I just placed a 6 tree order with Mr Robin. What a nice gentleman! Can't wait to get these guys in.

JD - my in ground Celeste has this issue as well. The little guys in the pot's do not (with the exception of that Wal-Mart Ischia). I figured it may be the heat in combination with the drought we've had this year, but maybe it is rest. I didn't notice this last year at all.

This was my first attempt at home canning. I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty this turned out. I used FMD’s Alma figs and adapted this recipe from tips in this thread: http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=5396408 

800 g chopped figs

800 g sugar

3 Habanero Peppers seeded and finely chopped

Grated fresh Ginger root to taste

Grated Lemon peel to taste

Lemon juice to taste (I used the juice of 1 lemon

½ tsp Pectin

The night before canning, remove steps and coarsely chop your figs. Place them in a large glass bowl. Slightly toss the figs with half the sugar, then cover with the rest. Cover the bowl and let rest at room temperature over night. I had mine out for 20 hours before I was ready to can. You can adjust this recipe simply by following a 1:1 weight ratio between figs and the sugar. 800 grams of figs and 800 grams of sugar made approximately 5 half pint jars.

When you are ready to process the figs, sanitize your jars and prepare a water bath canner.

Place fig/sugar mixture in a pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 15 minutes. Stir often and adjust the heat as necessary.  Watch for boil over’s!

Add the Ginger, Lemon, and Habaneros and reduce heat to low.

After 5 to 10 minutes add the Pectin and reduce temperature to simmer.

Once you get a good consistency, you are ready to can the preserves in your warm, sanitized jars. I boiled mine in a water bath for 20 minutes.

You can use any peppers you like for this recipe or none at all. The Lemon and Ginger alone make a really nice fig preserve! I had some Habaneros ready in the garden so I used those. I was considering trying some Scotch Bonnets in another batch, but decided to do one with out the peppers all together.

Thanks for the tour and the figs FMD! Your orchard is impressive! I'm going to try a variation of the Fig Jam recipe tomorrow. I'm glad I read this thread or I would have totally missed the resting in sugar over night part.

On a side note, if that pain in the tail peach tree I have on the side of my yard doesn’t do well next year, I think it's getting replaced with an Asian Pear. That was one tasty fruit!

When my parents first moved in to their current house in 1990 there was a little 2 foot twig in a dark, shady corner of the yard. One day my Grandfather came over to visit and identified the plant as a fig tree. We moved the fig tree out of the shade to a place where it got more sun and it’s flourished. My dad cuts it back every year to my displeasure.  When I bought my house a couple years back my father gave me a rooted cutting from this tree and we planted it at my new place. It’s been in the ground for 2.5 years now.

Yesterday I got to eat the first figs. Last years small crop got taken by the birds.

I’m leaning towards this being a Celeste. I’m in zone 8b and from what I’ve read Celeste is an early fig around these parts. Thoughts?

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm looking forward to see what this little guy does. I've got a few scion on the way to play with as well, so the next couple of years should be interesting.

Along with my newly found fig obsession, I grow container citrus, rabbit eye blueberries, peaches, and have a raised bed where I grow a summer vegitable garden.

I think my next hobby is going to be raising cats, maybe they can fend off the 2 squirrel nests that have recently taken roost in the trees just on the other side of my fence... :-/

Hi, I’m from Tallahassee, Florida and am now the proud owner of my second fig tree. I was walking around the garden section at Lowes today and noticed some Magnolia Fig tree’s in the top rack of the “dying plant sale cart” for $1. I couldn’t resist the temptation to nurse one back to health so I picked up the best looking one I could find and brought it home.

The tops of the two largest branches are sort of withered back a bit. I suspect it’s from frost damage, as it’s dropped into the upper teens here a couple of times recently and I doubt they roll the sale cart inside at night. Should I trim these off now, or wait till it comes out of dormancy in the spring?

I watered it a bit tonight and will move it inside when it’s cold out till spring, anything else I can do to help it come back?