'll keep tags on trees at all but I have a map with each tree variety and source.

Very nice post Harvey...you really jumped into the fig growing venture with both feet...I wish you the best of luck...would really enjoy some update photos from time to time. Thanks.

Wow great project ... Good luck !!! Should be a site to see when it's all grown up ....

Harvey, you should rent a spot for a tree. Charge an annual fee for growing and watering the tree, and reserve the right for cuttings and fruit. It would be a 5 years contract. What do you think?

Only approved tenants with references.  Do you have references? :)

Amazing!  And my congrats too.

This makes some of us fig-people look like little dwarfs ...

George, for special friends like you maybe I could put up a little cabana in the middle of the fig orchard for visits/retreats! :)

Finished installing the drip system today and planted five more trees that were ready.  We have 80 trees in the ground in this new orchard now with several dozen more still in pots until they get larger.

very nice!

Some great work Harvey. Congratulations. I am also thinking of developing a simple irrigation system on 17 acres in the next year or so as no fruit tree I plant makes it through the summer.
I have black soil with river frontage and thought that it would be a natural environment for growing things. I was wrong. LOL
I really like the way you designed your irrigation system. Are you using well pumps and is your black pipe a regular drip line or thicker? Which company did you use to do this?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Harvey,

Thank you for the most interesting post.  You have the makings of one fine looking fig orchard.   To be sure your farm operation will be a must visit for any fig aficionados passing through the Delta part of the state. 
Better put up a big fence………. LOL

Sas and Bosco, thanks.  It is going to need to expand by another row, maybe even two, to accommodate additional fig acquisitions since I now have around 200 varieties.  There are still a few that I'd like to get but I think I'm going to slow down soon.  I might even cull some out this year.

Sas, I put the irrigation system in myself and didn't use anybody to help design it, etc. but a farmhand helped me install it.  The black hose is typical drip hose and the irrigation supply company where I've bought supplies from for many years carried everything I needed.  I think the black curly things are called p-curls or something like that and this is the first time I've personally used them but they are used on wine grape vineyards in the area extensively to hang the drip hoses onto the wires.  The only regret I have is that I wish the T-posts on the end were a heavier version because they bowed on my a bit when tightening the wire.  For this orchard I am using well water but can switch to my river water supply if I desire.  I have a 5 horsepower pump that runs water from the Sacramento river for my chestnut and pomegranate orchards but the expansions I've previously made to that system are already maxing out the capacity of my pump (pressure drops off a little already), pumping 125 GPM.  I use microsprinklers on my chestnuts which use up the majority of that orchard.  The drip emitters for my figs don't use that much water so it is easy for my domestic well to supply that water (my domestic well can provide 30 GPM if I have a larger line than the 1" supply line for my figs which really only supplies 10 GPM comfortably).

I will post photo updates when I get time.  I was a bit surprised that I did have some winter freeze damage to some varieties this past winter.  We only got down to about 26F but had about 45 nights with frost.  Even DFIC 0023 that was a couple of years old and 5' tall died back to the ground which surprised me.  I may cull that one out.  Others that were damaged were younger so I will let them recover and hope for a milder winter so they can get some more size to them before the next cold winter.  I've had figs for maybe 15 years and never seen cold damage to any of my other figs so this was a surprise for me.

The information that you've provided is priceless and much appreciated.

All my four in ground fig trees froze their tops off this year. I'm thinking that I should wrap them during the next couple of winters and see if they could escape the winter injuries. The other trees in pots that were left close to the wall sustained minimum damage.

Hi Harveyc,
Here we had a mild winter (Down to -15°C in December 2013 for 10 days in a row) , and though my BT has 4 terminal buds burned and lost five centimeters
on some stems - BT cold hardy who said that ? - .
But the tree can handle that. I just noticed a behavior on BT that I had not seen before. On 3 stems where the terminal bud got burned, a side bud grew and is now on top of the stem,
as if it was the original terminal bud ... Funny .
Just to say, I would let the trees grow for five years before removing any tree - except if they die completely of course.
Did you use any winter protections ?

Your orchard is a nice project, lucky man !

No winter protection here for my figs except for the select few that I keep in my greenhouse to gain some size over the winter to allow planting in the spring.  There are many figs growing wild here.  I'm guessing that some of the varieties I've acquired in the past year or so are just the more sensitive type.

harvey,

looks like you have everyone's dream set up right there :)

I hope so, Pete.  I do have some concerns about the water table in this area of my farm maybe keeping the soil too damp during the growing season.  The trees are planted on the berms for this reason.  There is a good chance that no irrigation will be necessary once the trees become established.

It may be everyone's dream set up, but it's also a *lot* of work.  Too bad figs don't ship well.

[QUOTE=rcantor]It may be everyone's dream set up, but it's also a *lot* of work.  Too bad figs don't ship well.[/QUOTE]

We could always pay Harvey a visit.

I love to spend time in CA.  We could also visit Oregon for fall porcini.  And I'm definitely ordering chestnuts again.

(BTW, Rafed, Looky here!)

 
Harvey, do you get any of these in your orchard?  Some CA orchards get a lot.

Bob,

Are these the ones that take you to Lala land?

Rafed,

I'm sure Bob will clarify but those look like some variety of Morels. Quite tastey and prized buy "shroom" hunters.

The ones you're referring to look much less interesting and unassuming (not to mention - not recommended). Appearances are almost always deceptive when it comes to mushrooms.

Nice pic Bob.

Sorry Harvey, almost forgot to compliment you on that orchard. Very nice indeed. I wish we could grow ours unprotected like that. I'll have to settle for the step-over method & cover them in winter I guess.

Look forward to seeing your update pics.

Harvey that is looking awesome. I'm so jealous!

Bill,

Thanks for the info.
I don't know much about shrooms and I know better than to get close to any.
I was just having fun.

Looking forward to seeing photo updates!!

Harvey, can you give some advice on weed control.

Hershell, I had two workers how weeds for two days a couple of weeks ago!  I am not an organic grower and will probably use glyphosate to help control weeds along with Surflan in the fall as a pre-emergent.  But I might try switching to organic because of pressure from that pesky Gary. ;)

[QUOTE=HarveyC]Hershell, I had two workers how weeds for two days a couple of weeks ago!  I am not an organic grower and will probably use glyphosate to help control weeds along with Surflan in the fall as a pre-emergent.  But I might try switching to organic because of pressure from that pesky Gary. ;)[/QUOTE

Harvey, geographer that I am, I am curious to learn what soil(s) you work on. Could you tell me? Thanks! Joe

Changing the world, one farmer at a time:-))

Harvey that is just simply amazing. Wow.

Joe, took a while, but here is the soil survey for my farm.

The elevation of my fig orchard is about 5 feet below sea level.  Drainage ditches surround my fields with water pumped back into the rivers.  We flooded in 1972 and lost all of our crops and much of our belongings with it taking maybe four months to pump our 13,000 acre island dry.  It had previously flooded about 70 years earlier.  I think our levees are in much better shape than they were in 1972.

Good job Harvey!  Every orchard needs a bench.  Looking forward to seeing you on your bench in your orchard.

Suzi

Harvey,

That is a beautiful set up.  I like how clean everything looks.  Can't wait to see what happens in the future.

Few more weeds, quite a few more trees, they're all getting bigger.  I think I have 125 trees planted with 13 spots left but more trees than that in pots, so guess I will need to add another row (or two).

 

Very nice.

With 125 trees, how many different varieties have you planted?

Your orchard is looking fabulous, Harvey. I'm looking forward to seeing it later this summer!

Gary

Lovely!

[QUOTE=Gina]Very nice.

With 125 trees, how many different varieties have you planted?[/QUOTE]

100 varieties in the orchard as of today.  I have a couple of dozen or so other varieties planted elsewhere on the farm.  And many more waiting to get large enough to plant in the ground.  I may pull out five or so duplicates that I planted last year if its companion is doing well.

Very nice Harvey.  Best success with your orchard.

Harvey, you need a German Shepard or a Doberman my friend to guard your assets.
What a vast piece of land. 
Looks awesome.

Very nice! Do you use the distance as Pons?

Harvey,

It is taking shape and looks fantastic. A true model farm.
Given the size and apparent topography ( you had explained before) it looks you are in a bottom of an ancient shallow lake (lagoa), with those good rich soils.
This remembers me many of our flat lands on the basins of several of our rivers flowing west typically used for cereal farming (rice and corn mostly), with the best fruit trees serving as boundaries.
Congratulations

Francisco

Thanks for your comments and encouragement, Francisco.

This area is former swamplands and prior to that, probably an inland bay with saltwater intrusion.  Over a long period of time, sediment filled in the area and than swampland plants such as tule, cattails, willows, etc.  Over time, these plants developed peat soils which increased the elevation further and the areas would dry out during summers when river flows were low.  Sediment from the rivers accumulated along the borders of the rivers (some natural but also some from a few years of hydraulic mining for gold perhaps 75 miles away until such practices were banned in the 1850s).  Upon these sedimentary accumulations there were built hundreds of miles of levees to keep these areas dry during all months of the year (except for when the levees failed).  Over 100 years of the land being drained (water seepage is pumped into the rivers) the organic matter decomposed and soil has subsided.  My house is located at sea level and the fig orchard is about 5 feet lower.  My farm's elevation ranges from about +5 to -10 feet.  Organic matter level remains relatively high.  Soils are fertile with the primary limitation being poor drainage in some areas though this is often controlled as much as necessary for the crops being grown.  I have better soils which are already planted to chestnut orchard but this area should be fine for figs.  After figs are a few years old there is a chance I will no be needing to irrigate them.  If I dig down a few feet I will hit water.  Actually, the water level can be much higher during the winter and that is why I planted the trees on ridges.

Looks fantastic Harvey, best of luck with your new project. I myself am most jealous !!

Thank you Harvey for the detailed description of your land.
This is something we all dream about

Growing figs or any other fruit in a piece of land with those freatic groundwater levels will be a fantastic experience and extremely convenient.

God bless your farm and yourself

Francisco

Hey Harvey, thanks for the picture it looks great. I can't wait to see pictures of all the fruit. I hope all your trees do well for you.

Can't wait to visit!!! When do things start getting ripe?

Looks great, Harvey!

It'll be quite a challenge in late summer to walk all the way down those rows without stuffing yourself :)

Harvey - your orchard looks awesome! You may have answered it earlier in the thread, but how tall will you let the trees grow?

Arne

What will be your eventual market for all the figs?

Edit: I looked back in this thread and in post 31 from last August, Harvey said:
[QUOTE]Paully & Sophie, I don't know if I'll ever open up the orchard to the public but will just have to wait to see how it goes with other efforts to market fresh figs.  Maybe I'd do something like offer tours for $20 with all the figs a guest could eat (plus sell more to take home).  There comes increased insurance needs with U-pick plus increased damage to trees and potential off-hours visitors and theft.  That's down the road.  I also grow pomegranates and chestnuts so a tour could get pretty involved.  It's just me and a farmhand but my wife might retire from her off-farm job before long.  I may do some mail order fresh figs (will experiment with some small shipments) and also maybe the farmers' market scene and maybe market to restaurants.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, everyone.  Gloria, I don't recall seeing breba lately so main crop should start ripening in late July and get going in August pretty good.  Probably won't have a large quantity of figs yet this year, especially after the birds have their way.

Arne, I'm a bit undecided on when to start training trees the way I want.  Some haven't given me enough lower branches like I want and I've let them grow upright to get stronger.  I want to train two branches from each tree tied down to the same wire that supports the drip line and eventually remove every branch above that.  Probably will be doing a lot of airlayering later this year or I may just wait and prune next winter and harvest dormant cuttings.  Then I'll let branches grow from each of those two branches each year which will typically grow 4' to 7' in a season and then get pruned back to one or two buds of it's lateral branch at the end of the year.  I plan to put cross arms about 36" wide onto the T posts and wires across those cross arms and the branches will be tied to those wires each year.  I'm hoping to be picking fruit from 18" to 7' above the ground each year.

Today my son and I finished planting the trees that are reading to go in the ground and all 138 spots are now planted.  Will need to get another two rows ready.

pictures please:)

Awesome Harvey.  Just awesome.

And yes.  More pics please.

Finally got to envision a land of figs.What dreams are made of. Looks like Gods country.How lucky!

The weeds also grow well here!  I will hoe some weeds and mow again before updated photos! :)

I'm going to disc up some more alfalfa (to the left in the last photo) and get two more rows ready.  I'm pretty sure (I think) that I will stop after that.  Any new trees beyond what those two rows can fit will probably only be made if I decide to remove something else.

Okay....I'll relent....here's one more photo.  Yesterday I noticed one of my Panache had one branch with variegated leaves coming from one side of the branch where the stem is striped white (usually the stem is brown and yellow).  Hope it sustains this pattern!!! :)

 

How are you doing on water. We are having some farmers pulling out trees due to lack of water not given out by the State.  Some are pulling out low producing trees.

[QUOTE]Hope it sustains this pattern!!![/QUOTE]

Very nice! It's over several nodes, so the mutation is in the stem tissue too. Even if the terminal bud of the main stem reverts and loses the variegation, pruning above any of the leaves w the variegation to encourage side branching very well might 'bring it back'.